Dana Agnellini
If you want to get to know me a little better, go out and rent the movie "Moonstruck". I am an Italian guy from New Jersey raised in an Italian Bread Baking Family.
My dad was a professional Jazz saxophone player and my grandparents always listened to Italian Opera. So how did I end up being a country/folk music kinda guy, you might ask? Working at the Bakery in the wee hours of the morning, my Uncle Anthony used to play 1050AM WHN . This was the only country station in New Jersey in the 60's and 70's. Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, all the original outlaws were creeping into my young mind of mush without me even knowing it!
I picked up my first guitar at 13 yrs old (just to impress the babes). Within a year or so I was in my first rock band (Prism). We were the worst! Real KISS wannabees. Our drummer used to spit gasoline onto a torch! But it did work...it impressed the babes, so I stuck with it.
Once I got my Kiss era over with, I became of student of the singer songwriters, Kriss Kristofferson, James Taylor, Don McLean. and Jim Croce were my favorites. At the age of 16 I discovered Bruce Springsteen, and that's when I knew that I wanted to be a songwriter. The words and music were such a powerful inlfuence on my life that I wanted to be able to share my soul with others in that way. That's when my love affair with writing music began.
I wrote and wrote and wrote. There is not a single thing that I wrote in those years that I would share with anyone...but it got my juices flowing and I began learning the craft.
By my mid twenties I married Christine and began getting "career minded" which to me meant put down the guitar and get a real job so that's what I did. I've been in the business world ever since. I am a district sales manager for a pharmaceutical company. But once you've been bitten by the songwriting bug it never goes away.
I began attended a Unity Church in the mid nineties. Unity is a cool church...blue jeans not a lot of pomp and circumstance. Unity is non-denominational and honors all faiths, all walks of life. It is a place where like minded people come together to teach, to learn, and to enjoy each other's company. Christine kept buggin me to volunteer for the Sunday music and, of course I declined...I don't do church music! Well, one Sunday I said, What the heck...and then again and again. Before long I was a regular, and began composing the music that I performed.
Now these songs were much better than my early attempts at songwriting, and I was getting great feedback. I like to say they are songs about life by a person who believes in God. Not religious, not preachy, certainly not holier than thou. After many years at Unity, I began feeling a higher calling and a higher pupose to the music. I began noticing a number of singer songwriters (troubadors) who were becoming quite well known writing and performing in the "New Thought" church circuit. I got to become a big fan of Greg Tamblyn.
Well one day, a lady at church, Irene Myers, came up to me after a service in tears and handed me a check for $500. She told me that my music touches and heals her and that I should record my music because other people need to hear this music as well. That was a clear sign for me to take this to the next level. After a few unsuccessful attempts to record locally, I called Greg Tamblyn and asked his advice. He hooked me up with County Q Productions in Nashville, TN and things began to move very quickly. Within a matter of weeks I was in and out of the studio and the songs turned out great! I've got at least 2-3 more CDs worth of music already written and I'm writing more every day.
When the FEDEX truck backed in with my first shipment of CDs, I turned from musician to promoter/salesman almost instantly. My goal now is to find a way to reach everyone who would be blessed by this music. That's where you all come in! If you like my music...spread the word..let people know...buy these CDs as gifts. Help me get the music out there! E-mail me if you'd like to work on getting a small concert together in your town. It's not about the money, it's about the music. I really want the music out there so it can do what it needs to do.
As the title of my CD suggests, we can all be the light of the world, one light at a time.