Dan Knobler

Bank Street School for Children '03

I was always the kid who wanted to go to band practice on Fridays after school instead of going to the movies or the park with friends. At Bank Street, I was encouraged to play music and it never felt like it was some sideshow. They saw that I was into it and encouraged me to pursue it. I honestly think it’s why I am a professional musician today.

Dan Knobler is a producer, guitarist, recording engineer, and mixer of music. Influenced by artists from the Americana genre, Dan produced three-time Grammy nominee Allison Russell’s album, “Outside Child,” which won the 2022 Album of the Year at the Americana Music Awards. Working out of his own recording studio in Nashville, Dan has built a highly successful career and reputation producing many contemporary and folk music-adjacent artists. 

He can’t remember a time when he wasn’t heavily involved with music, and remembers beginning in earnest when he was a guitarist in the School for Children Rock Band, a time-honored tradition of the Bank Street experience. 

“I played guitar and the drums and sang because of Rock Band. It gave me the opportunity to express myself through music. I was lucky enough that I was deeply passionate about it from a very young age and I felt the desire to pursue it. So many people at Bank Street encouraged me to keep going, and it became foundational for my life,” he said.

After graduating from the School for Children, Dan attended high school at Fieldston and college at New York University’s Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music where he learned both musically creative and business-focused skills.

Dan’s collaborative approach to his work with music artists uses the skills he fondly remembers as Bank Street’s ”whole child” approach to education. He talks about his School for Children experience as the most important lens through which he views the world. 

“I was always the kid who wanted to go to band practice on Fridays after school instead of going to the movies or the park with friends. At Bank Street, I was encouraged to play music and it never felt like it was some sideshow. They saw that I was into it and encouraged me to pursue it. I honestly think it’s why I am a professional musician today.”

In 2023, Dan will represent the School for Children Class of 2003 as a Class Delegate, a new volunteer role established to encourage alumni participation in class milestone year reunions leading to Bank Street Alumni Weekend. He accepted the invitation to be a representative as an act of appreciation for his many memorable experiences at Bank Street.

Dan said, “Bank Street students make it their mission to make the world a better place, so I would love to catch up with my classmates and find out what their lives are like. I don’t think it will surprise anyone to find out that I’m a professional musician. I think that everyone’s perspectives and personalities at Bank Street mingled and meshed in a way that all of the classrooms became a real collective, and I feel so grateful for the diversity of perspectives and how we all shared that with each other.”