By Dale Martin
Dallas Moore plays Gruene Hall
Back in October of 1985, I had the chance to interview country singer Johnny Paycheck prior to his concert at Gilley’s Nightclub in Pasadena.
During our talk, he mentioned that a fellow Ohio singer named Billie Gant was a huge influence on him, especially his live shows. Paycheck was born in Greenfield and Gant was from Norwood.
I remember Paycheck telling me that Gant was a wild man during performances, often doing backflips off the stage and running through the crowd while singing. This was before the internet so I wasn’t able to find out much about Gant.
Fast forward to now, and his name once again came up in an interview.
I was talking with country singer songwriter Dallas Moore about his latest album, “No God in Juarez.” Moore is doing a free full band show tonight at Gruene Hall at 6 p.m. Moore is also from Norwood, Ohio, and Gant was a huge influence on him as well.
In fact, all the songs on the new album were written by Billie Gant. Much like Waylon Jennings did on his “Honky Tonk Heroes” album of Billy Joe Shaver songs, Moore pays tribute to Gant on his “No God in Juarez” release.
“I was just 17 when I first saw him in concert,” Moore recalled. “It was on a school night when some of us kids snuck into a bar to watch his show. When Gant saw us, he told the owners that we were his relatives so they let us stay. We have remained friends to this day.”
Gant had a great band called the Vigilantes and they played all around Ohio. Then tragedy struck on February 1, 1995. On his way to pick up his bass player, Gant was in a serious car accident. His back was hurt and he suffered a traumatic brain injury.
He was 47 years old and for the next 13 years, he lived with a permanent brain fog, no longer able to perform.
Miraculously, he awoke one day and felt the fog lift. Soon he was writing songs at a furious pace and became known among the new breed of outlaw country performers as a serious songwriter.
Moore fits comfortably in the outlaw country format, with 25 years and 17 albums to prove it.
“We recorded 33 songs of Gant’s,” Moore explained. “So, there’s enough left over for a few more volumes. We picked out 10 songs that seemed to fit together as an album and that became ‘No God in Juarez.’”
I’ve been a fan of Moore’s music since I heard his “Untold Stories” album back in 2000. If you are a fan of Willie, Waylon and Hank Jr., head out to Gruene Hall tonight and check out Dallas Moore.