Artist description She would tell you that this new cd, titled "Postcards from Downtown," is her first studio record, though her fans may disagree. Circulating - and jealously hoarded - are one live CD and numerous cassettes, Dayna's recorded on the fly, sometimes adding the discarded fruits of too many demo and development deals for too many labels and producers among them Bob Power (D'Angelo, Me'shell N'degeOcello, Erykah Badu) and Craig Street (Cassandra Wilson, Joe Henry, kd lang). Much to her fans' dismay, she doesn't play much of the older material anymore. A cassette from the early 90's called "Footprints" recently fetched 40 bucks on e-bay. But she's moved onto other things. Dayna's a self proclaimed "road dog" having spent the better part of the last 10 years running old cars into the ground touring solo, startling audiences into rapt silence at venues such as the Ark, Eddie's Attic, and the Iron Horse. She's toured as a support act with artists as varied as Chris Whitley, Richie Havens, Olu Dara, Richard Buckner, and Kelly Joe Phelps, as well as opened for countless others, including B.B. King, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Along the way, Dayna's been a featured artist on the nationally syndicated show, "World Cafe," been the subject of a feature story on NPR's "Morning Edition," been voted the female songwriter of the year by the National Academy of Songwriters in 1997, and been picked up by her current publishing company, Bug Music (Johnny Cash, Ryan Adams, Buddy Guy, Los Lobos, Wilco). When not on the highway, she lives in a silk mill in north Jersey, a sad old factory town called Paterson where she continues to draw inspiration. "She writes riveting poetry, has a truly incredible voice, is a terrific guitarist, and simply dominates the room with her presence." - Music City Texas (Austin) Vocally, Dayna Kurtz has few peers. She possesses the warmth and timing of an old jazz diva - Billie, or Nina Simone. But add the kind of dramatic command only a Tom Waits or a Marianne Faithfull possesses, and you may be getting closer. Truth is, she sounds and writes like no one else. And on top of it all, she's a helluva guitarist -weaving her vocals in and out of sometimes languid, sometimes starkly harsh guitar lines. Lately Dayna's come to favor adding slide guitar colors, and so much the better: her poetry has that much more to play against. Her live shows have become the stuff of legend - she's been known to bring loud crowded bars down to reverent silence by the end of her first song. "...should she show up in your neighborhood for a live performance, by all means catch it. You won't be looking at your watch wondering if there's a polite way to make an exit.' - Music Reviews Quarterly Dayna will be touring with Richie Havens in support of "Postcards from Downtown" throughout 2002, as well as booking solo shows in the U.S. and Europe.

Music Style Dayna's unique sound blends R&B, pop, and folk music and serves to showcase her powerful and expressive vocals.

Musical Influences Dayna continues to expand her musical and lyrical borders and her recent recordings with Bob Power (Eryka Badu, Me'Shell Ndegeocello) prove her ability to traverse musical genres.

Similar Artists jeff buckley, cassandra wilson, rickie lee jones, tom waits, lucinda williams

Albums otherwise luscious life (live) and postcards from downtown

Press Reviews "She can write, she can sing, she can certainly play guitar, and she can play a brand of jazz flavored folk and pop (with some unflinchingly direct and incisive lyrics) that goes well beyond the aim of most other solo performers. (Music Reviews Quarterly)"She writes riveting poetry, has a truly incredible voice, is a terrific guitarist, and simply dominates the room with her presence. (Music City Texas - Austin)"Dayna Kurtz is one of our favorite unsigned singer-songwriters...an artist who is due greater popular success...Everytime we play her song "Fred Astaire" it drops us and our listeners down with sheer brilliance." (Bruce Warren, Program Director, WXPN)

Location New York, New York - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).