Dorothy Daniel is a singer-songwriter who along with her husband Ben DeBerry comprises the critically acclaimed Americana duo The Danberrys. An engaging and inspirational figure, recently Daniel and I spoke by phone about her struggles to overcome childhood sexual abuse, stage fright, and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and about The Danberrys’ exceptional new album Shine and the healing power of music. Our conversation, edited for clarity and length, is below.
Americana Highways: You have been very open about having stage fright as a child. How did you overcome it and is it something that you still deal with?
Dorothy Daniel: I think I deal with it a lot better now than I used to. I think all artists have a little bit of stage fright because it’s just part of human nature. Mine was a really debilitating kind, which I found out later was really a result of the PTSD that was caused by me being sexually abused as a child.