Draft:Erik Della Penna

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  • Comment: Please note that IMDb and Discogs are not reliabe sources. Theroadislong (talk) 17:14, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Reviewers should see the draft talk page for any comments by author. -- DoubleGrazing (talk) 17:12, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: He's notable but sources with significant coverage are needed. Most sources here are either primary or just passing mentions. @T.C.G. [talk] 21:54, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment: Not yet ready; another editor is discussing matters with the contributor. See also my edit summaries. Drmies (talk) 21:37, 13 April 2024 (UTC)


Erik Della Penna
Background information
Born (1965-06-02) 2 June 1965 (age 58)
GenresFolk, pop, rock, musical theater
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
Instrument(s)Guitar, banjo, mandolin, lap steel
Years active1985-present
Member ofKill Henry Sugar, Hazmat Modine, Byzantine Stompers
Websiteerikdellapenna.com

Erik Della Penna (born 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, lyricist, and session musician. He plays guitar, lap steel, banjo, and mandolin. He has toured and recorded with Natalie Merchant, Joan Baez, Joan Osborne, Hazmat Modine, and Kill Henry Sugar.[1] He co-composed the music and lyrics for the off-Broadway musical Dead Outlaw[2] with Tony-winner David Yazbek.[3]

Early Life[edit]

Della Penna was born in the Bronx, New York. He is of Italian-American descent. He began playing guitar in his early teens and studied guitar and music theory at The Mannes School of Music in New York City (now The New School), graduating with a BFA in Classical Guitar.[4]

Career[edit]

Musician[edit]

Della Penna began performing in New York City with various power pop bands that emerged from the New York arts scene in the late 1980s. In 1994 he joined rock/blues singer Joan Osborne's touring band for five years in support of her debut major-label album, Relish, and her sophomore album, Righteous Love. Della Penna toured and recorded with singer/songwriter Natalie Merchant for 26 years beginning in 1998[4] in support of eight of her albums, including Ophelia, Motherland, The House Carpenter's Daughter, Leave Your Sleep, and Keep Your Courage.

In 2001, he formed a "metropolitan folk" duo with drummer Dean Sharenow called Kill Henry Sugar, serving as its songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist.[4] The Washington Post describes the band as having the ability to “wed intriguing lyrics to little textured grooves that have a habit of getting under your skin.”[5]

In 2005, he joined the touring band of folk musician Joan Baez, performing with her until 2011. In 2013 he joined the blues/world music/roots band Hazmat Modine, described by The New York Times as a "category-defying blues-rooted group that can swerve into New Orleans brass-band, jazz, and ska."[6]

As a musician, his playing has been described as "folksy but rapid-fire acoustic guitar that leads through rivers of well-timed but delightfully off-kilter lyricism"[7] as well as "Appalachian banjo atmospherics" and "fuzz-tone guitar lament."[5]

Songwriter[edit]

As a songwriter, Della Penna is known for his "curious tales," "low-fi storytelling,"[5], "Steinbeck-eulogizing narratives"[7] and "frighteningly memorable melodies."[4] Della Penna cites as influences Leon Redbone, The Marx Brothers, Bob Dylan and David Bromberg.

"When Leon Redbone was musical guest on ‘Saturday Night Live,' he revived that style of crooner and played guitar in a very simple, straightforward way...I was about 10 or 11, and thought that was just great. And I’m a big Marx Brothers fan, so I always had a quirky interest in that period. My parents were late adopters of Hippie culture, so I got a lot of first-hand Dylan and David Bromberg, and that period of folk revival."[1]

Della Penna has written six albums for Kill Henry Sugar, has co-written four albums for Hazmat Modine, and has written two solo albums. He co-wrote four songs with Joan Osborne for Righteous Love, and co-wrote "Disney is the Enemy" with Mojo Nixon.

Composer & Lyricist[edit]

Della Penna wrote the music and lyrics for his first musical, Toby and the Big Top, in 2002. This children's musical was subsequently produced in 2003 by Walden Family Playhouse (Walden Media). In 2015, Della Penna wrote the music and lyrics for a second children's musical, Kitty Hawk, about the Wright Brothers' invention of aviation which was produced by the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Over several years beginning in 2017, he co-wrote the music and lyrics for the musical Dead Outlaw with David Yazbek (book by Itamar Moses).[2] It opened on February 28, 2024, at the off-Broadway Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was a New York Times Critic's Pick[8] and had its run extended. It received six Lucille Lortel Award nominations, two Drama League nominations, nine Outer Critics Circle Award nominations, and eleven Drama Desk Award nominations.

Awards and Nominations[edit]

Year Association Category Nominated Work Result
2024 Lucille Lortel Awards Outstanding Musical Dead Outlaw Pending
Drama League Awards Outstanding Production of a Musical Pending
Outer Critics Circle Awards Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Pending
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical Pending
Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Pending
Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Musical Pending
Outstanding Music Pending
Outstanding Lyrics Pending
Outstanding Orchestrations Pending

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Smullen, Sharon (13 April 2023). "At Spencertown Academy, Rachelle Garniez and Erik Della Penna to play old and new music of New York City". The Berkshire Eagle. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b Bahr, Sarah (20 March 2024). "'Dead Outlaw,' a Mummy Musical, Is So Strange It Can Only Be True". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  3. ^ McDonnell, Brandy (20 March 2024). "Musical 'Dead Outlaw,' about Oklahoma robber-turned-mummy Elmer McCurdy now playing in NYC". AOL/Gannett/The Oklahoman. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Vellucci, Justin (30 March 2010). "The "Antique-Garde" Songwriters Of New York City". American Songwriter. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Joyce, Mike. "KILL HENRY SUGAR "Sell This ..." The Washington Post.
  6. ^ Jon, Pareles (7 March 2019). "Immigrants Created American Music. A New Festival Tells Their Stories". The New York Times.
  7. ^ a b Vellucci, Justin (13 July 2021). "GOTHAM'S ANTIQUE-GARDE MARCHES ONWARD WITH ERIK DELLA PENNA'S 'RAINY EP'". Pop Matters. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
  8. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (11 March 2024). "'Dead Outlaw' Review: Not Much of a Bandit, but What a Corpse". The New York Times.
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