Biography
Danielle Howle, an alternative singer and songwriter raised in South Carolina, has channeled her work through acoustic folk, angular indie rock, punk, earthy alt-country, and blues. After stepping forward as the frontwoman of Lay Quiet Awhile, she shifted to a solo path that began with a 1995 live album and continued the next year with her first full studio effort, About to Burst. The varied, spontaneous collection blended full-band rock with acoustic material and opened the door to a 1999 Kill Rock Stars release titled Catalog, while also earning her opening slots alongside Elliott Smith and Indigo Girls. During the 2000s she moved deeper into indie folk, alt-country, and blues on joint projects such as Thank You, Mark in 2006 and the Swamp Sessions EP in 2008; the following decade she divided her efforts between solo outings, including the 2016 Pot of Water EP, and performances with the local band Firework Show. In 2023 she returned to Kill Rock Stars with Current, her first proper solo studio album in well over ten years, a set that ranged across rustic off-kilter folk, country, bossa, classic singer/songwriter pop, and additional styles.
Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Howle first appeared on a local-music sampler in the late 1980s. She formed Lay Quiet Awhile alongside her brothers Dan and Phil Cook, leading the group through its sole album, 1993’s Delicate Wire. Once the band dissolved she continued alone, issuing the short Frog EP in 1994 and Live at McKissick Museum in 1995. Her 1996 studio debut About to Burst mixed acoustic pieces with full-band rock in volatile fashion and drew critical notice; the following year’s hook-driven indie-rock record Do a Two Sable on Daemon Records, credited to Danielle Howle & the Tantrums, helped secure the Kill Rock Stars contract. The Tantrums lineup featured guitarist John Furr, bassist Bryan Williams, and drummer Troy Tague, all of whom had contributed to About to Burst.
Ahead of her Kill Rock Stars debut, Howle placed the 1997 Sub Pop 7-inch “High School Dance” with support from Doug Easley of Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and Grifters members Dave Shouse, Scott Taylor, and Russel Lamkins (also known as Tripp Lamkins). The all-acoustic solo album Catalog arrived on Kill Rock Stars in May 1999, by which point she was sharing stages with Elliott Smith, Ani DiFranco, Throwing Muses, and Indigo Girls. Reuniting with the Tantrums, she released the 16-track Skorborealis on Daemon Records in 2002, again including “High School Dance.”
After leaving the Tantrums, Howle recorded a solo album with Hootie & the Blowfish’s Mark Bryan; the resulting lively, blues-inflected Thank You, Mark appeared on Valley Entertainment in April 2006, featuring Bryan’s backing vocals and playing on acoustic, lap steel, and 12-string electric guitar plus additional guests on horns, strings, and harmonica. The 2008 Swamp Sessions EP grew out of spontaneous collaborative sessions captured late in 2007 by Mitch Webb on a solar-powered rig in South Carolina. The Triangle Album, drawn from 2003–2005 tour recordings, surfaced in 2011.
Howle’s 2012 EP New Year Resolutions was recorded with the twangy electric-acoustic Charleston, South Carolina-based indie group Firework Show. She followed it with the solo EP Pot of Water in 2016 and the stand-alone single “Let Me Take You There,” which promoted Columbia, South Carolina. The concert album Live from the Home Team came out in 2017, and the non-album track “Something Better Now” appeared in 2021.
In November 2023 Howle issued Current, her first solo full-length studio album in 17 years. The diverse set, colored by her gritty offbeat approach, moved through folk, country, classic singer/songwriter pop, and further territories while marking her return to the Kill Rock Stars roster, specifically its Nashville imprint.
Born in Columbia, South Carolina, Howle first appeared on a local-music sampler in the late 1980s. She formed Lay Quiet Awhile alongside her brothers Dan and Phil Cook, leading the group through its sole album, 1993’s Delicate Wire. Once the band dissolved she continued alone, issuing the short Frog EP in 1994 and Live at McKissick Museum in 1995. Her 1996 studio debut About to Burst mixed acoustic pieces with full-band rock in volatile fashion and drew critical notice; the following year’s hook-driven indie-rock record Do a Two Sable on Daemon Records, credited to Danielle Howle & the Tantrums, helped secure the Kill Rock Stars contract. The Tantrums lineup featured guitarist John Furr, bassist Bryan Williams, and drummer Troy Tague, all of whom had contributed to About to Burst.
Ahead of her Kill Rock Stars debut, Howle placed the 1997 Sub Pop 7-inch “High School Dance” with support from Doug Easley of Tav Falco’s Panther Burns and Grifters members Dave Shouse, Scott Taylor, and Russel Lamkins (also known as Tripp Lamkins). The all-acoustic solo album Catalog arrived on Kill Rock Stars in May 1999, by which point she was sharing stages with Elliott Smith, Ani DiFranco, Throwing Muses, and Indigo Girls. Reuniting with the Tantrums, she released the 16-track Skorborealis on Daemon Records in 2002, again including “High School Dance.”
After leaving the Tantrums, Howle recorded a solo album with Hootie & the Blowfish’s Mark Bryan; the resulting lively, blues-inflected Thank You, Mark appeared on Valley Entertainment in April 2006, featuring Bryan’s backing vocals and playing on acoustic, lap steel, and 12-string electric guitar plus additional guests on horns, strings, and harmonica. The 2008 Swamp Sessions EP grew out of spontaneous collaborative sessions captured late in 2007 by Mitch Webb on a solar-powered rig in South Carolina. The Triangle Album, drawn from 2003–2005 tour recordings, surfaced in 2011.
Howle’s 2012 EP New Year Resolutions was recorded with the twangy electric-acoustic Charleston, South Carolina-based indie group Firework Show. She followed it with the solo EP Pot of Water in 2016 and the stand-alone single “Let Me Take You There,” which promoted Columbia, South Carolina. The concert album Live from the Home Team came out in 2017, and the non-album track “Something Better Now” appeared in 2021.
In November 2023 Howle issued Current, her first solo full-length studio album in 17 years. The diverse set, colored by her gritty offbeat approach, moved through folk, country, classic singer/songwriter pop, and further territories while marking her return to the Kill Rock Stars roster, specifically its Nashville imprint.
Albums
Current
2023
Something Better Now
2021
Wash Hands
2020
Live from the Home Team
2017
Pot of Water
2017
Swamp Sessions
2008
Catalog
1999
Singles
