When the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, like thousands of musicians, Tony DeSare saw his jammed packed tour schedule quickly dwindle down to nothing as bars and concert venues closed. Stuck at home in Atlanta, DeSare decided he couldn’t sit around and do nothing—not only for financial reasons but for his own mental health.
On March 17th, DeSare began posting his “Quarantine Diaries” to YouTube. Every day, he has performed a classic Great American Songbook song starting appropriately enough with “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams” first and “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” on day two. As of this writing, he is up to post number 180.
DeSare wasn’t a stranger to the video sharing platform. He has been posting songs and concert clips sporadically since he started the channel in 2006. This video series quickly became more than just self-promotion for the singer/pianist/composer. Each post averages about five thousand views a day as videos moved from cell phone quality to broadcast-level with their sound and look. The series perfectly represents DeSare’s combination of blending the traditional with the new and cutting-edge. In an interview from his home studio via Zoom, he said he had no plan the day he hit record on his digital device.
“It just started as something therapeutic for the first few days and then after a few days into it, I decided just to ke
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