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Today we’d like to introduce you to Danny Lopez.

Danny, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I started Table Top Joe in 2006 while I was in college up in Washington. Originally it was just an outlet for the pile of songs that I had been writing on guitar while I was getting ready to graduate. Music has been somewhat of an obsession for me since I was a little kid, and even though I was about to graduate from college to try to get a real job, I was still pretty highly focused on making music. Once I got out of college, I moved back to Spokane, WA, released my first album, “Noose in the Meadow,” put together a band, and started playing around as much as possible. Over the next several years we released two more albums, played around town a lot, and even did some small tour dates.

After several years, I realized that I had to reconsider the direction of Table Top Joe. I had two small kids, I was advancing quickly at work, but Table Top Joe really hadn’t garnered a lot of attention locally. The problem was that I just couldn’t stop playing music, even if that was maybe the logical thing to do. The songs always seemed to come out whether I wanted them to or not, and I felt a great deal of depression whenever I stopped writing or playing. As a compromise, I essentially decided to begin focusing on the production of my music. This way, I could continue to make as much music as I wanted, but I could be less focused on the cost because I was making it on my own. Every Table Top Joe album since Noose in the Meadow (with the exception of LIMBS) has been recorded by myself in my home.

Today I kind of look at Table Top Joe as a collective. Most of the work is done by me, but I have several key people that I lean on heavily to make sure that I continue to make quality music. The most important of these people are my brother Nate who lives in California, and my buddy Will who lives up in Washington. Both are audio engineers, and both have been in Table Top Joe at some point over the years. As I write and record songs, I send tracks back and forth with them to make sure I’m not missing anything, and to see if they have any ideas. I’ve even had both record parts for my albums remotely, and they’ve been included in some of those songs when they make sense. For the live show, I do the same thing. I have been fortunate enough to make friends with some really quality musicians down here in Arizona, and whenever I play live I put together a band for whatever set I see fit, and we make it work. I’ve even had the pleasure of having my wife play bass for a few shows.

My goal for 2019 is to release a new song every month. I’ve always released albums as wholes, and I continue to believe that music is more complete when it is done that way, but I’ve also come to realize that the world just doesn’t work like that anymore. With the dawn of streaming services, you’re lucky if you can get people to listen to just one of your songs. So this year, I’m going to release a single every month, and at the end of the year, I will compile them all together and release them as an entire album the way God intended it. As of today, I have released two songs, Poppin’ Bottles and Mary Bell. I will release a third, Sitting With Your Ghost, by the end of May.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
The most consistent theme in my music is storytelling. I love a good story, and I love music that tells a good story. Many of my songs have a moral, or a conclusion of truth that I hope to convey at the ending, but to be honest, a lot of them are just stories. Sometimes those stories are based on books or movies I read, and sometimes they’re based on dreams, but oftentimes I’m just trying to get into the head of the thing that I have created. One of my favorite artists of all time is Tom Waits. I admire Tom Waits for his originality, his commitment to his craft, and his storytelling, and I aspire to be half the writer he is. I guess my main intention for my music is for you to feel something. Whether that be sadness or joy, art should always make you feel something, and that’s very important to me.

What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
I used to define how people engaged with my music, but that’s been a real stumbling block as I’ve gotten older, and I’ve begun to rethink that. As I’ve gotten older and my fans have gotten older, the interest in music, in general, has begun to fade for a lot of people. I’ve had to accept that most people just aren’t as intense about new music as I am. For that reason, I came to a crossroads where I had to decide if making music mattered to me any more. I had to decide whether I was making music for them or whether I was making music for me. What I chose was myself. It’s not always easy, but I’ve decided that the important thing is that I continue to create until my mind doesn’t want to create anymore. Maybe someday I’ll get to a point where I don’t care anymore, and I’ll put down my guitar, but for now, creating music is still very important to me.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
The easiest way to get to my music is via streaming services. My music is basically on every streaming service (Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Deezer, youTube, etc.) but I also really like Bandcamp. I really like Bandcamp because you can download the albums if that’s something that is important to you. My Bandcamp page is www.tabletopjoe.bandcamp.com.

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Image Credit:
Leigh Older, Marc Herring

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