MOURNFUL MUSIC

Jon Dahlander’s first album in 17 years emotes his son’s life and death

By KERI MITCHELL Photos by DANNY FULGENCIO

Two weeks before his son, Jared, was born, Jon Dahlander was at the Lakewood Theater hosting his third CD release party. A self-taught pianist, Dahlander was excited to welcome his first child in 2000 and wondered what kind of music fatherhood might inspire.

Within a month, Jared was back in the hospital. The doctors diagnosed him with “failure to thrive.” They put a button feeding tube in his stomach, which nourished Jared for the rest of his life. That was the first of 20 surgeries and countless hospital visits Jared experienced before his untimely death in 2014.

Throughout Jared’s short life, he never spoke. But he smiled and giggled often when Dahlander wheeled him over to the piano to play for him. “Songs for Smiler McGee,” an album that honors Jared’s memory, was released this year — the first album Dahlander has made since his son’s birth.

Early in his son’s life, the Preston Hollow neighbor relinquished the hope of ever making an album again. In 2002, Jared was in the hospital from the Fourth of July until Thanksgiving.

“I was trying to nurture my little piano career, but it was impossible,” Dahlander says. “There was no time for piano; there was no time for friends; there was no time for anything except for trying to go to the day job in the morning, go to the hospital at night, and come home exhausted. It was like Groundhog Day over and over and over.” giving him a chance to create something and take his mind off of things. He funneled his emotions through his fingers.