Daniel Nickerson - Humboldt Songster

Daniel Nickerson is a songster, artist, and farmer based in the Eel River Valley of Humboldt County, CA. A prolific performer, he has worked as a singer in bars, breweries, restaurants, concert venues, casinos, art galleries, farmers markets, weddings, funerals, house shows, and festivals, playing over 300 gigs in and around Humboldt County since 2016. 

Nickerson's performance style is an inviting mix of songs, stories, poetry, pathos, and humor, delivered with the ease of a radio DJ, and influenced by the outlook of artists like Michael Hurley, Jonathan Richman, Patti Smith, Joe Strummer, and Lou Reed. His sets are created from a repertoire of over 50 original songs and over 250 traditionals drawn from folk, country, jazz, and rock songbooks. Performing frequently as a one-man-band with guitar, keys and percussion, he also performs collaboratively with the psychedelic cumbia group Makenu, the country-fried ska-boogie group The Cowtown Sound, and with the multimedia performance art troupe The Cowtown Puppet Players.

Beyond music, Nickerson has exhibited illustrations, paintings, and installation artwork in galleries and community spaces, self-published a variety of handbound books with original literary works, and received grant-funding from the California Arts Council to collaboratively create a touring puppet performance about climate resilience. He and his partner Tayloranne Finch grow and sell herbal tea blends at their small farm, Eel River Herbs.