Expect the Unexpected: Danielle & The Outlaws Bring Their Jukebox Sound to Story Days

When Danielle Law and her band members take the stage at the Lodore during Story Days, don’t expect them to stay neatly inside one musical box.

Danielle & The Outlaws will perform Saturday, August 29, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lodore, bringing a mix of country, ’90s favorites, pop, classic songs and whatever else happens to fit the moment.

Danielle has a simple description for their sound.

“We’re like a jukebox,” she said. “You put a quarter in, you never know what you’re going to get.”

That unpredictability is part of the fun.

The band plays plenty of country, but Danielle isn’t afraid to throw something unexpected into the set, maybe a ’90s tune, a pop song or even a little Beatles.

“The guys think it’s crazy, but they love it,” she joked. “I know they secretly love it.”

Danielle Law, lead singer of Danielle & The Outlaws

Music Started Early

Music has been part of Danielle’s life for about as long as she can remember.

Her father was a musician and music teacher who regularly sang around the house and performed throughout the community. Danielle estimates she began singing with him when she was only four or five years old.

Before long, she was singing the National Anthem at basketball games, rodeos and other events.

Her father’s musical influence went well beyond the home. He participated in drum and bugle corps and performed at rodeos, weddings, funerals and other community gatherings.

Those early experiences helped establish music as a natural part of Danielle’s life.

Her influences, however, weren’t limited to one genre.

Her first CD was Alanis Morissette’s MTV Unplugged, which she remembers playing repeatedly as a young girl. Another major influence was Whitney Houston.

“I just wanted to be her,” Danielle said of Houston.

Morissette’s music left an especially lasting impression. When asked which artist she would choose to open for, living or past, Danielle came back to the singer who helped form her earliest musical tastes.

“Everybody’s heard her music, but it’s just one of those things that formed so much of my musical mindset,” she said of Morissette. “Opening for her would just be… an experience of life.”

How the Outlaws Got Their Name

Even the band’s name carries some of the same lighthearted personality found in their performances.

Danielle’s last name is Law, and band member Tony has a family connection that makes the two, in a roundabout way, “in-laws.”

One day Tony recognized the opportunity for a play on words.

“Our band name should be Danielle and the Outlaws,” he suggested.

Danielle’s response?

“That’s very punny of you, Tony.”

And Danielle & The Outlaws was born.

Today, Danielle & The Outlaws is a three-piece band featuring Danielle Law on vocals, Rod Jost on bass, and Tony Forman on percussion. Together, the three have developed an easy chemistry and a sound that allows them to move comfortably between country, rock, pop and plenty of unexpected favorites.

Becoming a Band

Danielle and Rod had played music together off and on for years, but family life meant Danielle wasn’t always able to spend much time in the music scene.

As her children grew older and became more independent, she found herself able to say yes to more performances. Over roughly the last two years, Danielle, Rod and Tony began playing together more consistently.

There wasn’t necessarily one grand moment when they decided they had officially become a band.

Instead, it happened while they were playing.

Danielle remembers one of their early performances together, possibly during a jam session near the Mint on Main Street. The three started playing, found their groove and looked at one another with a realization.

“Oh, we’re kind of good,” Danielle recalled. “Maybe we should do this more.”

Then came the feeling every musician hopes to experience, the moment when separate players begin sounding like a band.

“I think we just became a band,” she remembered thinking.

Danielle laughs that they were essentially “built by the Mint.”

Since then, the group has stayed busy. This summer in particular has given Danielle more opportunities to perform, with the band sometimes playing around five times a month.

That schedule has changed the way they practice. Instead of rehearsing endlessly, much of their preparation is now built around the next performance: look at the setlist, run through the songs and get ready to play.

And when they get together at Rod’s house where Danielle says he has “all the best stuff” the music comes naturally.

Coming to Story Days

That chemistry will be on display when Danielle & The Outlaws arrive in Story on Saturday.

For Danielle, there isn’t a complicated explanation for what the audience should expect.

In fact, it may be better not to expect anything too specific.

“You’ve got to expect the unexpected,” she said. “You don’t know what’s going happen, what’s going to pop up.”

That could mean country. It could mean ’90s music. It could mean the Beatles.

And with Danielle & The Outlaws, there is always the possibility of something nobody saw coming.

That seems fitting for a band whose story grew from family connections, jam sessions and three musicians discovering that something clicked when they played together.

Catch Danielle & The Outlaws at Story Days on Saturday, August 29, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lodore in Story, Wyoming.

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