What did you do during the COVID-19 pandemic?
I did not sit around, drink beer, and play video games.
COVID-19 hit working musicians hard. Clubs shut down, gigs vanished, and people who had spent years building a life around playing music suddenly had no idea when they would be back onstage.
Danny came into that period with a serious body of work behind him.
The Seattle guitarist had already performed with Carlos Santana, Jonny Lang, Tim Reynolds, and Jason Mraz. Those are very different musicians, which says something about Danny’s ability to move between styles without losing his own musical identity.
One of the deeper connections in his career has been with Michael Shrieve, the original Santana drummer who played Woodstock at the age of twenty. Danny became the guitarist in Shrieve’s Seattle band, Spellbinder, alongside musicians including Hammond organist Joe Doria and bassist Farko Dosumov.
This was not simply a matter of sharing a bill. Danny recorded with Spellbinder. Album credits for Michael Shrieve’s Spellbinder list Godinez on guitar, and he also appears on Spellbinder Live at Tost.
Another important chapter came through Native American singer and songwriter Pura Fé.
Danny toured and recorded with her, and their work traveled well beyond Seattle. In 2008, Radio France Internationale featured the two together while discussing Pura Fé’s album Hold the Rain, which included Danny’s guitar work. They were also performing together in France at the time.
His involvement continued. Danny is credited on Pura Fé’s Full Moon Rising, including guitar on “The Condor Meets the Eagle.”
His path has also put him on bills with some formidable players. A Ballard Jazz Festival program notes that Godinez had opened for or shared the stage with Robben Ford, ZZ Top, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Herbie Hancock, and Jason Mraz. That wording matters. Sharing a stage is not the same thing as being a member of someone’s band, but it does give some idea of the musical circles in which Danny has worked.
When Danny and I talked for Podcast 19, none of us knew what the next few years would look like. For someone whose career had been built around playing, touring, recording, and interacting with other musicians, COVID attacked the structure that made much of that possible.
Six years later, Danny is still here.
He remains active in the Seattle music scene, performing regularly and teaching guitar both privately and at Shoreline Community College. His current biography also notes a weekly Monday residency with his band at Seattle’s Owl ‘N Thistle, the same venue where he played his first Seattle gig nearly three decades ago.
That makes returning to this conversation interesting.
Podcast 19 catches Danny Godinez at a particular moment, but his story stretches far beyond December 2020.
The pandemic interrupted the road.
It didn’t end it.
Can We help You?
Thank you for spending some time with this conversation and for supporting the work we do at Mack-n-Cheeze Music.
If Danny’s story speaks to you, share this post with someone who might connect with it.
Leave a comment and tell us how you kept creating when the ground shifted beneath you.
And subscribe so you don’t miss the next conversation.
Continue The Journey
Because sometimes the wisest person in the studio has four paws.
Want More Mack-n-Cheeze?
Videos - Bryan At Mackncheeze on YouTube
Podcasts – Bryan At Mackncheeze Apple Podcasts, Fountain, Spotify