Feature: The Days Of Cabaret Gratitude - Day One - The Comeback Kids

The Days Of Cabaret Gratitude

Day One:  The Comeback Kids - Dan Tracy and Jennifer Houston
 

Jennifer Houston and Dan Tracy are singer-songwriters.  When they sit down with their guitars before an audience, much of the time, the stories that they are telling are stories of their own creation.  Naturally, this is not all that they do, but it is at the center of their beings.  Dan is a Jack of All Trades and Jen is a Renaissance Woman.  Both accomplished actors, she has played Reno Sweeny and he has played George Seurat.  They have toured the country in musicals, she in Chicago, he in Once, and they have done what the people call “straight plays” - she to the tune of some Neil Simon (Cortland Rep) and he with the likes of The Bard (Hudson Valley Shakespeare).  Jen and Dan have spent countless hours in the recording studio and on the stages of New York City, he in the much-lauded Clown Bar, and, she, playing Sally Bowles Off-off-Broadway.  Jen’s solo music shows have packed places like The Bitter End, Spin, Arlene’s Grocery, and Rockwood Music Hall, and Dan has appeared at  Chelsea Table + Stage, Pianos NYC, 54 Below, and Rockwood Music Hall (both artists admit to having a special feeling for the downtown venue).  Tracy and Houston have each joined in with friends on group shows at cabaret rooms like The Laurie Beechman Theatre and Don’t Tell Mama, and both have dipped their toes into the world of online content.  Dan Tracy and Jennifer Houston are true New York artists.

As true New York artists, the two friends and sometime colleagues have branched out over the years, working the gigs that veer away from the performing arts but that keep people well-rounded and in the money.  Houston is a successful baker of gourmet cakes and Tracy is a busier-than-that software engineer.  She has spent time working as a commercial voiceover artist and he had a few years as a property owner/landlord.  When coming up through the ranks, she was a makeup artist and he was a bonafide New York City busker.  They have worked alongside their spouses in both business and art (Houston’s husband, Allan Piper, is a filmmaker, and Tracy’s fiancé, Melissa Mahoney, is an actress and teacher), mastering the skill of balancing the life of the New York artist - and, always, Dan Tracy and Jennifer Houston return to their music.  Both artists are continually writing new songs (music and lyrics) to perform and to play out, and their fans and followers consistently turn up to hear their latest creations, hers of an alt-country vibe and his at the intersection where folk and rap meet.

Jennifer Houston recently appeared in THE LINEUP WITH Susie Mosher to perform the self-penned theme song to the movie e Vil Sublet, an award-winning film currently on the festival circuit in which Houston stars (and in which acting icon Sally Struthers makes her horror genre debut), and she is a regular at Leola’s Ladyland Lounge at The Green Room 42 (she will appear on December 7th).  Dan Tracy was recently the opening act for The Heartstrings Project, joining them onstage as pianist for their own set, and he is currently preparing to play a set at Bowery Electric, his first solo show since 2014, and one consisting entirely of new compositions, and, no surprise, the writer/director of Houston’s film is husband Allan Piper and Tracy’s bass player for his Bowery set will be wife-to-be Mahoney, who taught herself to play during a recent period of time when all were staying at home.  New York artists.

These two artists, these two singer-songwriters exemplify what it is to be a New York City musician.  While creating stories that resonate so deeply from within themselves, both Dan Tracy and Jennifer Houston have made a genre of music so unique as to actually embody their own individual aesthetic.  No other musical artist sounds like them.  No songs written by other composers match their own sounds.  They are originals and they are special.  And while they are living the lives of New York artists, making their way in the multi-hyphenated world of adulting, they never give up on their dreams, never give up their art.  They always return to the barre.  

And that is what being an artist is all about.

Read a Broadway World Cabaret interview with Jen Houston HERE.

Dan Tracy will appear at The Bowery Electric on November 3rd (doors open at 6:30, Tracy plays at 8 pm).  Information and reservations are available HERE.

Jen Houston will be at the screening of her film e Vil Sublet on December 10th, a part of the New York City Horror Film Festival.  Information and tickets are available HERE and the e Vil Sublet Facebook page is HERE.

See a trailer from e Vil Sublet HERE.

Dan Tracy has an Instagram page HERE.

Dan's pronouns are he/him/his and Jen's are she/her/hers.

Jen Houston can be found online at the following links: 

Website:  HERE  
Instagram:  HERE 
Facebook:  for music HERE,  for Cake Hole HERE
TikTok:  HERE

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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