November Ft. Artist of the Month: Jesse Dayton
Jesse started playing music when he was 15 down in Beaumont TX where I was born. Lot’s of honky tonk music, R&B and of course Cajun music cuz we we’re so close to the Louisiana border. “My Dad went to high school w/ George Jones, seem like there was always music some country music singer from Texas be it Jones, Willie or Lefty Frizzell playing a show in town. 1st concert I ever went to was at a drive-in to the see the Possum and he didn’t show up…No Show Jones! ha ha My brother was also close friends w/ the late great blues promoter Clifford Antone who owned Antones Blues Club in Austin. Cliffords family was from Port Arthur, right next to Beaumont, so of course at a very young age he was bringing old Gulf Coast blues records like Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester…I couldn’t have been more than 15”.
Jesse goes on to reveal he never thought in a million years he would end up playing w/ some of his heroes. “I was in Nashville, (which I just didn’t fit in at all), doing this TV show called Crook and Chase w/ Kris Kristofferson. All the Highway Men we’re watching Kris so they saw me as well. Next morning I gotta phone call from Waylon saying he’d cut his hand cooking w/ Jesse Colter and he saw me on the show and would I come down and play guitar for him in the studio that day. So I blew off my plane flight back to Austin and went to the studio and Johnny Cash opened the door and said “are you the youngun’ from Texas? Come on in!” My mouth dropped!” After Jesse played guitar on the next Waylon record and went straight to LA and did a record w/ Ray Price. The gigs just kept coming.
It’s been a couple of years since ole JD could return to the Blue Moon because he has been making feature films. “I did 3 films w/ Rob Zombie, then I wrote and directed my new film which was primarily shot in New Orleans. The film went to Cannes, (out of competition), and sold, so we’re all pretty happy about that. Now I can get back to doing my 1st love, music. We always throw in some Cajun country songs anyway, so the Blue Moon audience who usually hears alot of zydeco and Cajun rock and traditional Cajun really digs hearing our Cajun honky tonk songs. We just finished some West Coast shows that we’re awesome and just got back from playing over in Europe as well. I love making films but there’s nothing better than being onstage, making music in front of people, it’s everything to me.”
Jesse also goes on to fill us in saying “2014 my film Zombex comes out w/ the soundtrack that I did. Will be alot of promotion for that I’m sure. Comic Con, film festivals, you name it. I’ll be bringing the band w/ me to play shows as well. Gonna be crazy!” Lots to look forward to!
We were even curious if he had any advice for any people in the Blue Moon Nation thinking of becoming musicians. JD had a lil slice of advice to share with all of us! “If you’re thinking about getting into the music biz you might wanna have a real heart to heart w/ yourself in the mirror. It’s not an easy life. I’ve been lucky. Of course I prepared for all these opportunities since I was a kid. But if you’re into music for the fame, you might wanna stay in school. This business tends to weed out people who aren’t lifers pretty quick. It’s not about the pot of gold, it’s about the journey. If you wanna be a musician, you won’t really have in choice anyway. It’s a higher calling that will not let you give up. Nothing I can say matters anyway, the answers are all inside yourself.”
Well, Jesse, we would like to thank you for your continuous performances at the Blue Moon Saloon and thank you for being our featured artist of the month for November!
