The Danny Haller Story
Danger on 5-Strings
Danny Haller was born a fighter. Maybe, at barely 2 lbs., he wasn't kicking and screaming - but he was alive and he was stubborn. It seemed nothing was going to stop him from living this life God wanted him to have and experiencing the wonder of the world God had waiting for him.
Perhaps living in a tiny isolette for the first 3 months of his life deprived him of the warmth and touch of being held in his mother's arms, but his mother's love made him strong and more determined to keep struggling, keep fighting. After all, God's beautiful world awaited him and it would be worth the fight.
In 1959, the medical world didn't know yet about the dangers of giving premature babies too much oxygen, and the result irreparably damaged the retinas in Danny's eyes, making him totally blind. Thankfully, no other damage was done to any of his other senses or major life abilities.
In Danny's first year of life, his father abandoned the family, unwilling to face the fact that his child was blind. But, here again, it was love that saved his life - the love of his mother, her brothers and his grandparents - that allowed him to know a safe, happy family life. Later on in his life, at 5yrs. old, his mother re-married and his stepfather raised him as his own child.
DANNY'S SCHOOL YEARS
At 6 yrs. old, Danny took the school bus every Sunday at 3p.m. to attend the Maryland School for the Blind. All week he would live away from home in the dormitories and return home Friday at 6p.m. It may seem like a lonely life, especially for a 6 yr. old away from his family, but Danny was excited and curious and wanted to learn about everything in the world around him. The School for the Blind was the place that gave him the knowledge and tools he needed to begin his journey into the "seeing world" as a blind man. He excelled at everything he tried and as he grew older, he wouldn't settle for aspirations considered "acceptable" for blind people. God gave him exceptional hearing, an extraordinary memory and photographic mind. His interests were wide and his intellectual curiosity without boundaries. Even as a boy, he was fascinated by weather, electronics and was forever taking things apart to see how they worked. Raising such a precocious child who wanted to do everything a sighted child could do was clearly a challenge for his parents...but they survived. He always had fun being around his uncles, who would let him try different things, and made him feel like he could do anything.
DANNY MEETS THE BANJO
When Danny was 15 yrs. old, his Uncle Jimmy gave him a Harmony banjo for Christmas, not just to keep him company at school, but because he hoped Danny would have a chance to make a living as other blind musicians have done. At first, Danny didn't quite know what to do with the banjo, but from the first time he heard Bluegrass music on WISZ, Glen Burney, and WBMD, Baltimore, MD, he absolutely fell in love with the beautiful sound of all the instruments, the harmonies and especially the sound of the banjo. Danny knew then and there, he had to learn how to make that same wonderful sound that made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. Learning how to play the banjo was just another challenge in a lifetime of challenges. He knew it would be a struggle. People told him that instrument was too hard to play and that he should stick with the piano. But he was stubborn, it wouldn't defeat him. Since there was noone to teach him, he taught himself. He went to the library and got the Earl Scruggs cassette instructional tape. He taped music from the radio and played the songs over and over trying to replicate the sound. In 1979, he played his first song "The Ballad of Jed Clampett".
Once Danny started meeting the bluegrass musicians in the Baltimore, D.C. area, his world was changed forever. No longer was he just a blind man, he was a picker - a part of the Bluegrass community. He was welcomed and befriended by so many people, who invited him to pickin' parties and jams, took him to festivals with them, helped him learn new licks, called him up on stage to sing or pick a few, and after his banjo playing became more and more improved, asked him to be part of their bands. For over 25 years, he traveled the highways and byways, playing clubs, fairs, private parties, political events, holiday celebrations, wherever bluegrass music was needed. After getting married in 1998, and moving from Maryland to Virginia, he started his own band "Danny Haller & Driving Blind", where he got to run sound, set up and take down the PA equipment, as well as load and unload the vehicle after the gigs. Danny's biggest obstacle in his life as a musician is the perception of others that because he is blind he would be unable to function in a band setting on stage. Nothing could be farther from the truth as the bands he's played with can attest - his talent as a musician, his knowledge of the music, his excellent ability to hear the dynamics and sing all the harmony parts, make him a valuable part of any band.
He always considered it a compliment when people in the audience would tell him it was hard for them to believe he couldn't see "anything at all", and asked "Are you sure". His irreverant humor about being blind always breaks down the stereotypes people have about blind people's abilities.
Q. "Have you been blind all your life?"
A. "Well, so far".
Danny is happiest when he is onstage - entertaining bluegrass lovers with great musicianship, a good selection of songs and lots of humor. When an audience feels they are being entertained rather than watching a blind man playing the banjo, then Danny will keep following his Bluegrass Dream - wherever it takes him.
LEAVING VIRGINIA
Danny and Inez did not make the decision to leave Virginia blindly (so to speak). Danny knew how hard it would be to start over in a new home and new town, where he had no friends, no family and no connections - just his banjo, a banjo that gave him a wonderful life so far. But he had a dream that would not let him rest. What overwhelming force could possibly make him leave his beautiful home in Virginia, the house he and his wife had built when they got married. He watched it being built from a hole in the ground, felt every beam and stair, and knew every nook and cranny - it was all mapped out in his head. His friends would drop over at various times and they would pick together in his music room. Many nights the music went on till the wee hours. Sometimes he would set up the mikes and record just for fun. Danny spent hours in that room and this was the room where he decided to produce and record his own CD. It was here he recorded his first radio show, Bluegrass State of Mind, with Hawkeye Danny Haller, playing records from his vast collection of vintage bluegrass music. This house was where he and his wife would sit on their front porch and watch the bluebirds they loved nesting and raising new broods. Danny also had a job he loved, teaching banjo at Picker's Supply in Fredericksburg, VA. No one wanted him to leave - not his students, not the owner who cautioned him about how hard life would be for a musician in Nashville. But playing Bluegrass around the Fredericksburg area was becoming almost impossible and Bluegrass had virtually disappeared from the radio. So, Danny and Inez made the hardest decision of their lives together. They had to leave Virginia and go to Nashville, TN. Music was the driving force that overrode the comfort and safety of staying in Virginia. It was the music that kept tugging at him... Danny had to be where the music was all around him - a place where he could continue his journey and follow his Bluegrasss Dream.
MOVING TO NASHVILLE LOCK, STOCK AND BANJOS
As far as family and friends were concerned, Nashville was the exact place Danny needed to be. Everyone agreed. Friends and family will always remain friends and family no matter the distance between them. The family support was overwhelming and helped immensely to face this biggest challenge in Danny's life. For a blind man, mapping a new house and surroundings in your head, is a daunting task. But Danny is stubborn - he won't let anything defeat him - even the cement pillar at the entrance to the living room, or trying to find and organize all his records after the move. But Danny is also courageous, he steps out of his door every day into the darkness, not knowing what he will encounter. Facing these brand new surroundings would be just another obstacle to overcome and he was more than ready for the task. Getting to know the Bluegrass community around the Nashville area is also a slow process but has resulted in finding some wonderful new friends - people who befriended him immediately. His very first new friend in Tennessee, was and still is, Lonnie Jones, a great Bluegrass musician who runs a Bluegrass Jam in Madison, TN. He welcomed Danny, praised his banjo playing and offered to help him in his career in any way he could. In his very first summer in Tennessee, Danny was invited by Lonnie on stage to play and sing a few with his band.
It's been a slow process but Danny is getting to be known around town, mostly through his natural ability to make people laugh. Whether on stage, at the supermarket, or in the dentist's office, it doesn't matter where, he cracks people up with his funny remarks about being blind. His spontaneous humor surprises most people and immediately breaks down any barriers or fear they may have had about "blind people". Suddenly they see him as Danny, a real person who is fun to be around, loves talking with people about most anything, baseball, cars, the world going to pot, etc. etc. and, of course, Bluegrass and banjos. It's the way he's chosen to live his life.
THE STATION INN MAGIC
Since arriving in Nashville in March 2006, Danny has rarely missed the Sunday night Bluegrass Jams at the Station Inn. It was pure magic when he first sat in and joined the circle of musicians, with none other than owner and founder, J. T. Gray playing the bass, and an array of professional Nashville musicians. It was hard for him to realize he was actually there. This was his dream and he knew instantly he had made the right decision. He was in the right place. But as many people warned him, Nashville is hard on musicians. Although he knew it would take a long time to become known as a musician - and not as just a blind man who plays the banjo and sings with his wife. But he is ready to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to become known as a professional Nashville banjo picker.
LOOK OUT WORLD - I'VE GOT A BANJO AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE IT.
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