Dan Penn

Dan Penn is an American songwriter and singer closely associated with Southern soul and country-soul, best known for writing (and co-writing) a stack of classics that other artists turned into hits. He’s widely credited as a key behind-the-scenes figure in the Muscle Shoals/FAME Studios orbit, with songs like “Dark End of the Street” (co-written with Chips Moman) and “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” (co-written with Spooner Oldham) becoming foundational standards of the genre.

Although his name shows up everywhere in liner notes, Penn also recorded his own material over the years, offering a grittier, deeply felt take on the same heartache-and-redemption themes he wrote so well for others. Whether you know him as a vocalist or you’ve been unknowingly singing along to his songs for decades, his work is a big part of why Southern soul still hits as hard as it does.