Who is Dan Halen?

Dan is a singer/songwriter hailing from Canada's Yukon Territory who combines his formal classical guitar skills and love of traditional folk music into his songs. His music boasts mellifluous rhythmic textures and lyrical double-entendres while boldly stepping over the boundaries of traditional folk music.  He interlaces alternative tunings with smooth poly rhythmic phrasing with a fluidity and adeptness of a refined classical guitarist, all the while weaving great stories and good sense of humor into the mix.

As a complete contrast to the Eighty's rocker Eddie Van Halen, the Dan Halen of Yukon is a 'Renaisance Man' in every sense of the word with regards to his musical influences. As a former carpenter, mechanic, farmer, gold miner, teacher, studio owner and classical guitarist, Dan has amassed a lifetime of stories and experiences to share with his listeners that come from 'real life' moments and interactions with the rugged Yukon landscape and the colorful 5% around him. Moving with his wife Cheryl from prairies of Winnipeg Manitoba in 1995 to the once booming Klondike Goldrush town of Dawson City in Canada's north, they've lived the adventures of the early explorers. Living off the land and in a wall tent at - 40 c without electricity and running water, they continued to be off the grid for more than ten years while building their small home. During this time, Dan constructed a biodiesel processor, converted a Mercedes Benz car and WW II generator to run on waste vegetable oil, messed around with batteries, inverters, solar panels, wind generators, human powered generator bicycles and currently raises livestock and seasonal produce on a small farm in a remote area near Whitehorse while continuing to write and perform his music at festivals and clubs.  He's no longer 'fighting the power' and has hooked up to the grid to run his recording studio that he recently constructed. It's safe to say that there is little to be had in way of big city influences in his music, other than he’s using a lot more electric guitar than acoustic lately.

As a former music educator, Dan has more than fifteen years experience in the public school system and has taught many levels of choral and guitar music along with several years of film and television production classes to thousands of students. He is a graduate of the University of Manitoba Music Program and holds a B/Mus, B/Ed. and Specialist Certificate in recording from Berklee College of Music. He is a member of SPEBSQSA and TAXI where he collaborates with musicians throughout the world creating music for many niche markets.  He has worked as a 1st assistant director and sound recording engineer on two short films through the Yukon Film and Sound Commission's "Mise' en Scene" program and continues to study through Berklee College in recording engineering, guitar, songwriting, and music marketing.

Working to appease the adventuresome tourists that arrive via the Alaska Highway each year, Halen's "Trapper Dan" project entertains the masses with songs of ice roads, dog musher's, Alaskan legends, and far flung Canadian folklore as listeners venture towards the "Final Frontier" of Alaska and beyond. As an avid historian and outdoor enthusiast himself, Halen created his "Trapper Dan" C.D., as not only a collection of great original northern songs, but also an interactive historical treasure hunt for G.P.S. fans traveling the South Klondike Highway as they're treated to a narrative tour by Dan on the latter part of the C.D. A true "gold nugget" from the land of the midnight sun.

The always creative, never bored Dan Halen