Dan Moore: Hit songwriter pens ‘Santa Paula Serenade’

“My Maria, don’t you know I have come a long, long way....” The beginning lyrics “My Maria,” a monster hit of the 1970s redone with a country flair and again a hit in the 1990s, were written by Daniel Moore, who indeed has come a long, long way - both professionally and literally.

“I had a grandmother named Marie... other than that I don’t know where ‘My Maria’ came from, it just flowed well.” The Walla Walla, Washington native, a resident of Santa Paula since 1996, also wrote the Three Dog Night hit “Shambala” - not bad for a preacher’s kid who didn’t even discover music until he learned to play guitar in high school.

Co-written with B. W. Stevenson, who, Moore said, completed the song after he struggled with the bridge for years, “My Maria” later became the title song for a Brooks & Dunn album. It was performed at their last performance as a duo at the 2010 American Country Music Awards in 2010.

Every songwriter, just like every tune, has a beginning. “In my second year of college someone offered me $150 for a 20-minute show at an Elks Club,” said Moore. “I thought ‘wow, that’s what I ought to do’,” and that’s exactly what he did. That summer he landed a regular gig playing at a Sun Valley, Idaho coffee house: “I was hooked... I was getting paid to play music!” 

Music has been Moore’s life ever since, and one of his most recent works is “Santa Paula Serenade,” composed as the theme for the “Singular Santa Paula” online program that highlights numerous aspects of the city, its history and culture. With top-flight musicians, Moore’s piece - like many of his other famous compositions - is energy infused with rich horns and a strong rhythm.

It didn’t take university student Moore long to find work five nights a week, and he quit school. “I took a bus to Hollywood and found an agent in the Yellow Pages,” and was signed two weeks later for his first album of folk songs released in 1962.

The record company told Moore it was expected he would supply at least one original song for the album. He said, “It never occurred to me before... that night I wrote my first song and recorded it the next day. Then I wrote more songs,” some that were recorded by other singers. 

Moore started to sing and play for Randy Sparks and the New Christy Minstrels recordings, and headed up a band called “The Ledbetter Group” for Sparks’ club that found much success touring.

In the mid-1960s Moore became an independent producer, and found “It was easy to make a single’s deal instead of an album” and market it to the major labels. As he racked up singles he ventured into producing albums, including with T. Bone Burnett. “I’m very proud of T. Bone,” now considered an icon of the music scene. 

As the years passed Moore found himself living with his wife in Malibu, a schoolteacher. They decided to move closer to her Santa Clarita teaching job. “I didn’t want to move to Santa Clarita or to Fillmore, they’re too hot, Ventura’s too cold... we found Santa Paula was just right!”

Years ago Moore “blew out” an instrument he always carried with him, his clear, sweet high-range voice, but he is philosophical: “Writing songs was always my favorite... and happens to be the one that made me the most money.”

He has written more than 300 songs and, like children, it’s hard for him to pinpoint a favorite, although “I do have a few” he prefers above others. “One of my better songs was ‘Give Me Wings’ - Kenny Rogers sang it. But when writing a song I want it to be the best... and when it passes my scrutiny it’s the best.”