MILESBURG — There is no place like home for the holidays for Centre County native Bill Dann who grew up in Milesburg and recently released a Christmas song to share this sentiment and help get the community in the Christmas spirit.
Dann and music partner Jack Servello’s “(I Long For) An Old-Fashioned Christmas” is quickly gaining traction for its nostalgic feel.
Growing up in Milesburg, Dann spent most of his time outdoors. He started his career in copywriting and worked as a morning radio personality at WBLF in Bellefonte.
“I wrote some ad copy and I kind of enjoyed that and it kind of stuck through the years,” Dann said. “Then it eventually evolved into songwriting and I started writing songs about 20 years ago.”
Dann discussed how he never was a singer. However, he did enjoy writing music. So, when Servello and Dann met and Servello asked if he had ever written anything, Dann jumped at the opportunity to send him one of the songs he had written.
“A few days later I get an email with an attachment and I’m like wonder what this is,” Dann said. “So I opened it, and I played it. He had recorded the song, and it totally blew me away.”
Since, Dann and Servello have worked as song writing partners, creating over 70 songs together.
This is not the first time the pair has written a song about Centre County. Servello and Dann’s song titled “Heroes Close to Home” was made as a tribute to Bellefonte marine David “DJ” Emery, who was injured in 2007. The pair shot a music video for the song outside of the Bellefonte courthouse.
“So many people have been touched by that video and you know it really made an impact,” Dann noted.
Servello and Dann’s latest hit came to life while the duo was out to breakfast together. Dann was hit with nostalgia when he started to recall his childhood Christmases in Milesburg.
“I said ‘Well you know, I really long for an old-fashioned Christmas. One that was simple, when things were so much less complicated.’” Dann said. “(Servello) said, ‘See what you can come up with.’ So I got home from breakfast and I didn’t want to wait.” So his writing process quickly began.
This is a common practice for Dann. When he is hit with inspiration, he needs to begin writing right away he explained, while recalling a time when he wrote a St. Patrick’s Day song titled “Lucky Charms of Love.” Inspiration hit him when he was in a grocery store and saw a box of Lucky Charms cereal.
After finishing the lyrics to “(I Long For) An Old-Fashioned Christmas,” Dann sent the finished product over to Servello.
“I knew we had a winner when he said, ‘I think we have something,’” Dann said.
Michelle Peters is the videographer for the team, helping them make a video for the song. After putting out the video, the song started to attract the attention of the public.
“They were all like, ‘Oh my gosh, this took me back to my childhood’ and ‘I cried. I shed tears’, ‘This is so great’, ‘Can I share this?’ I mean, the comments just really blew us away,” Dann said. “An Old-Fashioned Christmas” has gained 1.8k views in just the three weeks it’s been up on YouTube. You can listen to the song on the music duo’s YouTube channel titled “Write You A Song.”
