Dan Truman
Dan Truman, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born on 29 August 1956. He plays keyboards, piano, organ and synthesizer. His musical influences are deeply rooted in jazz and classical music, and as a classical and jazz pianist, while attending college at Brigham Young University (BYU), he performed and toured the world with BYU’s Young Ambassadors.
Some of his favorite Country Music artists include Martina McBride, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, and Trisha Yearwood. After college, he made his mark in the music industry as the keyboardist for the phenomenal American country and Christian country music band, Diamond Rio.
In 1982, Matt Davenport, Danny Gregg, and Ty Herndon founded Diamond Rio as an attraction for Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee. Ty Herndon broke away from the group in the mid-1990s and decided to become a solo artist. The band was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys and then the Tennessee River Boys. The group underwent several changes in membership in its early years but has consisted of the same six members since 1989. The members are: Marty Roe (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Gene Johnson (mandolin, guitar, fiddle, tenor vocals), Jimmy Olander (lead guitar, Dobro, banjo), Brian Prout (drums), Dana Williams (bass guitar, baritone vocals), and Dan Truman (keyboards, organ, synthesizer). The name Diamond Rio came from the names of two truck manufacturers, Diamond T and REO (the latter of which became misspelled in the band’s name. The band is known for such hits as “Meet in the Middle,” “One More Day,” “Beautiful Mess,” “Unbelievable”, and “Norma Jean Riley.” About the song “One More Day,” Dan has said, “For me, performing One More Day has become the highlight of every show. Watching and feeling the crowd’s response to this song is an amazing thing. We have truly been blessed by the song and its power.”
Dan also co-founded the Nashville Tribute Band, a group of Christian (LDS) artists and songwriters working successfully in Nashville who started the band to produce music of their faith, with songwriter and record producer, Jason Deere. In 2003, Deere, who was then teaching the Old and New Testament in early morning LDS seminary class for high school students in Franklin, Tennessee, was inspired to write an album of songs about the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1820 to 1844. Dan co-produced and wrote one of the songs on the album called Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to The Prophet. In 2005, the album was released by Deseret Book’s Highway Records, becoming one of Deseret Book’s best-selling albums. The album won Pearl Awards for Contemporary Album of the Year, Inspirational Recording of the Year, Contemporary Instrumental Recorded Song of the Year, and Songwriter of the Year. The LDS Booksellers Association also awarded the album a 2006 Listener’s Choice Award for Album of the Year and awarded Deere a 2006 Listener’s Choice Award for Best New Artist.
The band has produced three best-selling albums: “Joseph: A Nashville Tribute to the Prophet,” “Trek: A Nashville Tribute to the Pioneers,” and “The Work: A Nashville Tribute to the Missionaries.”
On 9 December 2013, Dan released his first solo album called Faith. The album’s first track, an original arrangement of “O My Father” was arranged by Dan and performed as a piano duet with his son, Chad. Alex Boyé provides the lead vocals in his trademark “Africanized” style. The video for the song was shot on the shores of Tony Grove Lake in Logan Canyon, Utah with background vocals to the song and video being added by several successful singers and musicians who are featured on several other songs of the album.
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