Few can say their love for music came to them through an air vent.
Canadian Country singer/songwriter Danielle Todd can.
About danielle
In her childhood bedroom, complete with pastel sponge paint and horse wallpaper, Danielle would fall asleep to the sound of her father’s music coming through the air vent from his basement studio. Watching him work his magic, she would marvel at the way he could piece a song together, until one day, her dad just needed her out of his hair. As Danielle fondly recalls, he handed her a CD with Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams of You” on it and said, “Don’t come back until you’ve learned it.” Much to her father’s surprise, a mere hour later, four year old Danielle had returned, singing with the gusto of Patsy herself.
From that moment on, Danielle was head over heels for the country croonings of female powerhouses like Patsy, Martina McBride, Shania Twain, and Faith Hill. When it came time to find a job in her teenage years, Danielle walked into bar after bar, convincing them to give her a regular slot to sing— even if that slot didn’t yet exist.
“The bar owners would be like, ‘Sure, send us a CD.’ I just responded, ‘I don’t have one, and I’m here right now so I’ll just sing here,’” Danielle remarks. And that was that.
Pretty soon, Danielle had made a name for herself in the Ontario music scene, not to mention in Australia as a result of a year-long, working vacation. Before long, Danielle realized she wanted to be where music was 24/7 and all-encompassing: none other than Nashville, Tennessee.
Knowing she had some fierce competition awaiting her on Broadway, Danielle learned over 250 cover songs before packing up her 1999 Honda Odyssey “soccer mom van,” as Danielle jokingly puts it. “I figured if worse came to worse, atleast I had a van I could live in,” she laughs.
Thankfully, it never came to that. Working five to seven days a week, often times up to 14 shifts in a row, Danielle earned her keep under the neon lights of Broadway. Whenever she wasn’t singing, Danielle was honing her songwriting craft, a passion that had struck as a result of working with acclaimed Ontario songwriter, Ambre McLean, encouraging Danielle to take up the piano and attend various songwriting retreats.
Over the years, Danielle has continued to hone a sound that blends the country music she grew up on with pop sensibilities, a little edge, and an ever-growing love of storytelling. While powerhouse voices like Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston shaped her early years as a singer, songwriters like Patty Griffin, John Prine and Donovan Woods have increasingly influenced the way she thinks about songs—where the lyric, the story and the connection to the listener come first. More recently, artists like Tenille Townes and Ashley McBryde have continued to inspire that space where country, folk and honest storytelling meet.
Her commercially released music has found success both at home and internationally. Danielle’s debut single, “Crazy,” reached #1 at Winnipeg’s NOW Country 104.7, while subsequent releases earned national airplay in Canada, including a Top 20 on SiriusXM. Her music has also reached the Top 10 on the Australian country charts, and the music video for “Heat of the Moment” made its debut on CMT Australia.
Since the release of “Over You,” Danielle has continued exploring a more stripped-back side of her songwriting through piano-driven releases while spending much of her time doing what she loves most: performing. From house concerts and intimate listening rooms to stages throughout Canada and the U.S., she has built a living performing original music and connecting with audiences through storytelling, humour and vulnerability. She has performed at Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Cafe alongside acclaimed songwriter Tony Arata, writer of Garth Brooks’ “The Dance,” and has become a regular performer at Nashville Takeover events across Canada.
Now, Danielle is back in the studio preparing for a new chapter. With two full-length albums planned for 2027—one grounded in her country roots and another piano-driven, folk-inspired collection centred around storytelling—she is bringing together the influences that have shaped her from the beginning with the songwriter she has grown into.
