He attended Santa Ana College and later studied art at Cal State Fullerton, where he met his German-born wife. The couple relocated to Germany, where Reeder currently makes his living as a painter. Also a musician, Reeder began making his own instruments, using them to write and record his own songs on a recording rig he also built himself. A cassette tape of Reeder's work made it into John Prine's hands and was released on Prine's Oh Boy label in 2003. The album, simply called Dan Reeder, received a good deal of critical acclaim for its unique, homemade blend of blues, folk, gospel, and field hollers, and for its decidedly D.I.Y. approach, which, given the fact that he built every instrument he played on the album, Reeder has taken to its furthest extreme. Reeder has stated that he is a painter who plays music because "there are some things you can't paint." A second album on Oh Boy, Sweetheart, appeared in 2006. ~ Steve Leggett