Danya River began playing classical and improvisational piano and composing music at the age of four mentored by her father, composer/producer Robert Gass. She started playing guitar and writing original lyrical songs at age fourteen and, through high school, performed as a solo singer-songwriter and as a member of a competitive a cappella jazz choir. After high school, she went on to study vocal, world and experimental music at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

As an independently touring and recording singer-songwriter, Danya has shared the stage with acts such as Regina Spektor, Shawn Colvin, Melissa Ferrick and Matt Nathanson and has toured from coast to coast frequenting some of the country's finest venues and garnering recognition for her music from competitions and the press.

Danya released her first, self-produced album of original works, "Within/Without", at the age of 21.  Danya's second release "Bone by Bone" (EP, 2004) was selected as one of CD Baby's favorite albums and was featured on their front page drawing the following review from the CD Baby staff:

"A perfect meeting of the obvious and the subtle, the coarse and the silky, the warm and the rugged. Female, country-tinged, folk- based pop, unlike the cliches, sparkles through this album. Taking bits of bluesy ache, the 70s folk rock tradition, Americana and plenty of other little nuggets of goodness, she's created a lush composite that…pushes ahead with a stylistic mix that's too elusive for simple descriptions, too speckled with ambivalence to be summed up in a few words. Every track is a volume in itself." -CD BABY

Another review references Danya's "evocative writing, dark intriguing guitar work, and a velvet voice that ranges from formidable to ethereal." (KRFC, Fort Collins) Rosanne Cash calls River's songwriting "uplifting, startling, and incredibly evocative." On stage River reveals a "stark honesty, an uncanny charisma, an overwhelming intimacy in the way she sings into each person's eyes" (Scene Magazine).

Danya River is living in her hometown, Boulder, CO. She is currently off the stage focused on helping others unleash their own creative potential as a Creativity and Songwriting Coach http://www.EverythingIsArtCoaching.com

Her new 2011 self-titled CD, "Danya River" was produced by producer/engineer, Michael Hynes of Nomatic Studio. http://www.NomaticStudio.com