Performers

Grammy award-winner Dan Zanes and vocalist/music therapist Claudia Zanes have been sharing their love of community and social music making in concerts large and small across the country. It was in their hometown of Baltimore that they recently met Tyree Austin, when the three happened to be performing on the same night at a local men’s shelter. The connection was immediate, and they brought Austin into the studio to work on the upcoming Smithsonian Folkways record, “Walkin’ Talkin’ Baltimore,” which will be released in August 2024.

As Claudia put it, “there are ways we can bring the songs to life with three vocals that were never possible before. Tyree and I bring a jazzier approach to singing and arranging that perfectly complements Dan’s New England voice and quirky electric guitar playing. It’s a fresh way of reimagining songs and inspiring people to go and make their own music.”

Austin, a recent graduate of Howard University and featured singer with the historically Black university’s premier a cappella jazz ensemble Afro Blue, shares Dan and Claudia’s dedication to intergenerational social music and the joys of sensory-friendly performances, an ongoing commitment to neurodiversity that Claudia’s music therapy background has greatly influenced.

This is an exciting new sound in family music, full of creativity and an upbeat sense of life’s best possibilities.