Madeleine Peyroux | Let's Walk

Singer and songwriter Madeleine Peyroux has released a touching video for her new track “Showman Dan,” which appears on her forthcoming album Let’s Walk (out June 28th on Thirty Tigers).

Peyroux wrote the song in honor of her longtime friend and mentor Daniel William Fitzgerald, aka Showman Dan, who passed away in 2017. The video features performance footage, joyful home movies and personal photos honoring the charismatic and giving entertainer. The moving tribute shows Showman Dan through years performing all over and collaborating with up-and-coming musicians, including a young, yet-to-be-discovered Peyroux. 

From 1975 until his death, Dan toured across the US and Europe as the leader of the Lost Wandering Blues and Jazz Band. They performed just about everywhere and anywhere, including the streets, public squares, the underground, small theatres, jazz clubs and even the private homes of royalty. Dan had a profound impact on Peyroux as an artist and as a human being, which cannot be overstated. 

“There’s so much living to discover in the telling of a life and so many ways to tell a life story, but here are just a few simple facts about Danny,” says Peyroux. “He was not ‘famous,’ though he has thousands of friends all over the world who still mourn him. And he was not a ‘musician,’ though he taught hundreds of people how to play music. He was not much of a father to his only son, though he is known as the godfather of buskers to many, including me. We met in Paris, France in 1989. He lived on a barge outside of the city, full of hats and coats, art pieces made from found objects, a pump organ, guitars, espresso pots, a dentist chair, lamps made from the bottom halves of mannequins, a portrait of Big Maybelle, photos of friends, and of course people: everyone was welcome to stay on the boat if they needed to. I was homeless and penniless and difficult and a child and arrogant and a budding alcoholic. He took me in. He gave me a job and a home and a second family. He sang and taught the music of Bessie Smith, Jimmy Reed, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, and so many others.” She concludes, “Danny was my friend, my teacher, and oftentimes, my father. He would challenge the rebel in me with, ‘Who are you supposed to be?’ If he were to ask me now, I’d say, “I’m yours.” 

Madeleine Peyroux Tour Dates

• April 20-21 – St. Louis, MO – City Winery
• April 24 – Minneapolis, MN – The Parkway Theater
• April 26 – Iowa City, IA – Englert Theater
• April 27-28 – Chicago, IL – City Winery
• May 1 – Kent, OH – Kent Stage
• May 2 – Columbus, OH – Cbus
• May 4 – Easton, MD – Avalon Theater
• May 5 – Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere
• May 7 – Ridgefield, CT – The Ridgefield Playhouse
• May 10-11 – New York, NY – Sony Hall
• May 12 – Philadelphia, PA – Zellerbach Theatre
• May 14 – Homer, NY – Center for the Arts Homer
• May 16 – Northampton, MA – BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity
• May 17 – Boston, MA – The Wilbur
• May 18 – Patchogue, NY – Patchogue Theater