When Daniel Blank started playing the violin in the fourth grade he had no idea that music and this instrument would be the one constant in life from then on. As he continued through high school with the school and community orchestras, he gradually developed a bond with the violin that would define his life and take him into a lifelong career. At age 18 he left school and home to see more of the world, during which time he gave up the violin. "There were so many little kids making their debut with major symphony orchestras, it just didn't seem like I had a chance of making it in classical music," he remembers. He moved to Hawaii and then to the San Francisco bay area for a few years. From there he moved to Seattle, where he picked up the violin again, learning to improvise this time, and started a fifteen year journey through lounges and nightclubs in the Northwest and up down the coast, with various country, pop and funk bands. In 1995 he moved to Nashville where he had the opportunity to play with such artists as Tanya Tucker, Johnny Paycheck and Jeannie C. Riley. He has also performed on the Grand Ole Opry stage many times with a variety of artists including Trick Pony, whom he's been with since 1998. During that time he has appeared in their videos on CMT and on nationally broadcast shows such as CBS' The Early Show and CNN Headline News' In The Front Row. This last year you could also see them as part of the lineup of the Brooks and Dunn Neon Circus tour. His travels have taken him to nearly every state in the Union and internationally to Japan and Canada. "Traveling across this planet of ours is one of the most exhilarating experiences I have had," he says. "The beauty of this world is so inspiring and at the same time so serene." When he's not out on the road with Trick Pony, he is home, composing, recording and producing his own music. Although he enjoys playing country and pop music he is still most deeply connected to classical music, his first love, and jazz. In his own compositions, he has created a style that combines those influences with New Age music and Eastern philosophy. He recently completed his first CD under the name Sunset Beach, called Time and Again.