Official Website: http://dencountry.com/
MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/DenHollinden
genre: Country > Traditional Country
Den Hollinden writes, sings and produces honest, acoustic and vintage electrified music for real people. It is classified as traditional country, but it is not your grandparents' country music. Well, okay, maybe it is, but maybe your grandparents were cooler than you thought :-)
Intro to Den Hollinden
"This is the story of my music. I'll make every effort to leave out details that have little or nothing to do with music. Still, seemingly unrelated facts sometimes have a big influence on art; so, where there's doubt about whether something relates, I'll probably include it. Warning: If you plan on reading this at one sitting, go find a soft seat or a pillow.
Den Hollinden, St. Henry boy
I grew up in St. Henry, a microscopic German town in southern Indiana. It's not quite accurate to say I was born and raised there, as the nearest hospital (and the one that brought me into this world) was in somewhat larger Huntingburg, Indiana. I realize that some of our outstanding St. Henry citizens probably were born in St. Henry, as a hospital isn't a strict requirement, but I was born in one. I weighed ten pounds and one ounce at birth; so, yeah, Mom and I needed a little help. My small town roots are an important element of my music and can be heard clearly in songs like "St. Henry Christmas". You can buy him shoes; you can send him to school; you can even take him out of the country; but you really can't take the country out of the boy.
Music in the blood
One can dispute whether music can actually get into somebody's blood and be passed down from generation to generation, but I believe that every little bit helps. The two instances I know about are my Grandpa Kapp who was playing guitar and tater bug (A-type mandolin) long before I was born and Great Grandpa Leonard who was quite the bagpipe virtuoso. My advice to any of you with similiar roots: If you have one of Granpa's old tater bugs hanging on a wall somewhere, take it down and play the thing. It sure is a heck of a lot of fun. Things started for me when Dad brought home an old guitar he'd bought from one of his buddies at work for four dollars. That was guitar number one.
Musical influences
My musical influences growing up were many and varied. One of my earliest memories is falling asleep on the wood floor in Grandma Kapp's living room to the reassuring bass voice of Ernest Tubb. Grandma's youngest daughter, Aunt Lucy, had Monkees records she would play for us kids when we came to visit. Mom liked Listening to Loretta Lynn. The sisters at St. Henry School taught us hymns and Gregorian chants. I would sit in our living room in St. Henry and watch Dolly Parton in black and white on the Porter Wangoner show. Music on the radio wasn't one particular kind--unlike today where there are country stations, rock stations or rap stations. People did listen to one kind of music--good music. One of my cousins, Bon Jovi clone Steve Oeding, even had a hard rock band. If there was one performer who influenced us more than others, however, it was Elvis Presley. My brothers and I all wanted to dye our hair black and sing Elvis songs. My brother Linus is still better at it than anybody else I know.
Den Hollinden, songwriter
Somewhere around junior high (Holland, Indiana) I started writing music. (Incidently, that was also when people--my classmates at school--started calling me "Den.") I had learned to play a plastic, pre-band instrument called a "Song Flute" (recorder) and wrote a song about a certain Holland girl. Shortly afterwards, I had my first formal guitar lesson. The teacher was Art Stillwell, a man more dedicated to music than any other I've met--either before or since. Later, at Southridge High School, I joined the choir (under Art Doll) and got a taste of performing around Dubois County and beyond. The biggest influence on my songwriting was (and still is) Tom T. Hall.
Better than Elvis
While at college in Terre Haute, Indiana, I got my second guitar, an Epiphone acoustic which is the acoustic guitar you can hear in my music today. There was no guitar store in Terre Haute; so, my buddy Alfredo Serra bought it for me at Clines House of Music in Olney, Illinois one weekend and brought it back to campus. Armed with this new weapon, I began writing music in ernest. When I wasn't writing, I was doing Elvis immitations at coffee houses in Terre Haute. The high point of my Elvis career came at an Illinois country club Alfredo's dad belonged to. I had just finished singing "Heartbreak Hotel" which I played on an electric guitar I borrowed from the band playing that night when a little old man walked up to me and said, "Man, you're better than Elvis!" I did what any musician would do--I laughed! Ain't NOBODY better than Elvis.
Den Hollinden, USMC
Next came a few years in the Marine Corps, during which I became separated from guitar number two and purchased guitar number three at a military PX.
Den playing Guitar #3 While at Boot Camp, a drill instructor asked for anybody who played an instrument to follow him. Later I was asked what instrument I played. When I answered 'guitar' the guy started yelling, "Do you think my Marine Corps Band needs guitar players?" If not, their loss! Time in California included a non-musical extra role in the movie Hair. I was finally transferred to the Washington, DC area where I still live today. During the early years in the area, I would get together with my best Marine buddy, Rick Strader, and we would sing, play guitar and write songs in the music room at Fort Myer Army base.
Den Hollinden, Desert Storm veteran
I finished my active duty Marine Corps enlistment but stayed in the Reserves for a while. My unit was activated for Desert Storm, and my experience there provided a lot of the emotional raw material for my upcoming album, "Somebody Over There."
Den Hollinden, producer
The third essential role (after singer and songwriter) to develop for me musically was that of producer. The seeds were planted long before, as I recorded skits with my siblings (like our sitcom, "The Gikkleboppers") and later my own songs on cassette tape. Still later, at Southridge High School, I studied under WITZ DJ Larry Kiefner. Finally (for the early experience) I logged my own time as a DJ for WRTR, Rose Tech Radio. Now I was learning how personal computers could manage the functions traditionally performed by analog equipment in recording studios costing thousands if not millions of dollars. I put together my first digital project, an a capella album of original songs I called the Little Red Album.
All Dressed Up
I became increasingly interested in taking things to the final stage, radio-quality music. The first step was to take guitar number two out of the attic. At the time I bought it, it was just a guitar to get me started. Over the years, however, its wood has aged nicely, and it has a mellow tone that's an important part of my acoustic and vintage electrified instrument dominant sound. I've added other instruments to compliment that purposely sparse but sonically complete palette. The studio has grown also with a mixture of vintage and newer classic microphones and other audio equipment. I like to think of it as a big job accomplished in a small way--in the spirit of St. Henry Church or the Bungalow Bar back home.
With A Little Help From My Friends
Quite a few of my songs were born in day dreams, rehearsed in a bath tub and recorded late at night in an otherwise dark studio. Yet even though a lot of the grunt work of making music happens in private places, music is essentially a form of communication. It's like a kiss you feel forming in your mouth or your heart that unless shared with another person is really nothing at all. It's been a thrill for me to share my music with fans live, via radio, TV and the Internet and hear how it's touched your lives. In addition to fans, I've met a lot of great fellow musicians and enjoyed associating with them both informally and formally through this business' various professional organizations. I belong to ASCAP, the Recording Academy, Americana Music Association, Roots Music Association, Academy of Country Music, Pedal Steel Guitar Association, and DC area's Songwriters' Association of Washington and Washington Area Music Association.