Danny LeFrancois of Danny and the Parts

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Becca: What's new 802? I'm Becca Hammond and you're listening to Vermont Talks. Vermont Talks may include graphic or explicit content. Listener discretion is advised. Danny from Danny and the Parts and it is the 15th of November in 2025. And welcome Danny for coming on the show. We set this up like two days ago and I'm so happy we were able to make it work. So welcome Danny. Hey. And so you, your last album was Dancing on the Radio which I listened to just before I came here today and that came out in 2023. And the definition I found of some of my searching on the internet was that Danny and the Parts is an Americana band. Do you, is that the one genre you really subscribe to or do you feel like you kind of fall into other buckets? 

Danny: Well, I'll answer that question by giving you a small statement. You must have got false information on that because I have received, I have made now two records since that record. 

Becca: Oh, okay. Because I found your band camp. That is where I found that one. Yes. I tried to find your Spotify but I could not find it though. I know Spotify is not the greatest. So some people are pulling their stuff. 

Danny: Did you use the and ampersand with the end of the parts? That might have been it. 

Becca: I searched and I clicked the link on your profile and neither of them were working and I wanted to let you know that but not necessarily on the show. 

Danny: You know what folks? This is behind the scenes. 

Becca: We could cut this but, but, I don't mind. 

Danny: I really don't. Yeah. So tell me when the last album came out then. If I'm, if I'm off here. Not your fault. Yes. The last album we just released was Monolys's Eyes Are Blue and that was this year. And that was a full-length record that I did with A9 Studios next door to where we're recording right now on Pine Street. My friend Luke Autry produced it and recorded it and that was the last one I did. Prior to that I had done an EP called Sun Is Moon with members of the Leatherbound Books. Oh cool. Yep. They produced and recorded that one. That's seven songs and then Dancing on the Radio was before that. Nice. Very cool. I've been busy. 

Becca: Yeah, definitely. So do you have, I'm annoyed I couldn't seem to find this album. Do you have a website yourself or do you just have like the Spotify? 

Danny: I don't have a website. I used to, I never did anything with it. It disappeared. I felt bad about it but I, yeah, I just couldn't kind of get up enough steam to keep it going every day. I can, I do all my own booking and all my own promotion and all my own, you know, playing shows and rehearsals and gear stuff and so I'm, I just couldn't get to, yeah, the website so I've been doing mainly everything on Instagram. 

Becca: Yeah, yeah, you're pretty, you seem pretty active on social media. Facebook, YouTube. Yeah, cool. Cool. So your YouTube account, is that also just Danny and the Parts? Yes, it is. Cool. Yes, we'll have to add that link and get some good stuff on the show. 

Danny: Once the algorithm, once you get in it, you'll, you'll see too much of me and you'll be like, oh man, how do I get rid of this? 

Becca: So Mona Lisa, tell me again, Mona Lisa's. Mona Lisa's Eyes Are Blue. Tell me about this one. What, what was it about? Cause I really enjoyed listening to Dancing on the Radio. That was more of an EP though, I think. 

Danny: Yeah. Just based on the Lang. Yep, five, five songs produced by Cosmic the Cowboy. Nice. 

Becca: Yeah. 

Danny: Great name. Yeah, great name. Yeah, get some great tones too. But about Mona Lisa you're saying? Yeah. Yes. It's, well, this record started, started during the pandemic and kind of was the songs that I was writing during that time. And when I got the band together eventually to play them and record them, we had been kind of playing these songs for all of a sudden it was multiple years. Yeah. As we all remember during the pandemic and now we were like all of a sudden now we're kind of late to play them out and also late to record them and, but we did it anyway. 

And we, As you should. Yeah. And we recorded them eventually over three years, four years, God, I don't even know. 

And it got to the point where it was like, well, maybe we just never finish it. How about that? How about we just leave it in the cloud forever? That sounds fine. 

No. And we did play out eventually with them a lot. Like over a year, we did a lot of shows with this exact record. And then it kind of came out after those shows, you know, which is a little different than what you would normally do. Yeah. 

Becca: I don't think anything is normal anymore. That's true. We left that long ago. That's true. Now we just do whatever makes us happy. 

Danny: Yeah. So it's kind of like a beast in that way. This record is very long, very big, very tumultuous and very funny and silly and weird and rocking and sad and happy. It's all the things. 

Becca: I like the genre Americana a lot because it's kind of this like floaty thing. Yeah. That it's rock-ish, rock-adjacent. It feels like rock. Anybody I've listened to who calls himself Americana is definitely sort of rocky, but it also is this just... Yeah. It's kind of folk, but it's not folk. Yeah. Right? It's just, you know, it is what it is. 

Danny: I use it as an excuse to fill in the gaps between country music, rock music, and folk music. Yeah. 

Becca: Basically. Right. Right. Well, that's kind of... Tying them all together. I don't feel like... And I bring it up. I brought it up many times. Genres are very weirdly restrictive. I get the point of them, but I also find them really frustrating because some people get so limited by the concept of the genre that either as a listener or you don't expand and you don't want to experience anything else. Or if you're an artist and you see yourself only as a folk artist or only as a rock artist or you're an indie folk punk, whatever, whatever it is, it can be really like narrowing when you're trying to be creative. 

Danny: Yeah, I agree. I definitely look at artists like David Bowie and say, well, what genre is this? Right. 

Becca: Exactly. Because he was just groundbreaking. Seems like he changed every couple years. Right. So, you know, what is it? 

Becca: Especially looking back. Yeah. Because someone like that who had such a massive career for so long, in the moment in the 80s, looking at his music is such a different thing of thinking back, you know, today through the lens of all the culture and all the things that we've heard and experienced since then. But we also are like, oh yeah, it's so iconic. It is of the 80s. It has that... It represents that sound. 

Danny: I almost feel like, you know, people like that write the books and we read them. Exactly. 

Becca: Like you can't... Yeah, I just... I feel like fixed genres are so weird. And that's why I like the genre Americana. 

Danny: I don't think... Yeah, I use that loosely and I don't... Yeah, I don't think we completely have a real genre. 

Becca: I don't think Americana needs any specific genre because music, at least through the ages, was more about like what region are you from? Like... Box, right? Because you think of like traditional music from Vermont of the 1800s. It was all just kind of like traditional music of Vermont of the 1800s. 

Danny: I don't know. I wasn't there. I lost my grandpa. 

Becca: Like it just didn't... It wasn't restrictive in any way, shape, or form. And if someone could play music, that was cool, right? Like that was just like cool. This is some guy who can play music at the local dance that they're having. 

Danny: Local guy named Bob plays music at the dance. 

Becca: Yeah, they show up and people dance. We love Bob. So many good bobs. I just thought of like four different bobs when you said that. 

Danny: We're talking about Bob Seeger, folks. Bob Seeger and his air mattress. 

Becca: Okay, so let's talk about the other one that I've already forgotten the name of. Sun is moon. How many songs on that one? That's seven. Okay. That's that weird EP short album zone. 

Danny: Yeah. Yeah. It's a fun zone to be in. That's something I do a lot. I had done another one of those with... Years ago. I've done a couple of songs with Anthony from Rough Francis. Years ago called It Came From The Box, which is his studio, The Box, which is also next door to us right now. I did one with Noakeezy, Noakeezy Band, called Making Belief. So the... Yeah, the EP where I go and I try to get someone that I look up to musically to influence my songs and I get them to record. 

With me is really really great for me, really freeing. I don't need to really try to force anything. I try to let the creativeness happen to it. And I don't need to be too picky about... I don't go in there with a finished idea. Right. 

Go in with songs and then wherever it goes. So, yeah, that's been... The EP has been fun. Sun is Moon is like that. It's seven songs. 

I did it. It's like the bedroom, what do they call it? Bedroom Pop or whatever. 

It's like recorded in your bedroom. Yeah. Yeah. I know what you mean. 

And yeah, we did that. And in Leatherbound Books, Eric Daniels studio apartment in the North End on a very little computer with a little mic. Not much gear at all. Cool. 

Becca: And yeah. I like less gear. I think I have a lot of respect for that. Because music, you don't need a whole lot, right? Like it's just you and your guitar or whatever, right? And... 

Danny: I mean, let's not even bring AI into this, but sure. 

Becca: You really don't need a whole lot though. The greatest musicians in the world don't. You don't need... 

Danny: Once you add something, you can't... You know, now then you added another element. Yes. 

Becca: And you can't repeat it on stage. 

Danny: And if you keep... That is also true. Right. Right. I don't carry my Glockenspiel player to every gig with me. Yes. 

Becca: Yes. Like there is something really cool to be said, even like analog recording. I always love this. I think it was Bridge Over Troubled Water. It's one of the songs on that. Oh, the boxer. That's what it is. 

It's the boxer. Great song. They recorded the drum in the elevator shaft, which at the time was like this mind blowing. Like they were just trying to get this analog recording to sound as epic as they could. I think they succeeded. 

They really did. It's just so cool though, because obviously they couldn't do that on stage, right? Like they were never going to be able to repeat that on stage, sort of playing the recording. But like it added this elevation to the recording, which was really cool. But also who cares? I guess if you're going to get to see the boxer be played live, you probably don't even notice. 

Danny: Maybe not. I don't believe I ever did. Maybe. I saw Paul's... Is it Paul's? No. 

Becca: Yeah. Yes. Yeah, it's Solomon and Garfunkel. 

Danny: I don't know if they played that one together though. I feel like that might have been a collab. Paul got that later and went solo tour with it. I don't know. Garfunkel comes to the Flynn as well, so I've seen him done one of his shows years ago. 

Becca: Yeah, cool. I love the Flynn. I wish we had funds to renovate parts of it so that it was less restrictive at times. 

Danny: Oh, there's a lot we could do with it. Right? 

Becca: It's such a cool, unique, beautiful space. But if I really... The upper balcony could use some some heavy duty support systems added to it. So there could be some more lively shows. 

Danny: There's a lot. It's a beautiful building though. Yeah. 

Becca: Yeah, really unique space. And really cool artists have come through. We've had a lot of really incredible artists. Everybody. Yeah. 

Danny: I can't even name names. 

Becca: I got to see the one, big one I ever got to see was... Oh, of course, I'm going to forget his name immediately. Oh, jeez. He's such an old rocker too. Bad to the bone. Why can't I think of his name? 

Danny: I'm not sure, but Baryshnikov has been there. Wow. So there you go. 

Becca: That's pretty fancy. That's way fancier than who I'm thinking of. Why can't I think of you? Bob Seeger. Not Bob Seeger. What the heck is his name? Yeah, he's bad to the bone. I feel like it's TNM. I'm already forgetting. See, I'm old. I'm tired. 

Danny: There could be anybody. It could be Lindsay from Fleetwood Mac. Yep. Buckingham. It could be Ian Anderson from Jethro Tell. Yep. There's been a lot. 

Becca: Yeah, big names coming through. Cool space. Cool. Okay, so little more about you. I know you said you've been in Vermont for 20 years-ish and you've been playing music. How long have you been playing music? Your whole life? 

Danny: Yeah, pretty much. I got a I got a Muppet drum set when I was three. 

Becca: Ooh, that's that's a really good like intro story to music. 

Danny: Yeah, I mean it really is. I was really lucky to get it and it was paper. And I used to love the Muppet show and watching Animal beat on his drums. 

Becca: Yes, Animal. That's right. They got me one and then I beat the heck out of it. As you had to. And I broke it and I like never played it again after the first week I had it because it was broken my mom threw it away. Oh my god. I know. 

I wish I- I kept it in mint kint kandish, but I didn't. But yeah, soon after I started playing I always loved music. We had a record player in my bedroom. I had like Whitney Houston and the Everly Brothers and all these weird little records and and um I would write little songs with my brother and we tape record them and our little, you know microphones we had these drum microphones we were singing through, you know? And um So yeah, we always played music together. I had a band in high school. We were kind of like a jam band and then we would we got to play with cool bands like Max Creek and uh Shake Down Street and really, you know jam. It was like the late 80s early 90s jam scene and we played cover songs and we were young and we'd bring the high school kids and these guys thought it was cool and they were kind of mentored us a little bit playing shows and we're still buds with them. We played a show with them last summer in Connecticut. That's where I am from originally. Nice. And yeah Collinsville, Connecticut. 

Shout out. And uh, yeah, so we started I started really young and then I kind of just moved into getting a band and junior high with my brother and my friends and I was like, oh, I'm gonna go to Boston and then college. I kind of changed course going to a visual art school in Boston but always had a band the whole time. Yeah, cool. Well, that's impressive. 

Danny: You keep going with it. Yeah, I didn't really I didn't really I must admit I didn't really like completely take music too seriously to the point where I like changed the name of my band to Danny and the parts and started trying to kind of book bigger shows and get on summer series and different things like that make records until I was much older. Um, actually till I after I had my two daughters to be perfectly honest. So I think I was somewhere like 30 35 years old maybe when I really kind of started to take it seriously. 

Becca: Well, that's really cool though because I personally haven't taken it all that seriously, but I've also played music forever and I love playing music but I also never felt like it wasn't the right time, you know, like it wasn't ready. 

Danny: I wasn't taking it seriously. I always took it, you know, I mean to me if you're having fun, you're taking it seriously, you know what I mean? But like, but in the sense of like, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna try to get more gigs. I'm gonna try to make records I'm gonna try to keep a band around and keep it sustainable and keep people you know, you got to change a lot after you do the same thing for a couple years you, you know what do you do the same thing forever or do do you have the courage to like try new people try new a new way of recording a new style new place, you know, take the band out regionally or overseas whatever, you know, like so I'm trying to still do that. I'm still trying to do that and that's why I'm here 

Becca: Well, that yeah, that's definitely something to be said in vermont. I feel like I've met a lot of musicians who don't really want to They don't want to play out anymore. That's which I'm guilty of for a long time. 

I don't want to play out I just didn't want to do it. It's stressful. It's a lot. There's a lot to think about like logistically It's a lot of not getting enough sleep and the older that you get the more sleep you'd really like to enjoy 

Danny: Yes, it's very it's definitely tolling for sure. 

Becca: Yeah, and you never know what you're gonna find even like a little tour around new england like you don't know what the heck you're gonna find a lot of times Unless you've done it or been to the venue before or know someone who already has played at that venue You just don't know 

Danny: that's usually been what we've been trying to do lately is things I've done in the past And you know, I mean that being said I still like to try new things, but you know, you can usually you know, you can usually Just keep it within your means, you know what I mean? Like if you're if your crew's ready to roll then, you know, then do it if you got some enough money to To give it a shot, you know You can do it, you know, but if it's within your means To me, that's That's what it's all about, you know and having fun Right, right. 

Becca: Yes. They keep it enjoyable not taking it so seriously that you're Horting yourself. 

Danny: Yeah, you know, it it would it would it would not be fun to Come back more broke or You know You know try I don't know, you know try to do it as smart as you can I'm getting I want to I don't want to say this. I don't want to knock on wood or something I think I'm getting better at little tours that we're doing, you know, I think I'm getting better at it Yeah, I don't ask my band that There's yeah, like one time we were if if I can just say one time we we did like I like just goofed on like the food for one night and it was like We drove from Bennington the Bennington Museum To mystic seaport Connecticut. 

Becca: Oh wow. Yeah, that was no food It was like a bit of a drive and it was like, uh, you know, it was like five at night and we got there I mean we had to load out and six at night. So like we didn't get there to like midnight or something and in there was just The route seven corridor. 

Danny: Yeah Even in the summer Once it's past six o'clock or so there's nothing there. There's nothing open, you know But little things like that, you know what I mean, right? 

Becca: Right. I don't remember the road snacks 

Danny: You gotta have people 

Becca: fed Extremely important because if you're in a bad mood because you're hungry then yeah Not gonna play as well. 

Danny: But we have so much fun when we do go out. We we have uh My friend Steve Yardley and Eric Daniels have gone out with me twice in the past two years And we've had a lot of fun doing that. Nice. 

Becca: So Any particular places I'm guessing you stop in Connecticut because you mentioned Connecticut 

Danny: Yeah, well, we do the we do like the same Festival each year with this band max creek that I used to play with when I was in high school. Cool Um You know up until this year, I believe like scottie the guitar player from max creek was in my gordon's band from the band fish So he's kind of this jam band Guitar player that I've looked up to a lot in my life and uh, so we've been lucky enough to play with them Um, I think it's gonna happen again next year. Nice. So we're trying to build those Those relationships when we travel, you know something you know you're Getting into in a sense sometimes, you know, if you 

Becca: can help it Oh, yeah, well, I'm sure as soon as you make You meet someone when you're traveling around and actually playing shows at random venues and you're like, oh This person's like with it and feel like you can trust them. 

Danny: You are we try to book them, you know before before we go and you know, um Like for example, another stop we had was the bennington museum. Yeah, and it's their summer series. So we're You know, that's like built-in crowd of however many people that show up there on the on the green and There's a whole thing and 

Becca: then yeah, cool little community 

Danny: vibe around there donor Come up on the microphone and talk about the thing, you know, so the built-in Show that you kind of know what it's going to be like already. Sometimes this is good to have I mean, but that being said, you know, you'll still go and you'll oh, we're gonna add this one We're gonna add that one. We'll add some and then that gets a little sketchy, right? 

Becca: But it keeps the spice of life 

Danny: Well I mean, yeah, I've played a lot of shows um in new england over the past 30 years so I guess I could say there isn't too much I haven't seen yet 

Becca: Which is impressive because there's a lot of crazy stuff. 

Danny: Yeah, I'm sure I'll probably see something now that I said that 

Becca: Well, I hope it's a good thing. 

Danny: I exactly we're talking about good things Not bad things 

Becca: So you've got I saw you had one show coming up fairly soon Which I'm not sure I think this podcast might actually come out after your next show sadly 

Danny: But that doesn't mean we can't hype it up on social media. So when is the next one? um, the next one I believe is Monday at this place called junk teeks collective and it's a birthday party. Cool. Nice. Yeah, I think there's 22 bands 22 years They've been in business. It's you know, uh in the north end That's cool. 

Becca: Yeah, I didn't realize junk teeks was also having a birthday because I know uh Radio beam. Yeah, they just had the a huge amount of people playing for that one. 

Danny: Yeah, we played there as well It's a great place Cool. 

Becca: Cool. So junk teeks on monday 

Danny: Yep, I'll be at the Yeah, I'll be at the wallflower wednesday with my friend wilverine. 

Becca: You're busy. Yeah, cool. 

Danny: Yeah, um, he's He's a great guy. He's a Keyboard playing trumpet tear and like crazy beat making Just You know magic man. He's magical. Yeah wilverine wallflower wednesday be there Nice, I do have other ones too. I don't know. I don't know. 

Becca: I can't let me know the other ones because I think this one might actually come out on Thanksgiving I try really I was trying to separate it by like a couple weeks from the last one I believe that that means it's gonna be after a lot of these shows 

Danny: Well, I believe that if everything I believe that if everything goes well in my life Then and I know it will That we will be at the grindstone in brewery in In kinetic it Collinsville kinetic on the 20 on the 28th. 

Becca: Oh nice. Okay. 

Danny: So hopefully the day after Yeah, but that's for ct the ct crowd. I don't know. So people maybe listeners are in kinetic right now. 

Becca: You never know Hey, well, you've got friends in kinetic. 

Danny: So could I hope so guys? We're still friends, right? 

Becca: Nice cool. Okay, so Talking about your instagram it is is it? Yes, it is. It's danie and the part spelled out That's your handle on that one and your danie and the parts on facebook as well Uh Bandcamp, I think I found you under your full name, but correct me if i'm wrong 

Danny: Yeah, I believe so there might be danie and the parts there as well, but I'm not actually sure I'm not super active on bandcamp, but I used to be more. I should be in the future more Yeah, so spotify you're on spotify. 

Becca: I'm on itunes. I heart radio Apple, you know all that kind of stuff title whatever, you know all streaming platforms 

Becca: cool and Your instagram you are active on I have seen you active on 

Danny: instagram I have a lot of fun on instagram being a visual artist as well. I like to get on there and do ridiculous things Very cool. 

Becca: Yes anything else that you want to mention before we wrap it up 

Danny: I just want to say thank you very much for having me and um, you know, yeah, just uh encouraging other artists to keep uh, you know making connections come on down to vermont talks and talk to the community through your radio through the stages, you know and uh, just yeah, I just want to encourage people to you know come out and see a show and um Put down your cell phone so to speak and uh, you know, yeah talk to your neighbor talk to your neighbor and support the local art scene You know, 

Becca: yeah, I I 100% agree with that. Exactly So thank you so much Danny for coming on the show. Thanks for having me and our show notes for today are going to be vermont talks dot com forward slash 61 and I will have all of Danny's social media links embedded as well as any potentially some songs from bandcamp or spotify I'll embed those on there as well And link up your youtube account etc. 

Etc. Thank you so much for listening to the show. Thank you Danny and have a great one everybody Thanks so much for listening to the end of the show Subscribe to vermont talks on your favorite podcasting platform. You can find me on youtube instagram facebook all over the web Contact becca at vermont talks comm if you'd like to be interviewed or if you know someone who should be Thanks so much to jason baker for creating the show music The views and opinions expressed by the guests are those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of vermont talks Any content or statements provided by our gaster of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion ethnic group club organization company individual anyone or anything And that's what was new in the 802. Have a great day