A pioneering figure in alt-country and cowpunk music, Dan Baird fronted The Georgia Satellites for the entirety of the 1980s before launching a solo career with 1992's Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired. He was born on December 12, 1953, in San Diego, California, and eventually found himself in Atlanta, Georgia, where he co-founded The Georgia Satellites in 1980. The group's debut single, "Keep Your Hands to Yourself," was a major hit in 1986, reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in America and number 3 in Canada. Written by Baird, the song helped the band's self-titled debut album go platinum. He left the band four years later, signed with the record label Def American as a solo artist, and began working on Love Songs for the Hearing Impaired, which came out in 1992. The album scored big hits with "I Love You Period," which reached number 26 on the Billboard Hot 200 and eventually went gold, and "The One I Am," which hit number 13 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks. A second solo record, Buffalo Nickel, followed in 1996. During the following decade, Baird released albums and toured frequently with different band projects, including The Yayhoos, Dan Baird and Homemade Sin, and Dan Baird and the Sofa Kings. He began playing with The Bluefields in the 2010s while continuing to record occasional material under his own name, including the 2017 release SoLow.
