Daniel Edgerly Zanes (born November 8, 1961) is an American former member of the 1980s band the Del Fuegos and is now the front man of the Grammy-winning group Dan Zanes and Friends. History Zanes's father was a teacher, as well as a poet and writer. Zanes attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts for two years. Zanes ended up living on the outskirts of Concord, New Hampshire. The Del Fuegos The Del Fuegos played in lofts, bars, warehouses, small art galleries, clubs, barns, college dining halls, fraternity houses, gymnasiums, auditoriums, and, finally, big theaters. Rolling Stone named the Del Fuegos "Best New Band" in 1984. With the Del Fuegos, Zanes made several records – The Longest Day (1984), Boston, Mass (1985), Stand Up (1987), Smoking in the Fields (1989) – and had a hit single, Don't Run Wild. In 1987, Zanes married Paula Greif, the director of the video for the Del Fuegos song, I Still Want You. Family music After Zanes and his wife at the time, Paula Greif, had a baby girl, they moved to New York City. Zanes subsequently began playing music with a group of other fathers that he had met in West Village playgrounds who were also there with their kids. These fathers playing music together eventually became the Wonderland String Band, which played at parks and parties and on a tape of songs that Zanes recorded at his home. The tape was a hit locallyi.e. on the playgrounds where he and his daughter playedand Zanes realized that he liked making music that families could enjoy together, as opposed to music that is just for children or just for adults. So, he added a small number of women to his band, renamed it the Rocket Ship Revue, and began making a full-length homemade album, enlisting the help of some people he had met when he was a Del FuegoSheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega, and Simon Kirke, the drummer for Bad Company. The album, Rocket Ship Beach (2000), was also a hit. The New York Times Magazine called it "cool", and added, "Mostly, though, Zanes' kids music works because it is not kids music; it's just musicmusic that's unsanitized, unpasteurized, that's organic even." Sheryl Crow and Suzanne Vega made guest appearances on the album. The second album, Family Dance (2001) is composed of dance songs from a wide variety of musical traditions and features Loudon Wainwright III