Susanville songwriter releases new album, announces free Sunday evening concert

August 21, 2023August 22, 2023 swilliams

Big news from Susanville songwriter Daniel Weidauer — a new album (“Early Days in America”) has just been released, and Weidauer offers a free acoustic performance of his new work during a concert at 6 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 27 on the deck at the Valley Christian Center, 1401 Riverside Drive in Susanville.

Weidauer hails from Steinberg, Germany, a tiny little town near the border with the Czech Republic created by the merger of three even smaller villages in 1994. Almost eight years ago, he married a Susanville woman he met in Southern California. The family lived in Germany for several years, but the couple and their children returned to her hometown in June 2022.

When one meets Weidauer, it’s obvious his faith is very important to him. In fact, several of the songs on “Early Days in America” touch upon his experiences in a new land across the great divide of the Atlantic Ocean and his struggles to come to grips with his faith and shape it into a constant moving force in his life. Despite the Christian references found in several of the 13 songs on “Early Days in America,” they shouldn’t be characterized as praise or worship music. They are not attempts to bring a wayward soul into the fold, but rather they are the observations and ponderings from a man of faith trying to find his way in a new world. The cover art features a photograph of his two young children.

Weidauer talked about the album, his third full-length release.

He said he’s been involved with the church since he was a child. As he grew older, he became involved with the worship music scene in Germany, playing music at church and becoming more involved with services and events there.

The cover art for “Early Days in America” features a photograph of Daniel Weidauer’s two young children. Photos submitted

“I think that leaves its marks,” Weidauer said of his church experiences. “I’m not trying to be too preachy in my songs. It’s mainly inward stuff — things I’m wrestling with or thinking about … The songs are about coming here (to America) after many years in my comfort zone in Germany and coming to this new place. There are a lot of questions and things that have come up over the past year in my head that found their way into the songs, that’s for sure.”

Weidauer said some of the details in the songs are based upon experiences he’s actually had, but many of the details in the songs find him looking inward and exploring questions that have arisen, faith-wise and life-wise as he adapts to his new life in a new land.

“It’s a big thing,” Weidauer said of his move to America from Germany, “so there are bound to be big questions.”

Copies of the new release will be available at the concert on the deck. You also can find Weidauer’s music on all the streaming services, but especially at https://danielweidauer.hearnow.com/.