[2][3] His 2012 album Reaching for a State of Mind was made with percussionist Chip Bailey, a collaborator of Duke Special, and won critical acclaim as having lyrical vulnerability and imaginative musical settings.
[5] The son of a Wolverhampton community radio pioneer, Whitehouse was inspired by his father's record collection, gaining a "deep respect for song-writing technique".
He has since supported such acts as Maria McKee, Julian Cope, Peter Green, Josh Ritter, Caitlin Rose, 10cc, World Party, Joseph Arthur, Willy Mason and Simone Felice, as well as Eddi Reader, The Little Unsaid, Kris Drever and Joan As Policewoman.
[6] The album also included Theremin, an electric screwdriver, and, on the song "My Stupid Face", ambient sounds recorded at Birmingham shopping centre the Bullring.
Recorded in a professional studio with producer Michael Clarke and a full band, notable guests included Ezio guitarist Booga, Helen Lancaster from folk act The Old Dance School, Fairport Convention's PJ Wright, and Duke Special's percussionist Chip Bailey.
[17] In 2014, Whitehouse toured North America for the first time with accordion-playing German-American singer-songwriter Anja McCloskey, and released a joint-EP, Still,[18] which was recorded in Birmingham.
Entitled Dreamland Tomorrow the 22 track collection was produced by Boo Hewerdine and Reveal record label boss Tom Rose, and featured contributions from John Elliott (The Little Unsaid), Eric Lane (Joan As Police Woman) minimalist composer Richard J. Birkin, Emily Barker, and BBC Jazz Award winning Saxophonist Xhosa Cole.
[5] FolkRadio stated that Dreamland Tomorrow unveiled "a strikingly new maturity and willingness to push the envelope," which saw Whitehouse "adopting an experimental approach and more expansive sound palette.
"[25] NorthernSky observed the experimental material was "reminiscent of Scott Walker's more adventurous exploits"[26] while England On Sunday asked "is Dan Whitehouse the David Bowie of folk?
[28][29] Dan extended the textural approach featured on the first part of the album for his soundtrack to Charlie Chaplin's The Vagabond - a commission for Birmingham Comedy Festival 2020.
[41] The Voices From The Cones project (circa 2019-2022) saw Dan collaborate with Midlands author, poet and storyteller John Edgar to bring to life the stories of those who worked in the Black Country's glass industry.
[44] Introduced via the international Global Music Match project (which was organisted by English Folk Expo) in May 2021, Dan and Brooklyn-based Grammy-nominated Max ZT (from House of Waters) toured for the first time later the same year, before going on to release the collaborative album, Ten Steps, in 2023.