A Night With Dallas Moore

Dallas Moore was in Louisville, on February 22nd, for a show at Coyote's. He was the opener for Montgomery Gentry, the CMA Duo of the Year. But we were there to see Dallas Moore. I met Dallas the first time on November 2nd, also at Coyote's. He had opened for David Allen Coe that night, but I had missed his show, arriving late as usual. But after the David Allen Coe show he came out to his T-shirt table to meet and greet the fans, shake hands, give hugs, sign autographs, pose for pictures or just shoot the shit with you. Though I missed his show that night, I sensed something a bit unique and different about him. I still haven't quite put my finger on it.

 One thing I like about him he is just simply himself. He doesn't try to or pretend to be someone he's not . He's just a good ole boy playing music, riding his Harley when his time and schedule permit it, and just having fun!

 As I watched his show and listened to his songs, I kept trying to figure out who he reminded me of, if anyone. You know how you see some acts, and they tend to imitate other people or other peoples acts? Well by the time the show was over, I had figured out whom it was that he favored. It was NO ONE. Dallas Moore is just Dallas Moore, playing his music, his way.  Now I never claimed to be a music critic, I am just giving you my opinion of his show, and you know what they say about opinions. So I will make you a deal. The next time you see he is going to be playing in your area, go check out his show and then you can tell me if you agree or disagree with my opinion.

  After I met Dallas back in November, we had exchanged an occasional email here an there, so when I found out he was going to be here on the 22nd of February, I decided to ask him if he would mind participating in an interview for my web site WWW.XLXTC.COM and Thunder Roads Magazine. Guess what!? Not even a flinch, he happily agreed to the interview. As the day grew closer we worked out the details and times and the following is the interview. The interview was conducted before the show, but now that I have seen his show, I could probably add some more questions to the list, but I will save them for next time.

  One other note, the interview was a pleasure for my wife and I. It was a lot of fun, and I think Dallas enjoyed it as much as we did. If I inserted laughs and chuckles in every single place they occurred in the interview, it would make it a bit hard to read. I did note a few of the times there was laughter to try to help better paint the scene for you.

XLXTC.COM: When did you know you wanted to become a singer?
DALLAS MOORE: When I was real little that was all I used to do you know, was hang out, we had a little record player and I had 45's of Elvis and Hank [Williams] Sr., and I used to get a little broom and pretend I was Elvis. Then the first time I ever sang like on a stage was at my sisters wedding, I was like 5 or 6 years old, and I got to sing Jail Hose Rock, everyone was cheering because I was a little kid up there. But I didn't really pursue it I was pretty much into sports and everything. I got my first guitar when I was 16 and then I been doing this full time ever since.
XLXTC: How old are you now?
DM: 30
XLXTC: I was going to ask you who inspired you, but I guess that would be Elvis and Hank Sr.?
DM: Yes, Elvis and Hank Sr. that's what I grew up listening to.
XLXTC: Did you always want to do country music, or was there some other form of music?
DM: I like all kinds of music, actually when I went to college I went on a jazz scholarship, I was playing the big band jazz, but the music that comes most natural to me is country and rock and roll. I listen to everything from classical music to jazz, pretty much if you go out in my tape deck right now, you'll find Billy Joe Shaver, Steve Earl and Motorhead, Metallica and Merl Haggard, you know a little bit of everything, I'm just real wide open with that.
XLXTC: What advice would you give someone trying to get into the music business?
DM: Uh, just don't go away if you want to make a career out of it. It's not about having a little six month plan and how you're going to get a record deal or be a big star. If you're getting in to it for that reason you're getting in to it for the wrong reasons. If it's really what you want to do, just stay with it, and be relentless about it, and never give up on what your doing.
XLXTC: When did you get your first motorcycle?
DM: First motorcycle I got, I guess, 4-5 years ago, I guess I was twenty-five years old, yeah, five years ago. I still have it, it's a Sportster, 883 Sportster, its kind of a funny story how I got it. At the time, before I had my own band I was touring as a solo act, then I came out with the "One More Ride" CD. And, of course, I grew up around motorcycles. My brother always rode, and all my friends and everything, and I just never had the money to get one. The way this all come about was I did a tour with Travis Tritt's band, Travis was in Spain making a movie, and his band was available for hire. I hired his band to go out on a two week tour with me, well the way it all came about was Travis had bought all the guys in the band motorcycles, bought 'em all Sportsters, everybody in the band and crew. And, the drummer became a friend of mine, his name is George Stallins, lives down in Nashville. He never really rode much, in fact, I don't think he ever even licensed the bike, and he said "Hell, you want that Sportster"? and I was like, well yeah, and you know the price was right on it, and I got in it, and its been a great little bike. I still have it to this day and I think I am going to keep it, I am not going to sell it. I'm in the middle of right now having "Aces and Eights Harley Davidson" up in Mason, Ohio, they are custom building a bike for me that's gonna be the, we have a song called "Tonight I Own the Wind" and its gonna be the official "Tonight I Own the Wind Bike"
XLXTC: What is it?
DM: Well I can't tell, (laughing) I am sworn to secrecy. Ray, who's building the bike swore me to secrecy. Its gonna be a one of a kind, he's building himself one, he's the owner of "Aces and Eights", he's building himself a custom bike, and me one for this song. They're using that song for their commercials and stuff like that. So it's kind of a trade off, so I am excited about it, and I am hoping it's going to be done in time for this song. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
XLXTC: I was going to ask what would be your dream bike, but it sounds like you might be having it built.
DM: Yeah I'm having it built! You know, to be honest with ya, I'm kind of just sittin back and I am just trusting Ray, because he knows me, and one thing I do know (he starts laughing as he tries to spit this out) is he's already got a god damn nitrous fuckin tank on it, and I'm like ah shit. (We all laugh) So, but I am kind of trusting Ray and going along with him, and I will be involved in all the designs and stuff, you know, the cosmetic end of everything, so I am pretty excited about it.
XLXTC: I have had several women from my web site comment about you, I am sure they want to know if you are single, married, looking, gotta girlfriend, what's your status?
DM: Nahh, Nahh, I'm married, actually my wife is here with us tonight on the road. She don't get to come on the road a whole lot, we live up in Cincinnati, and I'm gone a whole lot, and its very rare she gets to be on the road, but she's a big fan of Montgomery Gentry, and Louisville is only an hour and a half away, so she was able to come down. Me, I'm married and have been married for several years.
XLXTC: What advice would you give someone interested in buying a motorcycle?
DM: Get it! Go do it! Don't wait! Sell or mortgage your house, get it! You know, one thing like I said earlier, it took me so long to get a bike, I didn't want to ride anything but a Harley as my first bike. I was just never at that time, being a musician, at that time we weren't really doing very good. You know, I was having trouble buying beans for groceries, let alone buying a bike. But I waited it out but at the same time in hind site, I almost wish I'da just, even if you know, I had to get a ricer, or something just to have had it and be up, but you know, in a way I am kind of glad I waited, but the advice I guess I would give would be, get it, get up on it, and ride the fuck out of it! Any chance you get.
XLXTC: I agree
XLXTC: Describe the lifestyle of being a singer and a biker. How are they the same, and how are they different?
DM: Well I guess its just kinda what we do, its kind of all one in the same, for me, I don't know how it would be for other people. One thing that's cool is, to do this and play music for a living on the road and be gone working all the time, you've got to have a real free spirited type of mind set. I think most people that really enjoy biking and stuff have that. It kinda goes hand in hand. There's something real cool about being on the road and waking up in a different city each day, and if you can do it on a bike that's even better, (laughing) that's a luxury.
XLXTC: Are there times you wish you could ditch a singing job to go do a bike rally, or something bike related?
DM: Well, there's been things that we've wanted to get into, like we've always wanted to go to Sturgis or wanted to go here or there and had to work. But, since we've stayed with our work now we're getting to play all the rallies. Like this year we are playing several different poker runs and stuff across the country. We're going to play the "Broken Spoke" in Sturgis, and we actually just found out today we're playing three nights at the "Broken Spoke" in Laconia, at the Laconia Rally up in New Hampshire. We're going to Humboldt, Iowa, and the Bean Blossom Boogie [Indiana], and all that stuff like that, as well as lots of different pokers runs in different regions and stuff like that. So we're getting to where we can work and play at the same time. I'm kinda being long winded, but we held off and now it's all come together to where we're able to do both. And, what's real cool about it, is we've got room for me and my brother, not on the road all the time, but when we go do stuff like that, we got room in the trailer to where we can get our equipment and mine and his bikes, so to where we can be out there having us some damn fun. We get all the damn way out to Sturgis and Laconia, by god, god damn, we're gonna be ridin 'em.
XLXTC: Have you got all the details worked out for the 1st Annual River Rally Dirt Drags, to be held in Cheatham Co. Tennessee in June, with Thunder Roads Magazine?
DM: As far as I know, a cat named Brian Shearon is who's setting that up
XLXTC: It's his magazine
DM: OK, he's who's setting it up. We play a place which is the coolest biker bar down there called "Rich and Amy's Roadhouse" and it's a new one, it's called "Roadhouse 2", well actually we just played there Sunday night. Brian wasn't there this past Sunday but as far as I know we're all locked down on it.
XLXTC: You're advertised as being there.
DM: Well, we're there!
XLXTC: All right.
DM: I agreed to do it. I've got it in my calendar as being a done deal, and I am considering us there on the Saturday night. It's supposed to be us and Hank Williams III, I think, is what he was telling me. But, even he doesn't get Hank III we will definitely be there.
XLXTC: What do you see or hope for yourself in the next year?
DM: I want to continue to tour my ass off, and ride as much as I can. I know you were asking me before about how much do we get to ride with being on the road. It's one of them deals where we don't get to ride as much as we wish we could, but pretty much if we're home we get up and we're on. We ride year around.
XLXTC: Do you have any contract stipulations, I mean like if you were off tonight and wanted to go ride, can you go ride, or are you limited to when you can or can't ride?
DM: Nahh, Nahh, If we got a bike we can ride when ever the hell we want. The only thing is, is the logistics of sometimes being on the road, if we don't have room in the trailer there is no way to bring the bikes.
XLXTC: Don't some musicians or entertainers have contracts specifically written, where they can't ride a motorcycle for risk of hurting themselves.
DM: Nahh, I've heard of that, but I would never let anything like that be on mine.(laughing) Fuck that, I would never let anybody do that on me. That would be like saying I couldn't play my guitar, you know, its taking away what I do.
XLXTC: I sent out an email to my local mailing list about this show here tonight, and Joe from Jonesville, KY replied to tell me that he had seen you play at the Jesse James Bluff Boogie in Glencoe.
DM: Yeah, we played that for like six years in a row, they just signed a contract and we're booked to that again this year.
XLXTC: Well, he was at a bonfire that you walked up to and started playing music with them there all night.
DM: Yeah, what's really cool about that gig is with the cats from the KBA we've really become family and on that particular gig, like I say, I've done it for six or seven years up there in Glencoe. We'll get done with our set, and when we're done they always build this big bonfire and everybody comes around with their acoustics and sits around. The coolest thing of the show is not our show, or anything, its when we get done everybody's got a couple of acoustic guitars and we sit and play till the sun comes up by the fire. You know, its like we don't get in our truck and go leave or nothing like that. We get our damn guitars and that's when it's a going on is down by the fire, passing a jug around.
XLXTC: How many times have you done the KBA state rally in Bullitt County?
DM: We've done it three times but not consecutively. We did it two years in a row, then was off a year, then we were back this past year. That's all ways a great party too.
XLXTC: Are you going to play the KBA state rally this year?
DM: I don't know, I've not been contacted yet. They usually try to mix it up, so I don't know if we will or not. If they offer us, we'll sure do it, because we love to do it.
XLXTC: Do you ever get a day off?
DM: (laughing) Only Mondays, so I can watch wrestling.
XLXTC: I was looking at your schedule last night and I didn't see many off days for February.
DM: Usually we have Mondays off and hopefully its not a travel day. I try to get home on Mondays, no shit, I like to watch wrestling. Also Monday is a hard night to have gig. You know we're at a really neat point in our career, now one night we might be playing in a little bitty bar, you know, and the next night be in front of ten or twenty thousand people, you never know because we're able to pull a lot of different bands. And in our area, we're in like seven states now where we're drawing on our own. It's just really cool. You know, when we do it, we just don't let up, we just go, anywhere anyone will let us play god damn we're there, and turned up real loud and playing.