Daniel T. Coates News

Gregg Stocki will be drumming with Dan T. Coates for two weeks from March 6 through March 14th, 2010. Gregg and Dan met back in Zurich, Switzerland in 1993 or 94. Dan was playing in the old "Hirsch" in downtown Zurich and Gregg came in after his show with Becky Hobbs. Since then, Gregg went on to being Marty Stuart's drummer and then doing the beat for Tracy Lawrence until 2 years ago. Andy Kupfer is on the road with Ina Deter during March. Don't worry folks, he will be back. With Gregg, we will be doing lots of Marty Stuart and Tracy Lawrence songs. Gregg also drummed on the truly cool Marty Stuart album "THE PILGRIM"

Drum Clinic in Berlin 13/14 März!! Attention Drummers, Bass players, Bandleaders and others!! Gregg Stocki wird auf der Country Music Messe in Berlin (12-14. März 2010 in Berlin) zwei Drum Workshops geben: Samstag, 13.03.10 um 18:30 und Sonntag, 14.03.10 um 13 Uhr Um live Feels zu demonstrieren, sind Dan T. Coates und Basser Gábor Bardfalvi dabei. Location ist in der Jack Daniels Bar im Obergeschoß. Es wird auf grosse Anlage verzichtet und mehr oder weniger ein akkustik Workshop sein. Platzreservierung und Infos gibt’s am Stand 217 oder bei info@daniel-t-coates.com.
Gregg hat auch interessante “Door Prizes” organisiert.
Unter anderem:

(1) Wrangler George Strait Collection Western Shirt approx. value $50
(1) George Strait Canadian Tour Commemorative Vest (Tough Duck Brand) approx. value ?
(1)Slug Percussion Bass Drum Beater approx. value $40
(9) Slug Percussion Drumhead Batter Badges approx. value $11-14 each
(4)Attack Drumheads 14” approx. value Assorted T-shirts and Ball caps

PHIL VASSAR in FOUR CORNERS, Untermeitingen, Germany

February 1st, 2010 is a date that will live in infamy....in a positive way!! Dan opened for Phil Vassar at Four Corners in Untermeitingen, Germany. Phil's song "where have all the pianos gone", really says it all. How many great songs has this guy written? And to bring so much energy on stage with piano, acoustic guitar and mandolin/fiddle! Of course add Phil's expressive voice and the vocal harmonies of his two buds. Dan got to have a good long visit with Phil and his team at breakfast. Nothin in the world like songwriters who sing their own. Britta T. from Switzerland did an excellent job as the other opener in Four Corners. Good choice by club manager Bill Wallace!! Check out the Great American Country Site and leave a comment about the show in Four Corners! Read the Great American Country Article here and leave a comment!

Philadelphia to Nashville: On Jan 1., I had the honor to play for my nephew's wedding in Philly. His wife Tierney planned and carried out the perfect wedding. She is truly a class act. I sang a Kate Wolf song called "Give Yourself To Love" with my sister Barbara (the groom's mom). After a few days in Pennsylvania, I drove down to Nashville and had me a high old time. Recorded four songs at Markus Stadler's studio and went to a songwriter's night in the Bluebird. Also met with Gregg Stocki to work out his little tour with us. I drove back to PA and visited Lexington, Virginia. Almost hit a huge fricking deer who had already been hit once and then got back up.

In the photo from right to left: Dan, Dan's Dad, Nephew Kelly, Nephew Matt, Tierney, Dan's sister Barbara, Brother-in-law Jack and the wedding maker...

Wolfgang Hagenberger, the founding father of Pullman City in the Harz, celebrated his 50th birthday in a big way. 400 guests, two bands (Lennerockers and DTCoates Band). Many friends chipped in and bought him a stuffed North American Buffalo for his museum. Congratulations to the boss of Europe's most succesful western theme park!

Unfortunately, no Helt Oncale Band shows at the AFAG Trade Fair in Nürnberg. Helt, Dan, Clemens and John really looked forward to these shows and so did a great many fans and workers at the "Messe". Too bad. We think the AFAG made a big mistake!!!!

Dan will be in Nashville from January 10 to 15 doing some recording at Bumpin Heads Studio.

PHIL VASSAR is coming to FOUR CORNERS on February 1, 2010 and Dan will do a few numbers before his show. Also performing is Britta T.

Russell Burke is working on a new album and Dan is helping produce it and will have 5-6 songs on it. They started work end of November, 2009. Along with brand new songs, Russell is also covering Dan's "I DON'T LISTEN TO MY RADIO" and the Georger Strait hit, "TROUBADOUR"

Dan was on the jury at the Pullman City Harz Trophy on Nov 27/28. The other judges were Martin Jones from Radio MDR in Magdeburg, Marion Freier and the publisher of the magazine Living Linedance. One of the highlights was Taneytown from Holland.

TRACY BYRD would be a welcome guest back in Germany! Hope he makes it in 2010! Bring out the Byrd dawgs!! See you at FOUR CORNERS!

CONGRATULTIONS TO THE FDP! The FDP definately has some great taste in music! Thanks to Gabi Renatus and the John Cash fan Sven for taking us on board after the initial show last year in Bamberg. Our job was to play an hour or so before the speeches and attract folks to the event. As it got closer to election day, the crowds came earlier and got larger.

Dan, Andy and Gábor really enjoyed the run of events we played for the Free Democrats. In addition to the shows on the Freedom Truck, we played some other really cool locations in "Halle 02" in Heidelberg, the "Alteskesselhaus" in Duesseldorf and in Cottbus at the "Alte Chemiefabrik". These are clubs that our country music path never leads us down. By the end of the tour, every single member of the Team was rocking to our music including the "Julis" (the FDP young volunteers) under direction of Sandro Schilder who never lost his cool and the truck team lead by Werner Lorenz. These people did a fantastic job. Running a campagne like this is a heck of a big job. Soundman Lutz Helbig kept the sound and video running smoothly. MC Andreas Heinzgen really put us in a good light and showed his knowlege of every song we pulled out by naming the writer or singer and easing into his monologue, then handing the show back to us. Very professional work.

Since we are not really a politically-minded band and two of us can't vote in Germany anyhow, we started out being somewhat less than interested in what was going on. But by the end of the tour, I was really cheering for the FDP. We met all the bosses there. General Secretary Dirk Niebel, Miriam Gruss and of course Dr. Westerwelle who is moving into the position of nr. 2 after the chancellor as foreign minister of Germany. When they took this picture in Munich, its hard to tell if Guido Westerwelle even knew we were his backup band! He had just whipped up a crowd of about 1400 people on the Marienplatz.

With Doctor Guido Westerwelle on September 23, 2009, with the grand "Rathaus" in the background. Location was the Marienplatz in Munich, Germany.

Dobrowa Gornica, Poland! Thanks for the award! The "Country Piknik" was a blast! There were about 4000 people at the Zielona Park and 4 bands. We also learned that in local dialect, the word for "ceiling" is "gipsdecke". This part of Poland, known as Silesia once had a strong German population. (scroll down page to see video)

WILLIE NELSON has a new album out. What does "Stern" Magazine say about it!?

Willie did a great service way back in the day when he brought out his "Stardust" album. Everybody had almost forgotten, Blue Skies, Stardust, Georgia On My Mind and all those other classics.

So now he's doing it again.

And he's paying his income taxes and still playing...golf and guitar.

WIL RIPLEY died at the end of August in Hofheim, Hessen. He played in the bands Houston and Outlaw Country with Dan Coates here in Germany. He was a Sergeant in the Army until the late 90s. He retired and lived around Frankfurt playing some music. He had a band called Bootleg for awhile. After he got out of the army he let that hair grow. Wil could really drink beer. He had some demons to deal with but he was always planning his next music thing and could be a real positive force.

NEWS FROM PENNSYLVANIA! July 20 - August 11!

Hi You-uns as some say here! I'm in America right now doing some visiting and some song-writing. Mostly, I am eating too much and swimming in the ocean or a pool or a river every danged day.

I was down on the Maryland-Virginia border at the barrier island Assateague. It is a pristine state park on the Atlantic with a great beach and wild ponies.

Got to dig a Rodeo on the FLYING W RANCH near TIONESTA, Pennsylvania. Sitting next to me were a few Amish guys from down in my neck of the woods.

JETT WILLIAMS appeared at the Mt. Gretna Theatre here in Lebanon County and I checked that out. She is the daughter of legend Hank Williams. Her story and show is interesting: Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy .

Got to pick my little Taylor at a bluegrass jam session at the Iron Horse in Gettysburg. It happens every Friday night from 7 to 10 and I recommend it.

Kayacking on the Juniata River with Jenny and my sister's kids was a blast.

I finally got together with my old pal LONNIE DALE, who photographs really cool and important people. We did some picking and did the trip to Assateague together. Check out a few pics of Dan and Lonnie.

POLAND & FRANCE

The DTC Band put some miles...well kilometers on the old van the past two weeks. About 4200 to be exact. July 4th was a headliner show in Dąbrowa Górnicza at the 15th Country Piknik. The event is sponsored by the city and everything was perfectly organised. Maybe the biggest PA we ever played over.

July 9th we made a pit stop at the Bonanza club in Bissegg, Switzerland on the way to La Roque Country Festival. The Rebound Band set things up and did the first set. Then it was on to La Roque, where we lived liked kings for two days. We also witnessed and were then part of a chair throwing fight on Friday night.

DAVID WADDELL CD "LONE STAR OVER TEXAS"

on Coates Cat Records

David Young Waddell's new cd is in the works and should be available by the end of August. It is the 14th CD on the Dan T. Coates label.

CODY JINKS SHOWS

The Cody Jinks Shows were a great success. I think both Cody, Dan, Andy, Didi, Gábor and Kai Ulatowski all had more laughs than any human being deserves! The shows in Four Corners and Wittenberge were real treats. The Wittenberge crowd moved up and stood in front of the stage, really giving Cody and the band some motivation. The sound was great! Four Corners was also nice and full, sound was good, food was good, crowd was just fine! We really got to know Texan Cody better this time around and several people who had seen us on previous Cody tours said it seems like we had become one band. True! There are some great Photos coming from the Geiselwind show.

FDP GIGS 2009

The Dan T. Coates Trio is fairly non-political but we are enjoying playing for the FDP, which is one of Germany's political parties with as much as 10% representiation. There is an event truck set up at each rally and the band sets up behind the podium and like honey to the bees, hopefully attracts some folks to the open air event. About 900 people filled the tables and standing area at the Rathausplatz in Augsburg on May 27. Shows are following in June leading up to the European Elections. Then come the Bundestagselections!

BELLAMY BROTHERS

Opening for the Bellamy Brothers was fun and the crowd in Untermeitingen was wonderful. Quite a few new faces. Firsttimers are not lasttimers there! Dan got to have lunch and tour a castle and brewery close by. A possible Bellamy concert in conjunction with another event at the castle is in the works for 2010. Howard and David are darned nice guys. David is working on a book about the things this world famous duo has seen since its beginnings in the 1970s . The brothers are active Ranchers in Florida and fans of Tractor Supply Store (Dan's favorite store). The only thing we didn't like was the plexiglas wall around the drummer!

FOOD CORNER IN PULLMAN CITY NOW HAS GOOD FOOD!

Thanks to our old friend Juergen R., who used to manage the autohof Rosenhof, the food corner in Pullman City, Eging am See, Germany now has mighty fine food. The burger and fries are excellent! There is other great vittles to be had and now food is being served on the porch and in the saloon and dancehall! Unfortunately, the dancing girls from the Rosenhof days are not there....

FOUR CORNERS with TRACY BYRD

Great show in Untermeitingen, Germany. Tracy and his boys were great. Real professional „givers“ but also good and neighborly! Dan‘s Band enjoyed opening up for Tracy on both nights and if things work out, maybe it won‘t be the last time we see him! Some Pics by a fan! Pictures coming soon! Read about it (in German!) Next show at FOUR CORNERS is March 28th! Then again with Cody Jinks on May 29.

                                                                                                                                                                           Feb 6,7 & 8. 2009

was the Country Music Messe in Berlin! Dan and the boys were there at stand 219. We backed two Texas singers, Cody Jinks and Liz Talley. Our own shows went just great and several bookings came in for Latvia and Lithuania....that‘s nice! You can read a blog entry here on Dan T. Coates & Band‘s past Fan Fair adventures! Berlin Country Music Fan Fair Article


Jan. 28, 2009

• Great American Writer from Pennsylvania JOHN UPDIKE died

                                                                                                                                                                         November 11, 2008!

• It is time for a new president and a new homepage....Mr. Obama will not be able to do magic. But it is definately a time for optimism.

• Paul Newman died...Cool Hand Luke was the man..

• Dan T. Coates is planning his next album. He just has to stop planning and start writing the danged songs!!

• Cody Jinks is coming back to Germany in May 2009!

• Eddy Arnold died May 8, 2008. He was sort of the Kenny Rogers of his day, but more than that. Everybody knew his version of the Cattle Call and Make The World Go Away. It didn‘t matter if you liked country or not, these songs surpassed that criteria.

March 14, 2009 in FOUR CORNERS,
Untermeitingen, Germany.

Opening for Tracy Byrd! Thanks to Frank Distler at frankdistler.de (formerly Bilderkarton). Tracy Byrd/Dan T. Coates

5. March 2007 - Pictures from Bamberg Live-Club.

http://live-club.de/event-fotos/080327_danieltcoates/index.jsp

September 26, 2008

Grillhouse in Rohrsdorf, Germany