The Traverse City Wine and Art Festival is a little over two weeks away from happening on June, 21st. This awesome Northern Michigan festival will feature over 30 Northern Michigan wineries, 10 restaurants, and 7 music acts for you to rock out to—including funk outfit the Mainstays, Traverse City’s favorite duo, the Accidentals, and the folky Crane Wives. Don’t forget to purchase your tickets for the festival through MyNorthTickets.com:

MyNorth’s Kelly Brown had a chance to catch up with the Crane Wives Drummer, Dan, in between his busy schedule with the band.


You are based out of Grand Rapids, which is a larger scene than Traverse City—what is it like to be playing festivals and shows up here? Do you enjoy it/notice anything different about the atmosphere?

We absolutely love playing in Traverse City, so we come back as often as we can. Lots of great friends, good people, rich culture, fresh air, beautiful views and tasty brews. Traverse City is an amazing town with an incredible community that has been very good to us over the years. Playing in Grand Rapids is playing at home, but we love it Up North.

Looks like you are touring a lot this summer. Besides the Traverse City Wine and Art festival, what other festivals or events can we catch you at?

We have a really fun summer ahead. After the Traverse City Wine and Art Festival we’ll be at Ann Arbor Summer Fest on June 27th. We’ll be all over this beautiful mitten, visiting Wisconsin for a couple nights, and then heading out to Colorado in July.

Your last album was launched in 2012. Anything new in the works?

We’ve been chipping away, working on a huge wealth of material for our next body of work. We’re in the building phase, and it’s been really fun. We have a lot of new songs, and there’s been a lot of excitement during practice. We can’t wait to get some recording sessions together once the music is feeling ready.

Where does a lot of the inspiration for your music come from? You are all multi-instrumentalists and your music ranges from softer tunes to get-up-and-dance. Is there anything specific, or anywhere specific, that you go to to find inspiration for your songwriting?

Songwriting is a blast when you do it completely collaboratively. All five of us are songwriters, so every member brings something unique to the writing stage of songs. It’s different every time in our camp, too. Sometimes all five of us will write a song from the ground up based on a rhythmic idea or chord progression. Other times, Kate, Emilee or I will write a song at home with a vibe and a partial vision, and bring it to the rest of the group.

People really love you guys. What has that journey been like for you since you launched your first album in 2010?

It’s honestly been one big whirlwind on a fast flowing river. We feel so fortunate to be on this journey, and we have our families, friends, fans, fellow musicians, and incredible local music-supporting community to thank. We’re really excited to continue on into the wild world of being a band and doing what we love together.

What’s this summer going to be like for you? Any big events happening in any of your lives, or for the band?

I am getting married to a wonderful lady named Alex this August. Ben just bought a new home and studio space, and is excitedly making it his own. Tom is getting a community sourced media company off the ground and doing lots of video work. Kate and Emilee are both rocking their lives, doing so much in life while continuing to create beautiful music. All five of us are in love with amazing partners, and we’re looking forward to a crazy summer of making music with our friends.

Check out the Crane Wives schedule for this summer at TheCraneWives.com

Make sure you purchase your tickets for the Traverse City Wine and Art festival at MyNorthTickets.com:


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Photo(s) by The Crane Wives