Strings attached: Songwriter’s second chapter begins at Roaring Fork Rising

The next installment of the Roaring Fork Rising series will include singer songwriter Dan Sheridan’s spotlight performance at 7 p.m., Friday, May 23, in The Vault at the Wheeler Opera House. 

While Sheridan used to tune his guitar before a show, this time his musical son Jack, will assist him. After stepping away to raise two kids as a single parent in Aspen, Sheridan is back with a songbook full of songs and a fresh set of strings. 

“It’s been a big break for me,” Sheridan said about the opportunity.

Originally from Buffalo, New York. Sheridan has called Aspen home for 37 years and has become part of the local fabric. Over the years, he’s assembled a music portfolio that includes four albums of original material — winning both the esteemed Telluride Troubadour and Rocky Mountain Festival songwriting competitions. But his life took an unexpected turn.

After the passing of his wife, Lani, in 2014, Sheridan pressed pause on performing to become a full-time single dad — a role made a little easier by winning a coveted Aspen employee housing lottery, which enabled him to afford to live in Aspen and allowed him to raise his kids through the Aspen school system.

His kids, Katie and Jack, are now off to college — Katie at University of Colorado Boulder, Jack at Western Colorado University. He considers his time off like a sabbatical, but as he likes to say, it was his “sudadsitical” and longer than a year.

With his children thriving, Sheridan is returning to music with even greater enthusiasm, ready to perform live and be an artist again writing songs.

For his upcoming performance, he plans to play some of his contest-winning songs, like “I Want to Be an American Too.” 

“It might be even more timely now than it was back then,” Sheridan said of his Telluride Troubadour-winning song. “It’s about being an American and maybe a different view about what defines patriotism.” 

His most popular album, “Small Town Love,” captures the soul of Aspen with lyrics steeped in local life. One of the songs reflects on how towns evolve once the town becomes too expensive for the locals, Sheridan explained. 

Sheridan wrote one song that gained popularity called “Big Money,” which is a song about the changes that happen in resort communities when things get so expensive, the towns lose their character, and local people get pushed out. This song landed him on television and in publications in other states.

Given the unique times we are living in, Sheridan said that he hopes to step into the role of a contemporary folk singer and protest artist — not because he feels the times are necessarily bad or good, just uncharted. His upcoming set will reflect on these “unusual” times.

“It’s really nice to be back playing at the Wheeler,” Sheridan said. He has performed at the venue several times before. 

Now returning to a venue as part of The Roaring Fork Rising series, Sheridan marks this as the first performance in the second act of his career as a lead singer-songwriter. Both of his children will be in attendance to cheer him on, along with a bounty of supportive friends.