Billy Dalton

An old black and white TV detective series used to introduce each show with the phrase "there are a million people in the city, and each one has a story." In that same spirit, Billy Dalton believes that each person's life is full of stories, and adventures, that are worthy of being immortalized in song. Billy says "I like to take the ordinary things that happen to us all, shine them up, wrap them in lyrics and music, and put them on display for anybody who will listen. Sometimes it's only then that we realize just how special and precious those moments, or feelings really were." From tales of humor, to love, to injustice and tragedy." Billy's songwriting takes these human experiences, and encapsulates them in the warm acoustic sounds that seem to flow naturally from the Appalachian foothills of upstate South Carolina.

During his teen years in the late 70's and early 80's, Billy cut his musical teeth while playing guitar in local area bluegrass bands. Later he discovered folk music, and was hooked by the songwriting bug while attending a concert by legendary folk artist Nancy Griffith. Nancy said that "songs are everywhere, it's just that only a few people take the time to snatch them out of the air and write them down." Billy recalls, "That was the moment I realized that songwriting was something I could do, and something I wanted to do."

Years have passed since that night when he first ventured out onto a stage to perform his original music, and now Billy plays everywhere from open mics to sharing the stage with nationally touring artists, to performing with his wife and sometimes co-writer Lynn Dalton at local gigs. "I used to be terrified to perform in front of people," Billy laughs. "Now I.m terrified I won't get to." He adds "when I first started doing this, my wife said it was my mid-life crisis. But now she's a part of it too, so maybe it's not such a bad mid-life crisis to have."

So next time you get a chance, come out and enjoy a Billy Dalton show. Who knows? You may just hear your story in one of the songs!

Billy performed at the coffeehouse on 9 Feb 2007. We recorded three videos of him and posted them to YouTube. In the first video Billy is playing one of his original compositions. In the second Billy is joined by his wife. The third video was truncated slightly, but is a song written by Billy's wife who joins him for this performance.