Released in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on Friday, February 9, 1996:

"Musician David Landeo has Knoxville covered" - by Greg Altum

     If Knoxville has its own traveling minstrel, it may just be David Landeo.  He turns up everywhere from Regas Restaurant to a wedding or a frat party or O'Charley's on the Strip. 

     Nightspot patrons are becoming more and more familiar with the dark-haired, guitar-draped man in casual dress who also plays piano and delivers friendly, familiar songs as well as his own compositions. 

     Landeo was born in Nashville after his parents moved there from Lima, Peru, after his father decided to move his physician practice to the States.

     As a child, Landeo took piano lessons but says he "wasn't really enjoying it." 

     In high school, however, he began learning chords on the guitar, and that, he says, is when he "started jamming." 

     He came to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee, graduating with a degree in human services.  During his UT years, he played with a rock band and performed in several local clubs.

     Since graduation, Landeo has worked at jobs with computers and in a delicatessen and a record store, but his musicianship has won out.  He has been working full-time as a musician for two and a half years, playing at colleges in Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia.

     At the Bijou Theatre, he opened for comedian Pauly Shore.

     "It's a pretty good living," he says.

     "The more people there are, the easier it is.  On a stage, you don't have to center on anybody; in a small bar, it's a lot harder."

     Landeo will sing anything from "Piano Man" to "Sweet Home Alabama" to "Love Me Two Times."  On occasion he lets someone come up and accompany him on the guitar and/or piano.

     "It's been an evolution of learning," the performer says.

     "Every single show, I learn something new.  You learn so much just by playing live."

     Landeo has written songs for recording studios and would like to be a professional songwriter someday.

     But he wants to be performing as well "when I'm 60 or 80," he says, perhaps with a band.

     "I do songs people are familiar with," he says, but, because the clientele varies every night, "I feel like I have to be a chameleon.

     "I know my limitations.  I don't consider myself a great singer, (but) I really love to play guitar.

     Landeo does have a credo he follows, which has gotten him through show after show:

     "Never be selfish, take it easy, just enjoy and be really considerate."