The first time Dan Tyminski got onstage, he was six years old. His parents had taken him to the You And I club in upstate New York, where Smokey Greene, a regional country musician, was playing.
“I asked Mom if I could go up on stage, too, and she said I could ask him.” Tyminski was shy; she must have thought he wouldn’t dare ask the musician. But he did. “I tugged on the guy’s pantleg, got up onstage, and performed my first song.” It was John Denver’s “Please Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas).”
Fifty-three years later, he sees that moment as surprisingly out of character. “I was a really shy kid. This was well outside my character. And man, my knees were knocking up there. But I think I was just meant to do that.” In the end, the crowd cheered.
Tyminski’s childhood was filled with music. His parents took him to bluegrass festivals, square dances, and bars a six-year-old probably wouldn’t be let into today. He loved the festivals, even when they left him drenched or muddy. “Man, oh man. To be able to camp out, roam, meet people… it was the best.”
By six, he could play a chord on a guitar. At seven, he started messing around with a mandolin his brother had brought him while on leave from the Navy. “I did that until I was 12 years old. When I was 12, I really got the bug. I heard a J.D. Crowe record and knew I wanted to play the banjo.” He started playing live, eventually joining the Lonesome River Band.
Allison Krauss, of Union Station, heard Looking For Yourself, a Lonesome River Band album he played on. He was offered a job with Union Station, which is a little like a ballerina being offered a spot England’s Royal Ballet: it’s as good as it gets. He was so happy with the Lonesome River Band, though, that he turned the offer down.
When they asked him a second time, he surrendered. “This was a lottery type situation if you played that kind of music. Union Station was the top of the heap. There’s nowhere to go from there. It was amazing that I found myself in that situation. It was more than I could handle, really. I had to grow into the position.”
Union Station kept him pretty busy, but some free time opened up when Krauss went to work with Robert Plant. He started a label with his former bandmate Tim Austin and got to making music. It was more a way to pass the time than anything else. He still didn’t consider himself a solo artist.
Two songs launched him into the public consciousness. The first was “Man of Constant Sorrow,” a standard written in 1913 that he recorded for the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? In the film, George Clooney’s character sings it; it’s a pivotal moment. “I was not prepared for how big that was going to be. It was a brain-melter. I was used to a certain amount of attention, but seeing your voice come out of someone else’s face… I’m still getting used to it.”
2013 saw the release of “Hey Brother,” a collaboration with Avicii, a Swedish DJ specializing in EDM. “I didn’t even know what that music was,” he said. When he was approached to record the song, he wanted to turn it down. But a teenage girl convinced him not to.
“My daughter, she freaked out when I told her who it was. She couldn’t even process it. I told her I hadn’t even heard the song yet, so I didn’t know if I liked it.” She told him that didn’t matter. Even if it sucked, he had to do it. Struck by her passion, he decided to give it a shot. “I don’t care if no one else hears it. It’s going to make one teenage girl really happy.” A few weeks after its release, it was number one in 16 countries.
On October 20, 2026, he’ll play his debut show at St. Cecilia Music Center. He knows five or six of the songs he and his band will definitely perform, but the rest won’t be decided until that evening. “I don’t make a setlist. I have no wonder when I walk onstage what the bulk of the music will be.”
Sometimes, he’ll even tell a musician to pick a song and kick it off without telling him what it is.
“Live music touches a different part of your soul than recorded music. It sits deeper.” He treasures the experiences and memories he’s had while listening to live music. Getting to the show, waiting for it to kick off, getting as close to the stage as he can: he treasures these moments. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Live music made me who I am.”
Dan Tyminski Band w/ Mark Lavengood
St. Cecilia Music Center
Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m.
scmcgr.org
