InTouch with Southern Kentucky February 2020 | Page 12

LOCAL ARTISTS
Artists in the Spotlight: Kevin Dalton
For singer/songwriter Dalton, music is home
BY CHRISTOPHER HARRIS
COMMONWEALTH JOURNAL
K
evin Dalton doesn’t
sound like Judy Garland
when he sings. But he can
identify with her most fa-
mous character, Dorothy.
After all, there’s no place like
home.
Which, for Dalton, is not a place,
but rather his passion.
“Home has always been music to
me,” he said. “It’s been home. Fami-
ly. Religion. Everything.”
Born in Danville, Dalton has lived
in Pulaski County most of his live,
save a couple of years at Western
Kentucky University in Bowling
Green. Highly influenced by his
grade school music teacher Jan
Smith, Dalton started playing at age
6 and writing songs at age 13.
“My grandma and several uncles
all played,” said Dalton. “I loved
music from an early age so I knew
it’s something I wanted to do. And
being around it and instruments
made it possible. As a kid, pretty
much all thru high school I spent
most of my free time with my guitar,
learning, trying new things, writing
some. I went thru phases trying to
learn different styles from blues
to rock to classical. I had heroes
coming at me from several different
genres so I’ve never felt like there’s
just one genre of music for me. So
by learning different styles as I got
older I started trying to write while
blending various styles.”
Along the way, Dalton has been
blessed to work with a number
of other talented musicians from
this area. This journey of meeting
friends along the way had Dalton
identifying with “The Wizard of Oz”
and its youthful protagonist, Doro-
thy.
“You have to be full of hope and
dreams and adventure to start such
a journey to begin with. And no
12 • I n T ouch with S outhern K entucky 
CALEB LOWNDES I CJ
Somerset native Kevin Dalton performs during the New Year’s Eve bash
in downtown Somerset.
doubt without running into my own
Scarecrow and Tinman and lion and
good witch I most likely wouldn’t
have taken many step,” said Dalton.
“And just like in life, any career,
there are gonna be antagonists and
flying monkeys that try to slow up
the journey. Mostly because they’re
after the same goals.”
Dalton has worked with sever-
al acts over time — some garage
bands, a couple of progressive rock
CDs with buddy Mark Sloan, with
whom he started writing and re-
cording just after high school. Most
notably, however, was Faubush Hill,
a band in which Dalton performed
with his former spouse, Robin.
“And it was at that time I started
focusing harder on my roots. Going
back to early bluegrass and roots
music exposure,” said Dalton. “Like
some marriages, that ended. And
led to the birth of The Tuesday
Blooms.”
That’s the name of Dalton’s cur-
rent band, who performs with him
at numerous venues around the re-
gion, including very familiar ones in
Pulaski County: Jarfly Brewing Co.,
Master Musicians Festival, the Light
Up 2020 New Year’s Eve Bash.
To Dalton, one would “be hard
pressed to find a better cast of
musicians in area, but absolutely
sure you can’t find a better bunch of
human beings.”
Take, for example, Tommy Cate,
part-time Santa Claus, and mean
mouth harp maestro.
“No one around plays like he does.
He’s one of a kind,” said Dalton. “...
Our paths just cross similarly and
as magically as Dorothy’s trek to Oz.
Example, I never wanted a harmon-
ica player. Didn’t see how it fit. And
only knew of one around and that
wasn’t Tommy Cate.
F ebruary 2020