Dan Blakeslee’s creative spirit takes life in his music and visual art.

Dan Blakeslee’s rock posters grace Diesel Café

By Andrew Firestone

Dan Blakeslee, 41, is one of Somerville’s most soulful gems of a musician. You may have heard him crooning his classy roots vibe outside Davis Square, or seen one of his psychedelic rock posters hanging on a street sign.

Looking around his home, one can see he loves his influences. Surrounded by a vinyl record library of hundreds, his desks and bookshelves bursting with fantasy art books and twentieth century Americana, one can see the practice he puts into his creations.

This Somervillien will be hosting a show with 100 of his crazy posters at Diesel Café in Davis Square Friday, from 2 to 6 p.m., with the show running until March 31. Come on in if you want to see some crazy sketches straight out of the mind Blakeslee. Satire, horror, dangly and cute, these guys will have you gawking for hours.

Blakeslee himself is the honest kind of artist, with a steeling resolve for his artistry garnered from years of honing his craft, even in the most unsavory places.

Blakeslee’s Headless Horseman (above) and Phantom Saloon (below) are examples of the unique poster work that will be on display at Diesel Café through March 31.

From the jailhouse to the subway to the overstuffed bar, Blakeslee has played them all, and always opts for the highest form of artistry he can muster.

“Say I’m writing a song, like a new song,” said Blakeslee. “I don’t write it down unless it sets a charge through my body.”

Blakeslee’s style hangs on the slightly alternative side of Americana roots, often methodical and always thoughtful, whimsical and optimistic all in line with the guitar twang.  His singing voice waivers to a low lilt on his newest album, 2011 release “Tatnic Tales.”

“I’m not much of a fictional songwriter,” he said.

Blakeslee related the first time he felt that charge was when he sat down to write a song about a car accident he suffered in High School. Driving on the highway in his native Maine, Blakeslee says he fell asleep at the wheel.

While he’s never had a drink his whole life, that didn’t stop him from driving off the road. He hit a ditch, which led into a raised driveway. Acting as a ramp, the car was propelled into a telephone pole, which was cut in half, but spun the car into a roll downhill into a river bank.

The pole connected power to six towns, so while the whole area lost power, Blakeslee was saved from a watery catastrophe by a tree, which stopped the rampaging car and his life.

“One skinny tree by the river was the reason I’m still here today.”

Blakeslee’s been part of the community of Somerville musicians for the better part of 17 years, and relishes in the local menagerie of talented artists.

“I can’t even begin to describe it,” he said. “It’s like such an incredible community of artists and musicians supporting each other, going to each other’s shows, spreading the word about each other.”

He said that among his favorite songs were Leonard Cohen’s Famous Blue Raincoat and John Lennon’s Imagine, but that he really appreciated the local flavor more. He extolled the musical virtues of Somerville’s own David Johnston, Audrey Ryan and James Houlihan.

“I don’t feel like I need to live in Brooklyn,” he said.

For more information about this local musician, visit www.danblakeslee.com, and check out some of his tunes on his myspace.com/danblakeslee.