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DAVE NACHMANOFF writes and performs with a contagious passion and intensity, bringing a "rock and roll energy" to what would otherwise be a folk performance. For Dave, performing and sharing music are second nature. He's been giving dynamic performances for large crowds since he was nine years old. Growing up in the folk-enriched milieu of the Washington, D.C. area, Dave was exposed to a variety of musical traditions at a young age. Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie were probably the first performers he saw live and he remembers being "inspired by the way Seeger and Guthrie were able to involve people, to get them singing along. They just drew you right into the music. I thought, I want to do that." Performances at D.C.-area community events and a chance to play with Elizabeth Cotton at a travelling blues workshop in D.C. had Dave performing for large audiences at an early age. We played Freight Train on the Monument lawn"That song is about what I consider to be the essence of folk music. It's about cutting across lines of gender and race and age and finding common ground." Dave Spent several years as a backing musician, developing his chops on a wide variety of instruments which, in addition to guitar, included 
piano, harmonica, accordion, and just about anything with strings. He later trained his brothers on drums and bass, forming a family band which he fronted. "I needed a band -- my brothers were interested in learning to play, so it worked out pretty conveniently!" Dave and his family moved to London the year after he graduated from high school where he joined a flamboyant theatrical folk group called "Kristo Hughes". "Playing in Kristo Hughes taught me that acoustic music doesn't have to be wimpy. lt taught Me to play out and sing boldly and with conviction." He's carried that experience through bands he put together in New York City and Oxford, England where he went to college, in the San Francisco area and in the Sacramento area, where he currently lives.  Dave
is currently focusing on songwriting and solo performance. His songwriting
has started to gain national recognition in the past few years, earning
him an Honorable Mention in the folk category at the Songwriters' Association
of Washington's Annual Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, and a finalist spot at
the Napa Valley Music Festival's Emerging Songwriter Competition two years
running. He was also chosen as finalist for the South Florida Folk Festival's
Songwriting Competition two year in a row. He is a remarkably diverse writer,
penning songs that are readily adapted to both electric and acoustic contexts
and that span many musical genres, including traditional folk, folk-rock,
country-rock, bluegrass, blues, gospel and R&B.
He put out two album-length recordings on tape and has released his debut CD in 1997. The first recording, "Down at the Soundfarm" is a virtually-live electric project that was done with "Dave and the Generators", a band that included his wife, Jennifer Nachmanoff, who he recruited as a bass player. The band no longer exists and the recording is out of print. Dave's second recording project, "Dweller on the Threshold", was a collection of thoughtful songs, also recorded live with Dave's gutsy baritone vocals and acoustic guitar. Many of the songs on the album are about transitions. They convey the tension between romanticism and realism, as well as a sense of nostalgia for the road not taken. The first CD, "Candy Shower" is a solo effort with some excellent special
guests helping Dave Out on various instruments and vocals. Dave plays a
variety of instruments on the CD, including guitar (acoustic and electric),
piano, bass, accordion and viola. Guests include Rick Lotter, Joe Craven,
Alice Stuart & Prune Rooney and Natalie Cortez. In 1996 Dave
began "touring" all over Northern California, and in the summer of 1997
started to tour nationally. with scheduled appearances at several festivals
in 1998, and an ever-growing mailing list, Dave is sharing his music with
as many FOR INFORMATION:
M. Heidsick ©1999
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people as he can reach. A new live CD "Snapshots" was released in July,
1998. Recorded at the Palms Public Playhouse in Davis, CA, it captures
the energy and fun of Dave's live show.