Austin is home to people from all walks of life who are rooted in different parts of the world. Each individual comes with a different story of what led them to this city and how they discovered Pease Park. In People of Pease Park, we highlight people that make Austin’s green space the dynamically vibrant place we know and love. In this story, we interviewed Daniel R. Palmer, a long-time Austinite well-known for his soothing acoustic guitar playing, alongside his usual bench facing Shoal Creek at Live Oak Meadow.
On this park bench in Live Oak Meadow, Daniel has found the perfect spot to enjoy the stillness that comes at the beginning of dusk. This is where you can often find him playing his guitar.
PPC: Have you always been an Austin resident? If so, for how long? If not, what drew you here?
Daniel: I moved here in 2006 because my big sister arrived a few years prior. I started off working at the Austin Wine Merchant on West 6th where I learned all about the world of fine wines and spirits, culminating in a trip to the South of France to visit the vineyards.
Now living in West Campus where it's as central as I can afford, I think I first came across Pease on a bike ride while exploring. All of Austin's green space, trails, cycling infrastructure are truly some of the nicest features of the city. Sometimes when you explore them, you don't even feel like you're in the city.
PPC: Can you share with us your connection to Pease Park and what your experience has been in Pease throughout your time here in Austin?
Daniel: I love walking, running, reading, and especially playing guitar in Pease Park. I love this spot where I am surrounded by hanging Spanish moss, especially in the fall, winter, and spring months which are such beautiful times of the year in Central Texas. I mostly grew up in Northwest Missouri where there are four seasons. So to me, it rarely feels cold here. I also lived in Central Florida for a while where the hanging moss grows rampant. So I feel right at home sitting and playing right here in Pease.
I've always said one of the few things Austin is missing is a beach. But, relaxing in the park as dog walkers, college kids, moms with strollers, and other local weirdos meander by, as the breeze, birds and I serenade them, suffices just fine.
PPC: While playing your guitar in the park, what kind of responses have you received from other park visitors?
Daniel: Most passersby simply give a nod of acceptance, or amazement, perhaps indifference, seldom scowls, a wave, a thumbs up - I'd say more positive than negative responses. Smiles are always reciprocated, but I will say that children and the elderly almost unanimously dig my tunes, which I like to describe as a folk/classical crossover. Sometimes people even congregate around and picnic or spark up a conversation and ask me if I'm accepting tips, even though making music has never been about money. I like to hand out cards with my recordings and play a lot of my own material from Shadows on the Bright Side as well as more refined classical pieces and Spanish-sounding ones.
PPC: What is one thing that still draws you to Pease Park to this day?
Daniel: I think I speak for a lot of people here that we come to the park to unwind, decompress, contemplate, take in mother nature, get some rays, and fresh air. It's very therapeutic. So a nice added ambiance of easy listening and fingerpicking adds to the already pleasant and down-to-earth atmosphere for me, as well as the passersby.
PPC: Do you have any current projects you would like for us to share?
Daniel: My next project, Those Crossings Over, is also acoustic fingerpicking, but has more ominous nuances, and the song titles point towards immortality and the afterlife. I'd like to work on piano material too, but you can't exactly hike out there with one on your back. There was a time when the city stationed pianos all over the trails. It'd be cool if they did that again! You never know whose path you might cross that has some good "chops" as Louis Armstrong used to say.
In between laughs and neat stories about different acoustic styles that inspire his writing, Daniel was kind enough to share with us a snippet of his songs before parting ways.