Dan Landrum

In 1987, Dan was Program Director at a National Public Radio/ Classical music station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. One hot July afternoon, an announcer played a piece of music on the air he had never heard before: "The magical sound conjured up images of a harp player on steroids. I loved it, but I also knew it wasn't something in our regular playlist. Curiosity sent me straight to the on-air booth where I flipped over the album and found a photo of a man standing over a trapezoidal oddity with two sticks in his hand." That instrument, pictured above, was a hammer dulcimer. Although he had been a drummer for most of his life, Dan soon switched allegiance. Eventually he began playing the hammer dulcimer outside the Tennesse Aquarium in Chattanooga. Now he is touring with Yanni, taking the sounds of the hammer dulcimer to a worldwide audience. His connection to Yanni happened during a summer afternoon in 2002, while Dan was entertaining the crowds in front of the aquarium. A young man in the crowd listened to his music, asked several interesting questions, then bought a CD. Dan said he didn't think much about this until the man returned. "He said he wanted to buy a second CD so he could send it to his boss, Yanni, to hear," Dan remembered. "I thought, 'sure.'" Dan's skepticism vanished when he received a call in July from Anthony Stevil, Yanni's production manager. Stevil asked Dan if he would be interested in auditioning for the chance to participate in Yanni's 2003 world tour. He made a trip to Palm Beach, Florida for the audition, and was quickly signed to the world tour that began in March 2003. Dan has recorded two CDs, and the second one, Turning Point, has given him national acclaim. The Ethnicity tour was Dan's first with Yanni.

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