Andrea Daly

Little things make me want to write.
Shoelaces. Snail Shells. Take-out Food.
Joy. Bitterness. Heartache.
People.
Writing songs is infinitely frustrating and infinitely satisfying...
Mostly it's delicious.
Like giving birth to quirky little children,
who look like you but talk back.

I started piano lessons at age 5, and fell in love. 
Well. In and out of love. Like five-year-olds do.
Fourteen years of piano lessons and a lot of singing later, I left my hometown in Michigan to get a B.A. in Music (Voice) from Kenyon College in Ohio.

Since then I have taught elementary school in southern France, waited tables in New York City, directed multiple a cappella groups, edited classical recordings, eaten a lot of poached eggs, sworn in Spanish, performed with a big band, sat in on many a jazz jam session, and traveled on a shoestring to China, Turkey, Peru, Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Monaco, Switzerland, England, Mexico, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, and Ireland -- where half my family is from, which is why I can't tan.

I currently perform in New York, and also study classical composition - as a PhD student at Stony Brook University, and the recipient of its prestigious Graduate Council Fellowship. There I write things like string trios and tuba concertos. (Yes, tuba concertos.) But my inner songwriter insists on sharing (hogging?) the limelight. And I write songs too.

When it comes to who inspires me, I listen to everything. I am in awe of Fiona Apple's gutsiness, Jamie Cullum's piano licks, John Mayer's guitar skills, Sara Bareilles's singable melodies, Regina Spektor's stories, Rachmaninoff's romantic progressions, Bill Evans' jazz chord voicings, Tom Waits' off-the-wall humor and delicious timbres, Ella Fitzgerald's pipes, and Billy Holiday's unfiltered emotion. I love simplicity. And honesty. And strange, striking little details. I have strange bouts of spontaneity. I could talk about music for days.
 I could also tell you how much I love long walks on the beach, but that's starting to get a little beside the point...

Although beaches can be pretty great.

Listen to my songs;

I hope you enjoy them.

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See.hear.learn more at www.andreadalymusic.com.