Mr. Blotto was born in Chicago as an off-night vehicle for musicians who loved each others playing but were in different bands at the time. The only rule was that they would only play what they loved. That philosophy continues today and has led Mr. Blotto into unique musical situations.

Mr. Blotto takes the Jam band asthetic into areas unfamiliar to the standard Jam Scene. They have been known to cover entire albums by Led Zeppelin and the Who as well as perform entire shows of Country and Reggae. Artists as diverse as the Grateful Dead, the Flaming Lips, Willie Nelson and The Velvet Underground have seen their material interpreted by Mr. Blotto in the 2000+ shows the band has performed in the last 15 years, yet covers only pepper the bands hefty catalog of original material stemming from five studio albums and other unreleased crowd favorites.

Leo Kottke, Al Di Meola, and Clarence White are just a few guitar players that come to mind when you hear Chris Padgett play. This young road-hog has been touring nationwide the last five years with powerhouse duo, The StereoFidelics, and has performed well over 1,000 shows in that time. It’s hard to believe someone so young and not classically trained can have such ingenuity and craftsmanship over his instrument. Classical, Flamenco, American Primitivism, and folk… syncopated finger picking style, thrash flat-picking, and a unique voice; always an amazing performance and a real treat in a world of so many synonymous solo performers.

Daniel is a band that was formed by accident on a drizzly October day in Kalamazoo, MI. Since then, the band has lived here and there and has never had an official line-up until October of 2012, two years after its founding. After these two years of set-backs, serendipity, irony, circumstance, drama, and confusion, the band finally has both feet on the ground and is ready to proudly wear a sticker nametag that reads “Hello, my name is Daniel.”