CMU professors to open for Jeff Daniels during Welcome Weekend concert
Almost six years ago, the three Creative Writing professors came together to form Daryl and the Beans — a band willing to cover an "unsettling" variety of music at a faculty talent show that never happened.
Now, professors Robert Fanning, Jeffrey Bean and Darrin Doyle will open for Emmy award winning actor and musician Jeff Daniels and Ben Daniels Band at 6 p.m. Aug. 25 in Downtown Mount Pleasant. The concert is part of “Welcome Weekend” at Max and Emily’s Summer Concert Series.
In 2012, the trio banded together to perform in a CMU faculty talent show. Fanning, Bean and Doyle played separately in bands in high school and college. They began practicing. The talent show was canceled.
"We ended up being the only faculty members who signed up for the talent show," said Bean. "When it was cancelled, we continued to think, 'Maybe we have something here.'"
The band continued on, jamming in Doyle's basement.
Daryl and the Beans usually concludes Fanning's Wellspring Series by playing at the final show in April. The Wellspring Series is a forum for the Mount Pleasant and CMU community to hear the work of established and emerging regional writers.
"There is a weird barrier between academia and (Mount Pleasant)," Fanning said. "I love looking out into the audience (at Wellspring Series) to see the 'Town and Gown' come together."
In Apr. 2017, the band released an album entitled "Burnin' the Eagle." It features Bean on vocals, guitar and bass, Fanning on vocals, guitar and percussion and Doyle on vocals, guitar and slide percussion.
The album features an array of odd arrangements of familiar songs and obscure covers. Most noteworthy of these is a bluegrass version of the Hip-Hop group Run DMC’s “Hard Times” and a folk-inspired, three-part harmony rendition of Van Halen’s “Jump." It also features "Susan (Don't Go Away)" — an original song written for the professors’ colleague, Susan Stan, to commemorate her retirement. She passed away in March 2018.
"Susan (Don’t Go Away)" is especially bittersweet for the band, as Susan Stan was one of their biggest fans, said Fanning who wrote the lyrics.
Proceeds from the album have gone toward "The Daryl and the Beans Award," which benefits students who are pursuing a career in creative writing. The award was first offered in Fall 2018 and will be offered until the funds are spent.
Fanning said he enjoys seeing attendants at shows laughing and having good time while watching the band play the music of Selena Gomez, Prince, Van Halen, and many other popular artists.
The band will be selling copies of the CD at their August show, along with a variety of Daryl and the Beans t-shirts.
Daryl and the Beans (from left to right: Darrin Doyle, Jeffrey Bean and Robert Fanning) recording album Burnin' the Eagle in Mount Pleasant studio.
