Dave Dondero's Tiny Desk Concert at NPR Music

[akeagleTL]

wow

[dribwolley]

i love david dondero sooooooo much <3 he's beautiful!!

[fomoco30]

Best songwriter ever!

[TheKarlArsch]

This is crazy, in its best sense!!

[unbelievable123truth]

Dave Dondero is amazing, saw him for the 1st time last Thursday in Edinburgh and he said he would be back next year! Cannot wait!

[whitemonster009]

One of the best representations of the saying, " Stick to your guns." A man who plays his music and doesn't stray.

[sharpsuddenpain]

man this guy is true and great emotional stuff

[JonathanMichaelSpain]

Haha It's good to see you again, good to be back.

[suicidewarpig]

reminds me of bright eyes.

[isejohn]

@suicidewarpig Bright Eyes jacked Donderos style, but he did cite Dondero as his influence.. I guess that is cool. it is just strange how the music industry will only sign knock offs, and non talents- maybe because those types have no business sense and the producers can exploit no talents easiest, who knows? but it is embaressing to visit other countries and listen to them talk shit about how borin Americans are based on our movies and music, but I just want to say "wait, we have Dave Dondero!"

[shearerson]

I've literally just cried at the end. His nerves are all over the place yet he can still put his fucking heart into the songs. At the end of every song he seems to stumble like he's scared of it being over, hence the awkward endings. This man deserves to be a household name, not sleeping in cars and feel too nervous to even stop to take off a jacket.

Wonderful music.

[unbelievable123truth]

@shearerson I agree with everything you said, DD should be huge and I love his tunes. The nerves are there but they add to his performance as you see how much the songs mean and how his nerves end once he starts doing the thing he loves(playing music)

[TheAnyaray]

ur mean sunhoney1 had 1 famous friend thats dead & dedicates a lot of x 2 her channel & honoring da 1 person that honors him & u look down yr nose 2 her frm yr pretentious college dorm room u shld retract yr sarcastic apology & b sincere. if u admire men like dave dondero & conor oberst who is it u think they'd side with? mom commited to defending herself & every other underdog in a fight she never started or the rich kid attacking her for nothing. you need to chill.

[TheAnyaray]

she's like E.S. age 2. u can c a picture of all of dem on her channel she loves dave why are u hating on her so hard?

[TheWanderingPrimate]

David Dondero writes some of the best driving music ever, particularly the Transient album. One of the last wandering minstrels, a true and straight-up artist, and easily in my top-ten.

[TheRPJ3]

@tombuttner i just found out about Dave but i can TOTALLY already hear that Dave has influenced Conor Oberst's sound a lot.

[assclownmike]

i really like Davids' Music, great words, and music is cool.....thanks David!

[areology]

The best thing about him, beside his amazing ability with music, is how awkward he is. If you can cut through the awkwardness and still preform well you have skills. Not to mention awkwardness is a sign of humility.

[brettgreen1]

that very end is the most awkward thing ever.

[ahabsgoodleg]

He is the truth

[SeptemberFires]

thanks, Dave

[JofVifi]

Now this is inspirational music

[MrZachofalltrades]

Who the heck would dislike this? show yourself.!!!

[catormili]

Not to compare again, but the Bright Eyes lyrics in Road to Joy I think fit for Dondero as well. "Well I could have been a famous singer, If I had someone else's voice." He has the lyrics, he just needs to voice. This is not to say I dont love his voice as it is. It seems very genuine.

[solidheir]

Fuck Yes!! Everything you look for in any artist. This is genuine gold, im thankful to be alive after this. Life saving stuff.

[andantealamierda]

absolutely brilliant! this man is a genius all in his own genuine-element.

[666hectik]

i love his music.i found him just recently.and got one of his cds at amoeba.freaking great musician.i wish he would play in California

[TheDmagazine]

@666hectik We booked him at a show in Merced, CA this Friday with Franz Nicolay from The Hold Steady and Radioactive Cauliflower from El Olio Wolof. You can find it by searching Downtown Life Magazine in Facebook

[beaubishop121]

Uniqueness is never strived for because it is allready attained by every single artist and person in whatever they do allready. I like his vulnerable style of performance that creates a warm feeling people can relate to, maybe thats something to strive for?

[iamjoedubois]

dude, i just wanna magically make this guy famous.

i wish there was something i could do for him.

you can look into his eyes and see his internal sadness, like a dog with a tail between his legs.

i would give anything to help this guy.

[connorlangley44]

Sooooooooooooooo GOOD!

he inspires me to pick my guitar up so much more than anyone else!

[avettfan4211]

it's all about the meaning of the music, the heart of it. You have to be more connected to the music to appreciate the music that guys like him make.

[LoveYourMonsterMusic]

He gets about as nervous as I do when I play!

I personally like the nervousness, it's always nice to see a musician who's about to lose it all. I prefer that over watching someone going through the routine.

[keeon373]

Wow. All fucking heart. Just incredible. If you're playing in New Mexico you can crash at my place.

[heckge]

He's a goog singer :)

[woo4poo]

he has several albums. the power of google, people.

south of the south

# zero with a bullet

the transient

shooting at the sun with a water gun

the pity party

simple love

spider west myhskin and a city bus

...i think that's all of em. might have forgotten something.

anyhow, dave dondero is fantastic. i've seen him play something like 8 or 10 times, he comes here a lot. and yeh, he always seems super nervous - probably didn't help that he couldn't get drunk while playing for npr.

[Anomalicious]

The rent is too damn high in the first song.

[LoroHunt]

this guy's good! does he have any albums by him to recommend

[LoroHunt]

this guy's good! does he have any albums going?

[turntable323]

soul plus truthful = soulful this man has got life figured out period.

[ManOfVinyl]

@turntable323 I don't think he does, I think he's just sure he doesn't.

[hoopa123]

What a nice guy.

[cc0ldt]

beautiful song, beautiful guitar



[Wmuse21]

saw david at concert and he is an inspiration to me, because i write songs too and his songs are honest and simple...:))))

as for not being famous, don't pitty him, he does hat he likes,in my opinion anyway.

[yagelazy]

look, Dondero is what needs to be here. he is the one that will make us see EVERYTHING with his simplicity. he is the writer of the book (after Miller and Kerouac) he is a voice of a very sad and horribly disturbed generation ( though, since I'm only 23, and i feel it's mostly people between 18 and 29, i can't say it's his generation) but the generation that he speaks too also, besides it's hurt, knows the purest form of love and we are always looking for it. despite how much we move against it

[yagelazy]

he IS an amazing guitar player and he sings like he feels. my favorite artist. and i'm a drunk

[tardblog125]

You deserve the world for your talent. 

[poonze]

I saw him last night in Fort Wayne Indiana and he sang so good, and his guitar playing was perfect, I actually asked him about t his performance, and he said it was pretty nerve wracking playing to business men in cubicles, I think he sings and plays Amazing, Keep UP David

[babaluboo123]

Brilliant, eccentric genius.

Fav'd.

[54fordgasser]

Great artist. 

[82coma]

WHO CARES IF HE CANT SING GREAT OR PLAY GUITAR GREAT. He is an amazing song writer, obviously! and he isnt trying to play jimi hendrix. if you cant see the beauty then your in the wrong place

[imgasoline]

I've watched this over and over this past year. So crucial.

[garbageman77]

At first i was like....this guy can not sing at all

then about 15 seconds in I fell in love with his voice

[peterpwnt]

@BenUriyahMay Dude, Conor literally lists david dondero as one of his biggest influences, they are both really unique but in the way of lyricism they both use the same realistic themes, free from over use of metaphor or simile.

[BenUriyahMay]

People are stupid to say Conor and Dave sound alike. Conor is totally different. They don't share any similar lyricism or guitar style either. He's okay. Maybe he'll grow on me. I'm kind of in a Bright Eyes only phaze right now. I don't know when I will get over it, there's so much of his stuff I don't have or am just getting into.

[LoveYourMonsterMusic]

Well BenUriyahMay, you must have not heard any of Conor's early stuff because it all sounds exactly like the last song in this set.

[BenUriyahMay]

@LoveYourMonsterMusic Anh. I heard the last song and I wasn't impressed. Not the heart nor the lyrics, nor the voice.. Nothings unique about him.. It's very generic and it sucks.

[LoveYourMonsterMusic]

@BenUriyahMay That's cool, I can definitely hear the influence though.

[peterpwnt]

does anyone know where i can find his lyrics or anything?

[Lifeisamazing]

@peterpwnt dude...google.

[TheIndieFolk]

Amazing song

[mxtthxw]

Haha, this performance of the living and the dead is so raw and fun and excilerating and inspiring, it's brilliant, I love it!

[Joeruu]

I can't stop coming back to watch.

[sunhoney1]

@Joeruu I know right? He's awesome.

[Joeruu]

I am stunned.

[47represent]

he should be conors dad

[HaoProductions3]

@47represent agreed.

[SOnjGC]

this is so good. I wish he did an acoustic album.

[reveallove1]

He just finished an acoustic album. Check out ghostmeat records' web site for details. Also, his album "spider west myshkin and a city bus" is acoustic.

[mxtthxw]

David Dondero is totally amazing, I wish I could write songs like that!

[madtownstu]

Reminds me of a good bud. Cheers

[gageweakley]

i met this him like a month ago and he was very nervous like this then too. i talked to him for a little while, he's a really nice kinda personable dude especially considering i just sorta interrupted a conversation he has having to announce that he was indeed the david dondero haha

[sunhoney1]

Such BS he's so talented and sleeping in his car?? WTF?

[johan371]

yeah Brooke Hogan booked all the hotel rooms

[sunhoney1]

@johan371 lol

[toepebble]

@sunhoney1 Amazing, isn't it? Meanwhile talentless hacks are sleeping in mansions and are on the radio right now.

[Wwhackk]

@sunhoney1 Either you're a fucking troll or just can't tell the difference between music and your fucking pubic hair and should just be listening Justin Bieber while you jack off.

[Wwhackk]

@sunhoney1 Well you're post saying it's "such BS" that David Dondero is "so talented and sleeping in his car" just shows how you don't understand real artists at all. It's not sad that he's sleeping in his car, he only cares about the music but you're too middle class to get that.

[sunhoney1]

@Wwhackk @Wwhackk The anterior cingulate cortex is the part of the brain that detects pain. When u give someone the silent treatment u are causing that person physical pain. Simply by ignoring someone else’s existence u can inflict pain on them. This is what the ever popular “time out” with a child is so effective. The child feels ostracized, therefore is feeling pain even though no physical pain was inflicted on them, and therefor they want to behave. yr blocked save yr 'isms' 4 the Elitist

[sunhoney1]

@Wwhackk A man that never sent another man in search of a dictionary~

You're an elitist to make such outrageous assumptions. You don't know if I am male of female? You don't know if I know Dave Dondero, do you? I'll tell you who I did know.. Elliott Smith, now you probably don't know who that is but I was friends with him, he'd be 42 this year, he was of this genre, he didn't make radical assumptions about people based on a sentence, I've understood this music and played since you were s fetus-

[Wwhackk]

@sunhoney1 oh.....shit. I resign all attempts at trolling since, well, if you actually knew Elliott Smith and all then I have a total new-found respect for you. It's just that one comment you made that kinda set me off, but then again, it was just a comment on Youtube and I shouldn't judge people by that; god damn the internet's fucked me up...sorry.

[TheAnyaray]

@Wwhackk Dude I've been here reading this whole time and think I know who this chick is…she woks for NPR now. She was friends with E.S. last gf if I got the gossip right. I'd let it go.

[Wwhackk]

@TheAnyaray Alright man, I admit I was being a trolling douche and I'm really sorry.

[MichiVarela]

@Wwhackk Love to see the power of music when it comes to putting an end to senseless arguments and bringing people back together. Applause for your humility right there saying you're sorry, sir!

[sunhoney1]

@Wwhackk Why don't you start an argument w/ someone else? An elitist wanna be hipster like yourself that spits as he spews hate into his keyboard typing as fast as he can trying to download what he thiks will look kewl on his ipod?? Have you ever even heard of FUGAZI or Black Flag? The Cure? Do you 'get' Bright Eyes? Do you 'get' Monsters of Folk? Do you get anything? Maybe you should start with Blonde Redhead and move backwards. What do they all have in common? you dork. ROTFL u <3 BOYZ2MEN

[MilesStone92]

great lyrics. and for those who don't know, his style of voice inspired Conor Oberst.

[soynutz7]

was gonna say, it sounded like Conor Oberst.

[totaltjefflamorker]

Never heard of him before but I sure sure like this a lot., and damn is he nervous :D

[123ElijahGoesPee]

Deffinately one of the best lyricists of all time.

[GotsTricks]

Reminds me of Johnny Cash, I digg it.

[thepugilistify]

This dude can write and is a hell of a picker. Staright up Awesome!

[tombuttner]

My favorite things about this video are the fact that he is so nervous, he is shaking; his awesome lumberjacket, and his crazy bouffant hairdo.  Someone definitely slept in their car last night.

[timurlikir]

gentleman.

[imissizzie]

His lyrics are wonderful. An amazing songwriter and a testament at how talent can go unnoticed for far too long.

[jmbsc2]

Plays well guitar.. the rest not much. Better then me of course. Keep on goin cause the more we try the better we get.

[tombuttner]

I think that you either (a) missed the point of the way he performs, or (b) this isn't really your kind of music. Of course he isn't the best guitar player, or the best singer, yet everything is intentional. He is one of the artists that Conor Oberst idolizes for his delivery. That has to be worth something.

[TheAnyaray]

@tombuttner who are you talking to?

[tombuttner]

@TheAnyaray I don't remember anymore. Someone posted something stupid, and I was just responding.

[Amazingred12]

this is very good and thats a sweet guitar what model is it???

[MilesStone92]

hummingbird i  believe

[dasKaiserlein]

really nice

[johnnycollarbone]

thanks!!

[Moms4zombies]

brilliant!

[aricandisgood]

This is so amazing.