Dan Murray Returns to Alexandria for a No-Cover Show at Havana 151 on October 1
After starting out on King Street, Murray has sung at the Kennedy Center and DC JazzFest. On October 1, you can hear him upstairs at Lena’s.
As he told Alexandria Stylebook, his first time busking in Founders Park was nerve-racking: “I was holding onto that microphone for dear life.” He kept working as a mechanic until July 2024, when he left the job to sing full time.
He had sung for people even before taking his music to the sidewalks. Commenting on Murray’s DC JazzFest announcement, Instagram user @doreengagne_realtor said he had sung at her son’s wedding in 2022 and was glad to see him getting “the recognition and notoriety you deserve.”
Passersby in Old Town stopped to listen, film and share. Today, the Alexandria singer has about 40,000 followers on Instagram, and the stages have grown considerably larger.
On Thursday, October 1, Murray is coming back to Alexandria for his Havana 151 debut. He’ll sing from 6 to 9 p.m. upstairs at The Loft at Lena’s. There is no cover charge.
From the sidewalk to the spotlight
Murray’s repertoire draws on the Great American Songbook, the collection of jazz and popular standards associated with performers such as Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole and Tony Bennett. In April 2026, he performed “Bennett’s Best: A Tribute to Tony” on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. In September, DC JazzFest featured him at the Kreeger Museum.
The bigger stages have not dimmed his affection for Old Town. “Busking is still my favorite gig,” he told Alexandria Stylebook. He described the chance to be “a bright spot in someone’s day.”
When Murray announced his festival appearance, he looked back at how quickly life had changed. In an Instagram post, he called his singing journey “a wild ride” that had taken him places he “could have never imagined just a few years ago.”
There is music in his family, too. According to Murray’s biography, his grandfather was an opera singer and director, his grandmother was a pianist, and his father was a drummer who served in the United States Marine Band. Murray has also begun writing his own songs, including “A Very Pretty Spring.”
Hear him back home
What I love about this story is that Alexandria heard Murray before the Kennedy Center and the festival booking. We watched a young man take a chance on our sidewalks. Now we can pull up a chair, order dinner and hear where that chance has taken him.
I’ve already made my reservation, and I hope to see you there. Someday, when Dan Murray is touring the country in a big bus, he’ll have one advantage over most singers: if it breaks down, he might actually know how to fix it.
If You Go
What: Dan Murray live at Havana 151
When: Thursday, October 1, 2026, 6–9 p.m.
Where: Havana 151, The Loft at Lena’s, 401 E. Braddock Road, second floor, Alexandria
Admission: No cover charge; dinner and drinks are available for purchase.
Reservations: Reserve a table through Havana 151 and select The Loft at Lena’s.
