Dan Bern

Trying to put Dan Bern in a musical box has never worked particularly well. Folk, rock, pop, punk, protest song, comedy and sharp-eyed social commentary all find their way into his music, and after thousands of songs, dozens of albums and three decades on the road, he remains a most distinctive and unpredictable songwriter!

Bern emerged in the 1990s with songs that were funny, provocative, literate and sometimes startlingly direct. Comparisons to Bob Dylan came early, but Bern quickly established a voice entirely his own: a songwriter capable of moving from the deeply personal to the political, from absurd humor to genuine tenderness, sometimes within the same song. His landmark New American Language remains a fan favorite, filled with the kind of intelligent, melodic and unguarded songwriting that has defined his career.

That career has taken him from coffeehouses to Carnegie Hall and, most recently, to opening shows for The Who and Roger Daltrey. His songs have appeared in films including Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Get Him to the Greek, The Bubble and Zero Effect, while younger listeners may know his work from Amazon Prime’s award-winning children’s series The Stinky & Dirty Show.

And music is only part of it. Bern is also a painter, novelist, children’s book author, podcaster and broadcaster. During the pandemic, his Hunkered in the Bunker online concerts developed a devoted community of their own, while his topical sports songs have become regular features on The Tony Kornheiser Show.

But the best way to understand Dan Bern is still to hear him live. Armed with a guitar, a seemingly bottomless supply of songs and an ability to turn whatever is happening in the world, or in the room, into material, he can be hilarious one minute and unexpectedly moving the next.

Dan Bern has spent his career proving that a great song can tell the truth, tell a joke, ask an uncomfortable question and give you a melody to carry home.

At Caffè Lena, he'll have exactly the kind of room where all of that can land.

SAMPLE SONG

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