Dan Haseltine
Jars of Clay
Nashville, TN USA
"I was blown away seeing my favorite bands doing something beyond music, caring about something that was going on in the world. You can be a musician and you can also use music to do something else."
Career Roadmap
Dan's work combines: Music, Non-Profit Organizations, and Being Creative
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
As our band found success and we were playing in bars and clubs, we faced a lot of criticism from people in the church. They said we were sell-outs and that we were just doing it for the money. It was hard because we grew up in the church and our faith was a huge part of our identity as a band, yet the church was giving us the most backlash. It took a lot of work to persevere. I leaned on my girlfriend (now my wife) as a sense of truth and read a lot of self-help books to try and get through.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Greenville College
Bachelor's Degree
Music Performance, General
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
I grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts.
2.
As a child, I loved playing piano, but hated the discipline of lessons, so I would only really play for fun.
3.
I played soccer for most of my childhood, but when my grades started suffering because of it, my parents made me quit—that’s when I started getting serious about music.
4.
When I was in high school, my parents got divorced and I moved with my mother to Florida—moving to a big city and new high school was a struggle for me, so I leaned on my music as a crutch.
5.
I was inspired by the Live Aid benefit concert in 1985—after seeing my favorite bands use music to help a cause, I decided that if I was going to do music, I wanted it to connect to something bigger.
6.
Meanwhile, I had been playing music for my youth group and started making these connections between my music, faith, and social justice.
7.
In college, I started a Christian band called Jars of Clay with some friends—we eventually moved to Nashville, got a record deal, and found success in the industry.
8.
After travelling to Africa and learning about the HIV/AIDS and water crises, we decided to connect Jars of Clay to those causes and founded Blood:Water Mission to raise awareness and help.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Peers:
You're just doing this for the money. You're selling out.
How I responded:
As our band found success and we were playing in bars and clubs, we faced a lot of criticism from people in the church. They said we were sell-outs and that we were just doing it for the money. It was hard because we grew up in the church and our faith was a huge part of our identity as a band, yet the church was giving us the most backlash. It took a lot of work to persevere. I leaned on my girlfriend (now my wife) as a sense of truth and read a lot of self-help books to try and get through.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
In high school, I moved with my mom to Florida after my parents divorced. The new school was much bigger, which was a huge culture shock for me. I struggled through it and used my music as a crutch to get by and make connections with others.
When we first found success as a band, it was incredibly stressful. We were on the road for a year, played 300 shows, and were under so much pressure from our manager. We weren't living healthy lives. I struggled emotionally and mentally.