American songwriter Dan Kaplan records under the name Krooked Tree. His new album, Where We Going?, was written over five years and recorded entirely in his home studio in the historic center of Seville, Spain. Originally from New York and now living in Andalucía, Kaplan's songwriting reflects a perspective shaped by both cultures.

His fascination with song began in childhood, listening to his mother sing traditional American ballads—an early experience that convinced him that music could create entire imaginative worlds.  He studied English Literature at Oberlin College and later classical composition at the Conservatory of Seville, and has developed a songwriting approach in which words and music evolve together.

 
While rooted in the traditions of American songwriting, Kaplan draws inspiration from an unusually broad artistic landscape. His lyrics reflect a lifelong engagement with poets such as Wallace Stevens, e.e. Cummings, and Gary Snyder, while his musical language is informed by folk, country, R&B, contemporary classical, and even Broadway musical traditions. These influences are never employed as stylistic markers; instead, each song finds the musical vocabulary that best serves its emotional world. 

Where We Going? was recorded and mixed entirely in Kaplan’s Seville studio, where he played most of the instruments himself while collaborating with an eclectic group of musicians drawn from the city’s classical, jazz, and rock communities. Working independently allowed the album to develop slowly, giving each song time to reveal its own chemistry through careful writing, arrangement, and production. “I keep working until I can inhabit the song fully, until it feels true on some level,” he says. 

Although unmistakably American in its musical DNA, Where We Going? also reflects the perspective of an artist who has spent decades living and creating in Andalucía. The result is a collection of intimate songs that reward repeated listening. “I hope listeners finish the record feeling they’ve been somewhere worth visiting,” Kaplan says. “Even better, a place they might want to return to now and then.”