Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands. I'm Shecky and I wanted you to picture something for a moment. It's a Sunday evening, Foley Beach, South Carolina. There's a little bar right on the edge of the ocean called the Surf Bar. Wood stoves burning, surf videos flickering on the wall, sand between the floorboards. On every Sunday night, the same three musicians set up, start playing and the whole town shows up. Nobody announced it. Nobody printed a flyer. The music just started and the
people came. That is how Danger Muffin built their following one Sunday night at a time at a bar where Gershwin once walked the same shore in a town so alive with music it was almost named Gershwin Island. A trio whose sound could only have come from exactly that place at exactly that time played by exactly those people. Today we're talking about Danger Muffin and by the end of this episode you're going to want to drive to Foley Beach, walk into the surf bar and stay
forever. Foley Beach is a barrier island just south of Charleston, South Carolina. It's not a big place, about two square miles, a main strip of bars and surf shops. and the Atlantic Ocean pressing in on all sides. George Gershwin lived there in 1934 while writing Porgy and Bess. That's the energy of Folly Beach, creative, unhurried, infused with the salt and heat of the Carolina
coast. Dan Lodi arrived there with a guitar, a set of songs, and a voice that reviewers would later describe as carrying an unmistakable light rasp. the kind of voice that sounds like it has
already lived a few good stories. He connected with guitarist Mike Savilli whose sly driven guitar work could pivot from bluegrass twang to almond brothers flavored southern rock without a moment's notice and they found their rhythmic anchor in Steve Sandifer, a Nashville veteran percussionist who played with the Drew Emmett band and Adrian Young, and who can move from Calypso to the world beat to a down -home shuffle
often within the very same song. The three of them started playing the surf bar on Sunday nights. No big strategy, no tour manager, no label meetings, just the surf bar, the wood stoves, the surf videos on the wall, and a growing crowd of Folly Beach residents who came back every week because the music made them feel like they were exactly where they were supposed to be. That residency became reputation. That reputation became bookings. And those bookings eventually became a national
touring career. Over a hundred shows a year, coast to coast, opening for Xavier Rudd and Widespread Panic, playing Jazz Aspen in Colorado, earning a slot at the Wani Festival and gathering of the vibes. All of it growing directly from one bar, one island, one Sunday night at a time. Danger muffin. Let's sit with that for a second. On one hand, it's completely ridiculous. Danger. Muffin. Two words that have no business being
next to each other. On the other hand, and this is the part that matters, it's absolutely perfectly undeniably them. Relix magazine's editor -in -chief, Josh Barron, captured it exactly when reviewing the band. Don't let the name fool you. Danger Muffin is not another run -of -the -mill,
directionless jam band. Just like many a funny name band before them, Fish, The String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee, Danger Muffin is likely to become synonymous with those fans who love bands and deliver something new and promising each show. Their bio describes the music as a punchy folk jam pastry for the sweet toothed soul of the South. A pastry. They're definitely leaning into the muffin thing with commitment. And I respect that completely. One song for Danger
Muffin is Coffin Island. the closing track from their 2010 breakthrough album Moonscapes. And I'm picking it because it's the most complete single statement of what this band is capable of. And because the arc of that song is one of the most surprising and satisfying listening experiences in any album from this era of jam music. It starts as a swaying in the palm trees acoustic ballad a ukulele, gentle and coastal and completely disarming. You think you know
exactly where you are. You think you know what kind of song this is going to be. Lodi's voice comes in with a light rasp and the whole thing floats. And then, over the course of eight minutes, it completely transforms. The ukulele gives way to electric guitars. The guitars get louder. The dynamics start climbing. And by the time Coffin Island reaches its conclusion, Mike Savilli is delivering what one reviewer called an eight -minute guitar assault that leaves the hair on
the back of your neck standing on end. The same song start to finish from ukulele lullaby to full -scale sonic demolition with complete logic connecting every step of the journey. That is Danger Muffin Magic in one track. the deceptive gentleness at the opening, the depth hiding underneath, the willingness to go somewhere you didn't see coming, and the technical ability to pull it off without ever losing the thread. The whole
Moonskates album is extraordinary. The title itself comes from Lodi's observation that when the tide goes out on Folly Beach, the tidal pools left behind looks like moon craters. a band named after a muffin making philosophical observations about tidal pools and the moon. That is Danger Muffin. Start with Culfin Island, stay for everything else. Alright, some things you need to know about Danger Muffin. Well, the first fact is the Allman Brothers manager compared them to the Grateful
Dead. Bert Holman, the longtime manager of the Allman Brothers band, one of the most respected figures of Southern rock, heard Danger Muffin and said publicly Relix Magazine named them Jam -Off Winners. In April 2009, Relix Magazine, the Bible of the Jamworld, ran their Jam -Off competition and named Danger Muffin the Winners. That recognition opened national doors immediately.
Sirius XM's Jam -On and Outlaw Country stations began airing their music regularly, giving them satellite radio airplay alongside artists with far more established track records. Third fact, Dan Lody won the Songwriters Hall of Fame New Writers Showcase. In 2005, before Danger Muffin was even a band, songwriter Dan Lody won the Songwriters Hall of Fame New Writers Showcase. That is a currential that has nothing to do with
genre or the scene. It's pure songwriting recognition for the most prestigious institutions in American music. The man at the center of Danger Muffin is not just a performer, he's a genuinely exceptional songwriter. Fourth fact, Keller Williams played bass on their album. The track Little Douglas from Songs for the Universe features Keller Williams on bass and backing vocals. Keller described it as a lighthearted song about herbal enlightenment, which tells you everything you need to know about
the mood. Williams has been a beloved figure across multiple episodes of this podcast. His willingness to show up for younger bands and bring his gift to their sessions is one of the great ongoing stories in the scene. Another fact, they wrote a film score and backed Carrie Fisher's daughter. After taking a step, From touring around 2018, Dan Lodi and Mike Savilli co -founded a
production company called Morning Moon. Through that work, they backed actress and singer Billie Lourd, Carrie Fish's daughter, during live performances and composed the score for the film, Wildflower starting Kiernan Shipka. A band that started playing Sunday nights at a beach bar ended up writing Music for Hollywood. That is a full arc. Last fact. Their 2024 album was recorded in a church -turned -legendary studio. The self -titled 2024 comeback album was recorded at Echo Mountain
in Asheville, North Carolina. A former church that has hosted band of horses and the Avett brothers. Lodi described the room as a very special place to play music. The walls of that church, with their history and their renaissance, became part of the album sound and the ways that can't be manufactured anywhere else. Okay, here's what I keep on coming back to with Danger Muffin. They started a bar on an island where George Gershwin once wrote Summertime and the livin'
is easy. And they built something that has the same quality and music that makes you feel at a cellular level like life could be simpler and more beautiful than you remembered not naive not surface level underneath all that breezy coastal folk jam warmth there is real depth coffin island eight -minute guitar explosion the Cherokee creation myths and the Unitarian Church vocals and the mountain solitude that fed Lodi's writing. It's all there. The Allman Brothers manager heard
the Grateful Dead in them. Relix magazine gave them their Jam -Off Award. Sirius XM played them on two different stations simultaneously. A Hollywood production company came knocking. All of it started from three people and a Sunday night at the surf bar. Find Coffin Island on Moonscapes. Find songs from the universe if you want to go deeper into
the philosophy. Find the self -titled 2024 album if you want to hear what Danger Muffin sounds like fully grown, recorded in a church in Asheville with the mountains pressing in and 20 years of music behind them. And if you are ever anywhere near Foley Beach on a Sunday evening, you know what to do. Show up. The music will find you. That's Danger Muffin and that's Shecky's Jam Bands. Thank you for listening and I'll see you next time.