Questions for Lacy

Below are questions asked of Lacy (and her answers) by fans and members of the Lacy J. Dalton mailing list.

Enjoy!

Q. Who were your musical influences?

A. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Janis Joplin, Robert Johnson, Karen Dalton, Fred Koller, Big Mama Thorton, Billie Holliday, Hank Williams, Sr., Tammy Wynette and J.J. Cale.

Q. Besides George Jones, Glen Campbell, Eddie Rabbit and Lee Greenwood, what other singers would you like to sing a duet with?

A. Don Henley, Ray Charles, Waylon Jennings, Tom Petty, Emmy Lou Harris, Iris Dement, Bonnie Raitt, Lyle Lovett, Bob Seger and Merle Haggard.

Q. How come you have not been on the Grand Ole Opry?

A. Since I live in the west, I don't get back to Nashville often enough to meet the Opry attendance requirements.

Q. How young is your son and does he ever go on the road with you?

A. My son was born in 1971. He went on tour with me once when he was around 14. He could not believe that anybody would want to get up at 4:00 a.m. to catch a 6:00 a.m. plane to arrive somewhere at 11:00 a.m., have lunch, go to load-in, then sound check, then eat some warm deli meat and cheese backstage, then do 2 shows and 2 autograph sessions, get to the hotel at midnight and start again at 4:00 a.m. the next morning! He does very well at his job as a computer programmer and he swears he'll NEVER go on the road again.

Q. What is the biggest mistake you've made in your life?

A. Buying a tour bus and not getting a degree in marketing before entering the music business.

Q. What was the BEST mistake (i.e., one that seemed like a big mistake at the time, but turned out well, or that was REALLY a mistake, but taught you a lesson you needed to learn)?

A. Getting fat. It taught me SO much about people and prejudice - and also led me to learn about good nutrition, the value of supplements and alternative medicine.

Q. What is your favorite food? Your favorite beverage? Other favorite "consumer product?"

A. A baked potato, good water, dark roasted coffee.

Q. "Some of us are poets, some dream until we die" (One of the Unsatisfied): Do you have a favorite poet or poets? A favorite novelist? Are there any books you've especially enjoyed recently?

A. Poets/writers - Mary Renault, Wilbur Smith, Emmet Fox, Anne Rice, Herman Melville.

Favorite books - Sho-Gun, Tai Pan, Hawaii, River God, The Vampire Lestat, Gifts from the Sea, The Bull from the Sea, The Persian Boy.

Q. "We often play the clown, to hide the fact that something deep within us cries" - Do you have a favorite joke? A favorite clown or comedian? What makes you laugh?

A. Whoopi Goldberg, Dennis Miller, Phyllis Diller and Jonathon Winters make me laugh.

Q. Conversely, what do you consider a true "tear-jerker"?

A. Bambi and Old Yeller, dammit.

Q. What are your favorite classic films?

A. All About Eve, The Day The Earth Stood Still, most all of Jimmy Stewart's films.

Q. "It's just a b-grade movie, for life's old silver screen" (Everybody Makes Mistakes). A variant on the above - Do you have a favorite actor and/or actress?

A. Actresses - Ellen Burstyn, Glenda Jackson, Sigourney Weaver, Bette Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Shirley Maclaine.

Actors - Anthony Hopkins, Liam Neeson, James Gandolfini, Robin Williams, Billy-Bob Thorton, Jack Nicholsen, Willem Dafoe

Favorite role by favorite actress - Ellen Burstyn in "Resurrection."

"Resurrection" was made in the 1970's and portrays a woman who has a serious auto accident and becomes a gifted psychic healer as a result of her injuries. When she is nearly overwhelmed by the many thousands who flood to her for healing, she realizes she must withdrawl into anonymity. She retires to a remote desert highway out west where she operates a gas station and animal sanctuary and quietly treats those who wander in in need of healing. She never reveals to them that she herself is the spiritual channel for that healing.

Q. "Sixteenth Avenue" - Do you have any particular favorites among the great country singers? If lacy could record a duet with any living artist, who would it be?

A. Favorites: Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Charlie Daniels.

Duet: Lyle Lovett, Annie Lennox, Mark Knopfler.

Q. If you could record with any artist of the past who has left us, who would it be?

A. Hank Williams, Sr., Janis Joplin

Q. "Whisper" - What do you consider to be the most beautiful word in the English language?

A. Destiny

Q. What do you consider the ugliest word?

A. Nigger

Q. "Old Yellow Car" - What is your favorite make of automobile?

A. I don't know much about cars, but I did have a Honda station wagon once that I could drive anywhere I wanted for $11.00 a week!

Q. Why Nevada? Why Virginia City?

A. I moved to Nevada because I wanted to live where the sky goes on forever and the wild horses still run free. I have worked in Nevada for many years and have developed many friendships in that time.

Q. Are there any plans for an album in the future for you?

A. I continue to write songs and record demos. Hopefully, the right situation will come along and allow me the chance to get some of my music back out to fans (new and old).

Q. What is a typical day for you at home?

A. I usually get up around 5:30 a.m. and drink coffee until I'm conscious (about 6:30 a.m.!). I then feed my 6 dogs and make sure they get their vitamins, then it's time to feed my adopted Wild Mustang horse and clean his corral. Then it's back to the dogs to take them for their daily walk. By now it's 10:00 a.m. and I'm sure there's some laundry that needs to be done, the house needs to be vacuumed or the dishes need to be put away. After that, I'm on the phone working on Let 'em Run Foundation business, making sure my booking agent is still doing his job or talking with other musician friends. This usually runs for several hours. I try to squeeze in some writing time, but it's probably about 3:30 p.m. now and it's time to feed the dogs and horse again (don't forget cleaning the corral again!). After that is done, it's time to start dinner. After I eat, I generally work more on my writing or do my vocal exercises.

Q. Out of all the songs you recorded at your time at CBS which one is your personal favorite and why?

A. I love "Everybody makes Mistakes" and "16th Avenue" the best. "Everybody makes Mistakes" is just so totally my kind of minor-key melody and folky rhythm. The lyric is nice and open with lots of holes for folks to fill in with their own imaginations.

"16th Avenue" is just a wonderful, wonderful story song about so many of us troubadours.

Q. Like many fans, you have seen changes to the music and the way it is sold - with vinyl, cassette, compact disc, mini-disc and now MP3 on the Internet. How much of a technophile are you and are you a regular user of the Internet?

A. I'm an absolute techno-peasant and would still be using 8-tracks if I were not shamed out of it by my technophile son - a computer wizard who make his living with the things. On my planet, we simply tap into the universal consciousness and go telepathic for all this stuff, okay? (laughs).

Q. What do you think of modern country music? Do you think it is moving away from its cultural roots and becoming too "pop"?

A. I love good rock 'n roll like Don Henley, Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, etc. A lot of modern country music sounds like white-washed rock 'n roll to me.

Q. So many of your songs have that "been there, done that" quality in that you sing as though you have personally experienced the feelings and story in the song. Two songs in particular that you penned have that written-from-experience quality: "One of the Unsatisfied" and "Losing Kind of Love". How true to life were these songs at the time they were written? Do you still feel the same?

A. At the time they were written, I was beginning to break myself away from any and all "victim" attitudes.

Q. In many of your songs, there is a reference to drinking. "So your friends sip soda water with a little twist of lime/Me, I got to have Jack Daniels straight." What is your favorite beverage of choice?

A. There was a time when I was a big fan of Hunter S. Thompson (the Rolling Stone Magazine "gonzo" journalist) and I loved Jack Daniels. Somewhere along the line I realized that persons with blood sugar problems like mine and anything alcoholic REALLY do not mix. I stick to black coffee now when I'm splurging.