Pianist, composer, and bandleader, Dan J. Sullivan was the son of fiddle player Daniel Sullivan. His early career involved both an executive trajectory in the piano trade and a prolific Tin Pan Alley songwriting practice, publishing more than 100 pieces, including “A Flower From the Fields of Alabama” (1900), “You’re As Welcome as the Flowers in May” (1902), “Sweet Girl Of My Dreams” (1908, with Chauncey Olcott), and “My Irish Song of Songs” (1917, with Al Dubin). Between 1926 and 1934, Sullivan was the leader of the Dan Sullivan Shamrock Band, which made over 180 recorded sides for the Columbia, Victor, and Decca companies. Some of the group’s members included fiddle players Michael Hanafin and Martin Mullen, uilleann piper Daniel Murphy, flute players Owen Frain and Murty Rabbett, banjo player Neil Nolan, and singers Dinny Doyle and Larry Griffin. Sullivan also recorded four solo piano sides that captured his flamboyant, highly ornamented style. In addition, he is believed to have participated in the 1928 sessions of the “Columbia Scotch” and “Caledonian” Bands, that likely included fiddle player Charlie MacKinnon and Big Dan Hughie MacEachern, regarded as the earliest commercial recordings of Cape Breton music and musicians.