BETA Records - Your music matters!

Daniel Shepherd, a young blues singer from the outskirts of Sydney, plays a special kind of instrument. As he excitedly explains to curious audience members; he plays the Weissenborn, a platypus among guitars. It is an instrument ingeniously and specifically envisaged for Hawaiian steel playing. And possess' a sweet distinctive sustain which fervently extols the breathy bluesy voice of an exiting new Roots musician.

Dan is a passionate performer, he puts on a mesmerizing display of intricate fingerpicking & wailing guitar lines. He employs to great effect a unique percussive right hand rhythm technique, together with the Cajun (The West African "box" drum) that he stomps intently with a kickdrum pedal, taking the music to pulsating peaks of groovieness. The stuff that he's written, is both charming, emotive and hypnotic, delivered with conviction & pathos. Aswell as taking up the challenge of re-covering some beautiful delta-blues tunes, one dating as far back as the 1920's.

Daniel has emerged on the Aussie music scene at an unprecedented cross roads for folk, blues & roots music. His stylings belong to a genre that has up until recently received scant interest, and is just being considered worthy of airplay on commercially minded radio stations like Triple J. There is no doubt that Daniel will soon be a roots music superstar, in an industry suddenly smitten with blues, a change that has seen the likes of John Butler, The Waifs, Jeff Lang, Ash Grunwald etc, gain huge popularity in recent years.