About
Youngstown. Always.
A lifelong Mahoning Valley musician — drummer first, then songwriter, now the front of a band built for the stage.
From the kit to the front
Don Tanner has been playing music since high school in the late ’70s, and writing nearly as long. He started as a drummer — rock, country, punk and new wave. The Venn diagram of musicians who’ve opened for both Pure Prairie League and the Ramones is a thin one. He’s on it.
Songwriting took hold on the road. Piano lessons. A chord book. Hotel-room guitar. “I always had ideas for songs,” he told The Vindicator. “After I learned all the other instruments, then I started to get really serious about writing.”
Are You Going My Way was the first time those songs were professionally manufactured and packaged. It’s a Large World followed in 2024 — hard-driving rockers, blues-edged tracks, heartfelt material, and a closer, Rescue Me, that nods to the punk years.
After a lineup change, Tanner rebuilt with bar-band veterans: Mike DeVito on guitar, Jeff Weston on bass, Giavoni Farina on drums. A set of originals. Rooms that talk back. Youngstown, Ohio. The Mahoning Valley.
Now the band is on Cranked Up Records, distributed by Virgin Music Group. Rock Me — mixed and mastered by David Dominguez at Cranked Up Studios West in Los Angeles — is out worldwide.
Highlights
Late ’70s
The kit
Don starts as a drummer in high school — rock, country, punk and new wave. Writing begins almost as soon as playing does.
The road
Both sides of the diagram
He opens for Pure Prairie League and the Ramones. Piano lessons, a chord book, hotel-room guitar. Songwriting takes over.
2022
The Message
First Don Tanner single on the platforms — a six-minute statement that later lands on Are You Going My Way.
2024
The records
Are You Going My Way — the first professionally manufactured album. It’s a Large World follows the same year: ten tracks, including Isabel.
2026
The band, worldwide
Mike DeVito, Jeff Weston, and Giavoni Farina lock in. Cranked Up Records / Virgin Music Group. Rock Me, mixed and mastered by David Dominguez, is out worldwide.