Set Me Free
The 10-track “Set Me Free” album convey’s Danny McGaw’s heartfelt ballads and energized folk-rock anthems like never before and channels the lyrical folk of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and the rootsy songcraft of Tom Petty and Neil Young. The lead single, “Cinderella” explores the fear of change and title track, “Set Me Free” is an ode to his kids that also personifies the freewheeling spirit of its recording sessions. The upbeat “Hollywood” is what McGaw dubs as “a prayer for the dreamer” and reflects his journey from a young boy in Manchester, England to being discovered playing music on the boardwalk in Santa Monica.
“I’ve never really been that hip or cool, I just do what I do and try to keep learning. ‘Set Me Free’ is a throwback [and] unapologetically authentic,” McGaw said. “If there’s a storyline in everything I’ve ever done it’s that there’s something in my soul that always resists complete darkness; there’s always a crack of light looking to expand.”
McGaw taught himself multiple instruments and studio engineering and was further mentored by composer/producer Greg Townley (Black Hawk Down, Sideways) and drummer/producer Simon Phillips (The Who, Toto). He eventually settled in Ojai, California where Three Dog Night bassist Tim V. Hutton witnessed one of his packed performances and asked him to join them on tour. McGaw began touring as their opening act and cut the album at Hutton’s Laurel Canyon studio in just two days.
McGaw was influenced by world-conquering locals Oasis and diverse radio artists from Garth Brooks to Guns N’ Roses. When injury curtailed his soccer career, he was looking for a new sense of purpose. McGaw found his way to the British island of Jersey, where a bartending job led to a regular stage gig. People began taking notice – including McGaw himself.
“It was never something that I’d considered as a career. Songwriting became like a friend to me,” he recalled. Witnessing and processing life through the lens of poetry and stories.”
With a story that reads like a monomyth and an indivisible connection to his art, Danny McGaw is a true, timeless troubadour. A former pro athlete who honed his songcraft on up-close bar stages and street corners, he now graces some of the world’s most prestigious concert venues.
Set Me Free Track List:
01. Stranger Passing Through
02. Hollywood
03. Cinderella
04. Crazy
05. In the Waiting
06. Alone With You
07. Dangerous
08. Everything to Me
09. Nothing on Me
10. Set Me Free
Danny McGaw is currently on tour with Three Dog Night concluding on August 27 in Atlanta at the Atlanta Symphony Hall with a one-off date on October 6 in Ames at Stephens Auditorium.
Set Me Free Download Links
