HOME GROWNEVERYBODY’S NEWS – 9/24/98 (CINCINNATI, OH) |
||||
Dallas Moore |
||||
For local musicians, Cincinnati can be a hard place to escape. No commercial radio airplay. Low paying gigs for original acts. Fan apathy. But outlaw country rocker Dallas Moore is showing that through hard work and perseverance anything is possible—it just takes awhile. Dallas Moore is 28 years old, married, and has no children "except for a big old dog named Bull," he jokes. Raised in Norwood, he got his first guitar when he was 16. Influenced by the music of Waylon Jennings and Lynryd Skynyrd, he studied a couple chord books and formed his first band, playing their early gigs without a bass player. He paid his dues for years in Greater Cincinnati clubs with the band Southern Frost, which evolved into Poison Whiskey. Bolstered by a large following in the biker community, Poison Whiskey toured the Midwest constantly. Dallas honed his chops performing a mixture of southern rock classics, outlaw biker anthems and country tunes to smoke reefer to. Enter Gary Kirves, a local booking agent at Long Distance Concerts. "About four years ago I was sitting in my office booking shows and Dallas walked in unannounced, recalls Kirves. "He told me a little about himself and asked me what he needed to do for me to book his band. I had been working with Coyote’s in Ft. Mitchell (KY). Just a couple minutes before that I had inked a deal with David Allen Coe to do a show there. I offered Dallas the opening slot and the rest is history!" Poison Whiskey turned into the Dallas Moore Band. Kirves began aggressively booking his new talent throughout the Midwest, opening shows for The Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, .38 Special, The Marshall Tucker Band and others. It became apparent to Kirves that he had a star on his hands, and the Dallas Moore Band became Dallas Moore, solo artist. |
"I was doing a lot of dates opening for
people, and it just seemed easier for me to walk up there with my acoustic guitar and get
down to it, " explains Moore. "I was more mobile. I’d done a lot of shows
solo here locally, but my first big opportunity was opening for Waylon Jennings at
Coyote’s. The place was sold out and I went over pretty cool. It didn’t take me
too long to figure out I could make a better living doing solo shows." In the summer of 1996 Dallas recorded his first album, My Heroes Have All Been Cowboys, for Louisville-based Chroma Tone Records. Recorded in Bright, IN, and Nashville, TN, Moore laid his Bob Seger-meets-Waylon Jennings tunes down and then headed back out on the road. He went on a West Coast tour with Willie Nelson. He did dozens of shows with David Allen Coe. He also opened for George Jones at Hara Arena in Dayton. Numerous dates with Waylon Jennings, Trace Adkins—the list is long, baby. He even picked up a George Dickel Whiskey sponsorship! To meet Dallas Moore is to love him. There is not a trace of ego in his body—and it’s a safe bet he’ll hug ya! His live show melds years of experience, natural talent and charisma into something you’ll not likely forget. He has the ability to pull everyone in the room closer to him, and at the end of the show you’ll feel like you’ve made a new friend. Thus far, 1998 has been kind to Dallas. He recorded his "piece de resistance" for Chroma Tone, "One More Ride" on which Moore shows his songwriting chops while giving us a peek into the things that make his world go ’round. "Tonight I Own the Wind" hearkens back to Bob Seger "Live Bullet" days with its wistful "get on a bike and ride" lyrics. Two songs, "Bad Checks" and "Every Sad Song on the Jukebox," have been tapped for the upcoming motion picture Nice Guys Sleep Alone starring Vanessa Marcil and Morgan Fairchild. If you’ve recently had any romantic problems, don’t listen to the mega-clever "Lessons I’ve L earned" unless you feel like bawling. Dallas toured to support this record with Travis Tritt’s backing band while Tritt was in Spain making a movie. |
One of the highlights of the year for Moore was his recent CD release party. "All my friends from all over the place, 1,500 of them, sold out Coyote’s for me and made me feel real proud," he says. "It also felt great to be back with a full band again, especially Travis Tritt’s backing band! The second and equally important thing was the forming of the new Dallas Moore Band. Randy Peak, my good buddy and ass-kickin’ guitarist, toured with Lynyrd Skynyrd. My drummer, Steve Holmes, was just featured in Modern Drummer and he’s played with Waylon Jennings. My other extremely versatile guitarist, Chuck Morpurgo, coproduced One More Ride with Bob Rutherford, our bass player. Besides being a great bass player, Bob used to be part of my management—so he makes sure we get paid!" While Dallas has made a name for himself in country circles, his band is as much a rock band as a country band. This is reflected in Moore’s fans, as he notes: "Man, we’re all over the place. Young people, older people, girls, guys, you name it, brother. You’ll see just as many Metallica T-shirts as cowboy hats!" The Dallas Moore Band plays Coyote’s in Ft. Mitchell Wed., Sept. 30 with Merle Haggard. When he’s not on tour, Dallas appears solo on Tuesdays at Shell’s Seafood on Colerain Ave. The Dallas Moore Band appears Wednesdays at the Knotty Pine and Thursdays at Stormy’s. Both clubs are in Cheviot. Out-of-town dates include Thurs. Oct. 1 at Coyote’s in Louisville with Merle Haggard, Fri., Oct. 9 in Lexington with David Allen Coe. And Tues., Oct. 13 in Franklin, KY with Billy Ray Cyrus. A winter tour with Greg Allman is also in the works. For more info on Dallas Moore, call 2nd Street Entertainment, (502) 561-7050. |
||
