It’s been more than a year since Lowcountry native and promising country artist Drew Dangerfield made the time-honored and well-worn move to Nashville to pursue his music dreams, but he’ll never lose sight of where he’s from. In fact, he’s returning to The Windjammer next weekend on Dec. 16 to record a new live album.
The Windjammer is a special place for Dangerfield — he grew up in Mount Pleasant going to shows at the storied venue, and he said he gave his first live performance here just a few years earlier.
Although always a fan of country music, Dangerfield did not grow up playing guitar or doing any kind of performance. It wasn’t until a trip to Nashville in his early 20s that he was inspired to pick up a guitar and try his hand at songwriting.
“I thought I would buy a guitar to play around the house,” he said. “I was actually pretty shy about showing my music to people at first.”
But, as it turns out, he was a bit of a natural. With a thick, emotive drawl and penchant for rough-hewn country tropes that compares favorably to artists like Luke Combs or Jon Pardi but also to more left-of-center acts like Tyler Childers, Dangerfield clearly had potential.
His guitar teacher, Scottie Frier (formerly of the Americana outfit Travelin Kine), clearly thought so. Frier ended up booking Dangerfield an opening slot at The Windjammer on the beach stage back in 2021. The formerly shy singer/songwriter — who says he shocked most of his friends when he announced the gig — went from playing in his bedroom to a crowd of 800.
“I was definitely nervous going up there, but then once I did it, it was almost like a drug,” he said. “I was like, ‘When can I do this again?’ I started to play out as much as I could and really hone the craft of songwriting.”
Music City dreams
Dangerfield has been living in Nashville for just over a year now, steadily playing gigs and doing co-write sessions in the hopes of breaking through in the industry while juggling a full-time job. If you follow him on TikTok, you can see the fruits of his efforts almost in real-time as he documents his original songs along with the odd cover here and there.
“I’ve written about 60 songs this year, and I’ve also focused on playing out live [too],” he says. “Social media is still probably the most important thing besides the songs. I was never one to post [much on] social media before, so there’s definitely a learning curve, and that’s definitely something that I’m trying to get better at.”
As for his long-term goals in the industry, Dangerfield says he’s trying for both a publishing deal that could market his songs to others and to establish himself as his own artist. He looks to artists like the Southern rock-tinged Muscadine Bloodline or the indie-leaning Zach Bryan for inspiration, noting the possibilities of maintaining commercial appeal while charting your own course.
As for returning to The Windjammer for his live album? Dangerfield couldn’t imagine it any other way. Fellow musician Brennan Burns will join him on guitar. Singer/songwriter and Georgetown native turned Nashville resident Thomas Rowland will open the show.
“The Charleston market has always been good to me. I have so many family and friends here,” he said. “Hopefully, we can pack it out.
“I think where I’ve thrived is in a live setting, so I kind of wanted to showcase that through a live record, rather than something in the studio,” he said. “Growing up here, this place was always a special place for me. I think it’s one of the coolest venues to play, and obviously, Windjammer was my first show [as well].”Country musician Drew Dangerfield takes the stage Dec. 16 at The Windjammer, where he played his first gig
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