Indie artist profile: Danielle Ate the Sandwich--doing it her own way

Photo: Cory Gustason

Danielle Anderson, who goes by the stage moniker Danielle Ate the Sandwich, is an indie musician from Ft. Collins, Colorado.  Known for her quirky stage presence and for featuring a ukelele in her music, Danielle is attracting a growing fan base both locally and nationally through her recordings, live performances and her homemade videos on YouTube. 
 

"I had been writing songs in secret, in my bedroom, since high school, but never really had the courage to play them out loud in front of people until my second year of college," Danielle says of how she got started.  After playing open stages and a few gigs here and there for a few years, in early 2009 Danielle got a huge increase in her fan base when YouTube featured one of her videos.  She quit her job as a seamstress, "partly because I wasn't happy there, and partly because I wanted to see if I could make it playing just music," she says.

 

She has never looked back.

 

Behind the eclectic stage name and the trademark ukelele (which she claims was "left on my door step by a friend as a 'stop being a grump' present") lies a serious musician who appreaciates the fact that music can affect people. "I think I want the songs to speak to people in an individual way...I guess I just want the songs to do something for [them]."  Meanwhile, she's riding the wave of her recent surge of popularity and making plans to write and record a third album in 2010.   "I think it would have been possible for me to climb my way up the local music scene ladder, but because of my success on YouTube it's been a quick jump. I'm also able to tour nationally and have people show up. I think it's interesting to a lot of people that I'm doing it my own way."

 

And she definitely is...doing it her own way.  Danielle Ate the Sandwich is one to watch.