Charlie Dentel

After immersing himself in musical study and performance along the West Coast, Charlie Dentel came back to his native Ann Arbor, MI, where he began his solo career in the early 2000s. From an early age the singer, songwriter, and pianist committed himself fully to music, and during his teenage years he traveled the Midwest college circuit as a member of the band Juice. In 1991 he departed Ann Arbor for San Francisco, where he stayed through 1994 and appeared at the Paradise Lounge and the Bottom of the Hill with artists including Stephen Yerkey and Joe Gore. He next relocated to Seattle to pursue studies in jazz and twentieth-century composition at Cornish College of the Arts, performing during that period at the Crocodile Cafe and the OK Hotel. Upon returning once more to Ann Arbor, Dentel established the band Five Ton Creek in 1997 alongside guitarist Brian Delaney; the group played numerous leading venues in the college town. In 2001 he chose to pursue a solo path, issuing his first album, Walls of Stone, on an independent basis; the recording was produced by Delaney, then a member of Ann Arbor’s Royal Garden Trio, and presented in a folk/gospel style. Dentel followed with the 2003 release Innocent Things, a jazzy project recorded in collaboration with the Motor City Horns, and maintained an active performance schedule throughout the Ann Arbor region that included appearances at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival and the Ypsilanti Heritage Festival.