In the spring of 2016, Guelph singer-songwriter Danielle Todd loaded her suitcase and guitar into a van and headed south to Nashville in search of a dream.
After two years of late-night gigging and networking in the country music capital of the world she has released her first single Crazy accompanied by a video with a few retrospective themes.
“Maybe I am a little crazy,” said Todd. “After all, I did move to Nashville in a van.”
She wrote Crazy with two other country artists, Caitie Thompson and Bobbi Holliday during a songwriters’ retreat in Nashville.
“We hadn’t met before we were put in a room to write that song,” said Todd. “It came together so quick. We really clicked. Those two girls are close friends of mine now.”
Crazy was produced by country artist Grady James who will be opening for Todd on March 17 at the Stampede Ranch.
“I will be coming home for a show and doing a whole hour of new music,” said Todd. “I am bringing Grady James up from Nashville and Rebecca Rain from Collingwood will be doing a set as well.”
Todd spent her first year in Nashville in survival mode but by the end of 2017 she was playing some of the best clubs in the city.
“The second year I got pretty steady gigs and really kind of buckled down into songwriting,” said Todd. “I play in the Tootsie’s circuit so I’ve played Tootsie’s, Honky Tonk Central, Rickie’s and Kid Rock’s bar on Broadway. Broadway is like Disneyland for adults, basically. It’s an entire four blocks of bars.”
Nashville has been called the 10-year city because it often takes artists that long to make it if they make it at all so Todd is pleased with the progress she has made.
“It’s been going a lot better than I could have asked especially to be able to say I moved here two years ago and now I am releasing my first single,” she said. “It’s pretty cool to be played across Canada on all the radio stations and across Australia as well.”
The song has surpassed 20,000 spins on Spotify and other online platforms since it was posted Jan 24 and the video produced by Matt Connell from Northwood Music is approaching 13,000 views.
Todd has had some help from loyal fans who have been pressuring country music stations to play Crazy. In one case they inundated the inboxes of deejays at Kitchener’s Country 106.7 with requests.
“They looked up the song and they loved it and now they are spinning my song on the Kitchener radio station,” said Todd. “That really demonstrates the power of the people.”
Tickets for the March 17 show at the Stampede Ranch are available here.
To hear the song, click here and to watch the video click here.
