Dan Newton has a very busy May program schedule. He performs with several groups including Cafe Accordion Orchestra, Daddy Squeeze and Elizabeth, Honky tonk Jump, and The McNordiques.

Dan “Daddy Squeeze” Newton has been playing offbeat accordion music since 1987, when he won the Nebraska State Accordion Contest at the Czech Festival in Wilber, Nebraska. Excerpts from his website: He has used the accordion for playing all kinds of music not normally associated with free-reed instruments, as well as standard accordion material.

Dan enjoys mixing up styles and genres that don’t generally seem compatible. “Music out of context” is the result of his genre-bending experiments with Celtic, French, Tex-Mex, Creole, Blues, Jazz, Scandinavian, Polka and pop music. His fresh approach to the much-maligned squeeze-box and his mind-boggling repertoire of both original and traditional material will change the mind of the most hardened accordion skeptic, and delight the fan of the instrument.

He draws influences for songs and tunes from such sources as French Musette, Gypsy Swing, Cajun, Jug band, Tex-Mex and Cumbia.  Daddy Squeeze happily crosses musical borders with ease, often mixing styles with results like the “Yohnny B Goode Polka” (a hilarious look at what Chuck Berry’s music might sound like had he grown up in Minnesota)or a French language waltz version of the rock and roll chestnut “Wild Thing”.

Dan’s original songs about thrift store shopping, coffee, hi-top sneakers, heartbreak, and joy are delivered with a voice that is captivating, expressive and encourages harmonizing. He mines gems from the repertoires of icons such as Hank Williams, Hank Mancinni, Bob Wills, the Beatles, Clifton Chenier, Fats Domino, Fats Waller, Gus Cannon, Bo Carter, Jo Privat, and a few nuggets written by his friends and fellow musicians of today.

Cafe Accordion Orchestra

Dan entertains and enlightens his audiences with stories and colorful anecdotes about the accordion’s history and his experiences making a living by playing and singing with the instrument he loves.

Accordion lovers walk away from Dan’s shows knowing they’ve heard their favorite instrument presented in a fresh and new way, while the squeezebox skeptic will realize that there is much to love about the accordion when it’s in the right hands.

Dan Newton’s Café Accordion Orchestra (CAO) performs an eclectic mix full of French flare, Latin heat and Bohemian attitude. The heart of the CAO repertoire is the romantic, Parisian valse-musette. The group complements the musettes with Parisian hot club, swing, ballads, tangos, cha chas, rumbas, and cumbias to create a wonderfully varied show. They inject their music with good humor and expressive abandon. Their high level of musicianship and passion for performance makes them an entertaining concert act as well as a great dance band.

CAO is led by Dan Newton on accordion and vocals, with Eric Mohring on mandolin, violin and vocals, Mike CramerMIKE on guitar and vocals, Erik Lillestol on bass and vocals and Joe Steinger on percussion. CAO has been delighting audiences and dancers alike since 1995. They have appeared in New York at the Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night Swing series, the International Akkordeon Festival in Vienna, Austria, the Minnesota State Fair, as well as festivals, theaters and dance halls across the United States.

Future Performances include:

Thursday, April 30 @ 6:00PM — 8:00PM Honky Tonk Jump Midway Saloon, St Paul, MN 55104 Friday, May 1 @ 7:00PM Pat Donohue, Richard Kriehn & Daddy Squeeze Granite City Folk Society
Wednesday, May 13 @ 6:30PM — 8:30PM Cafe Accordion & Pat Donohue Food Justice Benefit Zion Community Commons, St. Paul, MN
Friday, May 15 @ 7:00PM Daddy Squeeze & Elizabeth Como Lakeside Pavilion , St Paul MN
Sunday, May 24 @ 6:00PM — 7:30 PM Daddy Squeeze & Elizabeth Waldmann Brewery, St. Paul, MN
Wednesday, May 27 @ 7:30PM — 9:00PM Honky Tonk Jump w/ Pop Wagner Crooners Lounge & Supper Club, Minneapolis, MN
Saturday, June 6 @ 2:00PM — 3:00PM Daddy Squeeze & Elizabeth Becketwood Cooperative, Minneapolis, MN
Friday, June 12 @ 7:00PM — Saturday, June 13 @ 4:00PM Daddy Squeeze @ Duluthstämman U of M Duluth
Wednesday, June 17 @ 6:00PM — 7:30PM Dan Newton’s Cafe Accordion Orchestra Crooners Lounge & Supper Club, Minneapolis, MN
Tuesday, June 23 @ 6:00PM — 8:00PM The 5 Dans Dan-demic! The White Squirrel, St Paul MN