Austin, TX-based Dan Dyer's soulful tenor voice and gospel-tinged pop songwriting are truly something special, and he isn't afraid to reach back to 1970s soulsters like Al Green, Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and Dr. John for musical guidance and inspiration. Born and raised in the small East Texas town of Tool, Dyer was given his first guitar when he was only five years old but he didn't learn to play it until some 13 years later when he moved to Austin. Once there, he discovered his love of singing and began working hard at perfecting his songwriting. While attending Texas State University in San Marcos, TX, Dyer, along with guitarist Tyrone Vaughan (the son of Jimmie Vaughan), drummer Jason White, keyboardist Ezra Reynolds, and bassist Josh Dawkins, formed Breedlove, which became pretty successful on the local club circuit, building a solid fan base and releasing a self-produced CD, Reach Out, in 1996 before calling it quits as a band in 1998. Dyer recorded the still unreleased album 12 Songs in 2001 with guitarist Billy White playing and producing, then relocated to New York, where he began writing musical jingles for commercial marketing campaigns. Lenny Kravitz, who had just started up his own Roxie Records imprint for Warner Bros.' Reprise Records, signed Dyer to his new label and produced (as well as co-writing three songs and playing most of the instruments) Of What Lies Beneath, Dyer's debut solo album (it was Roxie's debut release as well), issuing it in 2004. When Warners was sold, Dyer became the innocent victim of consolidation and reshuffling, and was soon out of a record deal. He moved to St. Louis, MO, and started a family, but eventually began traveling back to Austin to play music. He reconnected with old friend David Boyle, who produced and recorded Dyer in his studio, a converted church located just outside of Austin. The resulting album, the self-titled Dan Dyer, was released by Fat Caddy Records in 2008. ~ Steve Leggett