Dallas Dorsey is an accomplished solo musician from Opelika.
After several tours with friend Adam Hood, Dallas recorded his first solo album, "Come On," in 2014.
Dorsey combines aspects of rock and country to make a unique sound that reflects his southern roots.
Q: What would you say was the first moment you realized you wanted to be a musician, and what was the first move you made into the industry?
A: Probably watching my grandaddy play guitar. I don’t think I made a conscious decision that I wanted to be a musician, but I knew I wanted to play guitar and do what he did. There was this time when I was in the third or fourth grade that I got a Yardbirds CD from my dad and it had Eric Clapton on it. I heard one of the guitar solos from Eric Clapton. I just fell into the industry. I went to a couple of open mic nights over at the Strutting Duck out on Wire Road, where I realized I was going to have to learn how to sing, or I’d just do it for fun. But I didn’t want to just do it for fun, I wanted to create something.
Q: How does the Auburn/Opelika music scene compare to other scenes you've been a part of, and what made you decide to return here after spending time in bigger music cities like Nashville or Birmingham?
A: I kind of piggybacked into that Texas red dirt scene with Adam Hood, I fell into being his guitar player who could also play bass when he need to. Really to be completely honest that’s the zenith for me out there. Texas, Oklahoma, those places do live music, they want to hear songwriters, they want to hear original stuff.
In Auburn and Opelika, on the other hand, there’s a formula in place. A lot of promotion from venues—it’s very much a weird market, especially for a college town because you think ‘It’s Auburn University’ and you're trying to foster ideas and talking about educating people and you’re still listening to gosh, ‘Fishing in the Dark.’ You go to see a band downtown and all they do is covers.
Q: How has the business changed for you since the release of your first album?
A: There really wasn’t a big change, I thought it was like the next step in the progression. Adam always said ‘The album you make, it’ll come when it comes,’ but I thought it was something I had to rush it. I thought it would open doors and I’d have a product and say ‘these are the songs I’ve written.’ I wish I could say it did open doors, but it didn’t.
All it did was we put it out and Spooner Oldman, who played on all of Aretha Franklin’s albums was on it. He was featured in the Muscle Shoals documentary. He wrote ‘I’m Your Puppet” and this guy came in and took the time to come to the studio and play on my stuff, and you know it went to nothing. There was no press, nothing. I learned a lot from the record, I learned a lot about what it takes, what you got to do. It’s not just about being creative it’s not about getting your tone right, you’ve got to be able to do it all if you do something independent.
Q: What are your goals now for your career?
A: I want to put an EP out, because that’s what everyone’s attention span is pretty much. I’m going to take five songs and put a little more color on them —more texture on them. On the record, we just went in there and pressed record. In some places I played a solo live, and I am proud of that to a certain extent, but I feel like I kind of blew through the first record and didn’t give it much time to breathe and develop. I really want to take some time and polish this EP, all killer-no filler, all great song, and be a little smarter on the marketing this time.
Q: What is your favorite venue in the Auburn/Opelika scene?
A: Favorite venue is 8th and Rail personally. Sound is pretty good in there, but I’ve found a niche in there it feels like a good home base.
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