Did Dalton Domino Just Quit Music?

Random Notes

The fans of much-love Texas music songwriter Dalton Domino were disappointed to scroll through their social media feeds on Saturday (three-14) to come across a cannonball from the Lubbock, TX native that seemed to imply he's done with music. Finito. Game over.

"Thank you. From the bottom of my middle. Thank you," Dalton posted forth with the universally-recognized 'That's All Folks!' graphic from the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. "The amount of memories I have made playing on a phase will last a life time. Only thing I got left to say is support the songwriters. Until next time friends. Whenever that time may exist."

Concerned fans already rattled past the mass cancellations due to the Coronavirus shared their appreciation and disappointment at the news, without a lot of clarification or context if it really meant it was all over for Dalton, or just over for now.

Dalton Domino is managed past the same guy that manages Wade Bowen, and Dalton'southward last tape, Songs From The Exile was released on Lightning Rod Records. Saving Country Music could have reached out to these respective parties or others, or to Dalton Domino himself for some clarification. But that feels like it would be a disrespect to the spirit and the mystery with which Dalton Domino has chosen to share this news.

The best way to assimilate Dalton's message is just to sympathise that this is Dalton Domino. He's always been a sort of unusual bird for the often direct-laced Texas music scene, with inner conflict conspicuously at work, often playing out in his highly-regarded songs over his three critically-acclaimed records.

Among his peers and many of the people in the Texas music business, the respect for Dalton as a songwriter is unquestionable. But finding his proper place has been somewhat of a struggle. He tried the big rocking stage show lineup, with the ii lead guitar players flanking him like y'all commonly see from the headliners of the Texas music scene. He tried a more than stripped down approach, working in more keys and acoustic guitar. Nigh recently Dalton Domino has been on a house show tour, just playing to intimate crowds in living rooms.

First and foremost, Dalton Domino is a songwriter, and that's a career path where sometimes it takes decades of service before the deserved recognition is finally awarded. And beyond the struggle all songwriters face to detect sustainable traction in their careers, or to calm the inner conflict to make it into an occupation, Dalton has had some personal struggles beyond that, including going to rehab in early 2019.

In his relatively short career, it'southward almost like Dalton Domino has lived multiple lives. Even looking at photos of him over a menses of time, Dalton can nigh appear unrecognizable from a previous incarnation equally he sheds previous personas in an attempt to discover his truthful self. Perhaps stepping abroad for a while is a manner to assist that process. As he says in ane of his signature songs called "Corners," "Merely if I die I'k gonna dice with me knowin', who I was ain't who I am."

Have we heard the last from Dalton Domino? I wouldn't make that bet. But his return and the nature of it should be of his choosing, and not due to pressure from fans or professionals in the music business concern with expectations that he may or may non be able to meet, let alone the expectations and pressures he puts on himself. As well, in early February Domino likewise posted that he was planning a very limited tour schedule through September, and wanted to spend more than time with his family. This latest message seems to coincide with that, even if it carries a more fatalistic tone.

And what meliorate time to take a hiatus than now when the world is shutting downward anyway, and gathering in groups has been deemed too dangerous by many?

And so c'est la vie Dalton Domino, for at present, and until, and as such. We'll even so be here.

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Dalton Domino