A semi-traditional folksinger and poet, D.C. Leonhardt was born and raised in Wyoming. He grew up on folk, country, and gospel music with a heavy dose of church hymns. Playing one instrument or another for the thirteen years preceding picking up acoustic guitar, he has always been under the thrall of music. But it was during his early college days that he finally found the instrument that allowed him to tell stories openly, honestly, and unsparingly.

Starting in jam circles covering artists he loved — Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Greg Brown, Townes Van Zandt, etc. — he eventually graduated to writing his own songs. After finishing college and moving back to his hometown for a couple years, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he works (too much) and plays (less than he’d like). But his songwriting is still rooted out West in the mountains and small towns where people do what it takes to live on far too little.

College educated but blue collar as they come, his songs focus heavily on labor, religion, love, and other sorts of hard living. His live shows are a blend of stories and songs, humorous and gutting. He seeks to bring the ordinary into the light so that it cannot be forgotten. Or ignored.

His debut single, “What You’re Lookin’ For” was released in January of 2023, and, after a few more standalone singles, his debut album, (roughly) — recorded live in his living room — was released in October of 2024.