

Dan Schwartz can sing higher than you. He’s been schooled by Jerry Douglas, he wears a size 8 shoe, and he spends most of his ‘alone’ time in a van on the road with Keith Goodwin (who can dance better than you) and Tim Arnold (who can hambone better than you). When he’s not spending his down time with two other dudes, he’s playing two guitars at once for Good Old War.
In order for us to have the best conversation ever, Schwartz has begged that we go somewhere with some of Nashville’s best treats — barbeque and bushwhackers. So, over an alcoholic milkshake, Schwartz and I chatted it up on the porch of Edley’s, where befuddled onlookers cast glances at our witty conversation and tried to figure out how the rock star in the Ray-Bans managed to get a date with such a beautiful blonde.
This Philadelphia native knows a good restaurant, and a good town, when he visits one—as he should, considering Good Old War has spent the last months (and years) all over the country with Anthony Green, Dr. Dog, Xavier Rudd, Guster, and pretty much anyone else you can think of. By the time you forget to read this, they’ll be somewhere deep in America with Counting Crows. For now though, he’s sitting with me, claiming to be allergic to the Tennessee air.
Schwartz is the quintessential American songwriter. He’s been writing songs since he was about ten, going through a brief Bon Jovi phase and somehow ending up with quite a knack for writing folk-pop gems. After some of his first songs at a young age, he continued writing songs year after year, joining up with former Days Away members, Tim Arnold and Keith Goodwin, to form a group named after pieces of their last names. Schwartz and I obligatorily talk songwriting first, sweating and laughing through most of the discussion of the group’s writing process.
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