Nancy K Dillon's Page

BIO:

Nancy K. Dillon grew up 6 blocks from Route 66 in Oklahoma City, OK. Hailed by respected UK country music journalist, Alan Cackett (Maverick-UK) as an “original new talent” mining a musical vein akin to Lucinda Williams or Kasey Chambers, Nancy is a gifted singer, award-wining songwriter and recording artist based in the Pacific NW USA. She masterfully weaves the textures and rhythms of American folk and country music into mythic road stories of the “small town claustrophobia and surreal euphoria” of traveling America’s byways. Her songs evoke the vistas and horizons of the sprawling American West.

Descended from an Irish Mason employed by the Missouri Pacific Railroad, Indian Territory evangelists and circuit-riding preachers, Dillon was born on the plains of Oklahoma during the second Dust Bowl less than a half-century after Oklahoma became the 46th State of the Union. Immediately upon acquiring a formal education, she hit the road without so much a plan as a desire to accumulate as many varied experiences and memories as possible. These included a 1980 circumnavigation of the globe, crisscrossing the western United States in a 1966 yellow Rambler American and jobs as a computer operator of IBM dinosaurs, a University of Oklahoma Indian Housing research project administrator, a photographer’s model and a keypuncher for a Seattle race-car parts company. All the while she pursued her musical dreams quietly performing in bands and on others' recordings until at last, having overcome persistent stage fright and a lengthy illness (CFIDS), she began writing and performing her own original songs releasing her debut solo CD Just Let Me Dream on June 8, 2004.

Since its release, Just Let Me Dream has received many accolades and generated a continuing buzz receiving international radio airplay, song contest honors and landing on several “Best of…” lists. Hailed as “accomplished, mature and soulful”, the CD has a sparkling windswept sound captured by Grammy-winning engineer Garey Shelton (The Believers/Danny Barnes/Rachel Harrington). Nancy co-produced the album with Austin, TX-based Michael Hill (Slobberbone/12 Lb Test). The album features virtuoso performances by Hill as well as John Reischman (Tony Rice/Jaybirds), Paul Elliott (Michelle Shocked/Alison Brown) and Grammy-winner Stacy Phillips (Dobro). Brit-folk rocker, Clive Gregson (Any Trouble/Gregson & Collister) makes a stunning cameo appearance on backup vocals and a searing solo at the end of the title track. John Conquest (Third Coast Music) observes, “Hints of honky tonk, Tex-Mex and cowboy music, intertwined with bluegrass, country, gospel and traditional folk, make this a true Americana album that could easily have come out of Austin.”

Nancy sings about escaping her native red dirt Oklahoma on the opening track of Just Let Me Dream. She may have left town but she is still the girl who grew up in Oklahoma City six blocks from Route 66. “You can leave Oklahoma” she says, “but Oklahoma never leaves you. I go there as often as I can. The land and the people deeply inspire me. My hope is to infuse my songs and sound with a feeling of that red dirt, spaciousness and the simplicity and drama of the elements." A subtle sweetness inhabits Nancy's voice that makes it instantly appealing. You can hear the wind in her voice. Sometimes you can taste the dust, too, and feel the hot summer sun. "I grew up in an extraordinary musical environment,” Dillon says. “My dad is a composer of modern classical music who played in a big band jazz orchestra on weekends. In between all of that he was a Professor of Music at the University of Central Oklahoma and directed the church choir. My mother sang her favorite hymns around the house and taught vocal music in Arkansas before I was born."

Nancy is a former folk radio programmer at KBCS/Bellevue-Seattle. She was a founding member of the renowned cowgirl band Ranch Romance and performed as a duo with Rounder recording artist, John Miller. It is her Southwestern roots that continue to nurture her though—and her soulful voice polishes the music until it gleams and sparkles like fire in fine jewelry. Listen to her perform sometime and see if you don't agree.

VARIOUS STUFF:

o 2nd Place Winner ~ 2007 Tumbleweed Song Contest ~ "Time Travelers Lament"
o "O Susanna" ~ received a 9.9 rating (out of 10) by listeners to Fiddles & Frets
o "Just Let Me Dream" ~ Top 50 on Roots Music Report Folk Chart ~ April 2007
o "O Susanna" ~ Top 20 on Acoustic Pie Radio ~ July & December 2006/April 2007 (6!)
o "Almost To Idaho" ~ Richard Gillmann's Favorite Folk Tracks ~ November 2006
o Finalist, 2006 Tumbleweed Song Contest ~ "Good Old Friends"
o Finalist, 2005 Tumbleweed Song Contest ~ "Almost To Idaho"
o Finalist, 2004 Tumbleweed Song Contest ~ "The Ballad of Mabel Dodge"
o "Best NW Artists/Folk CD" ~ July 2004 ~ KBCS 91.3FM Seattle
o Top 10 ~ American ROOTS Radio ~ Boston, MA ~ July 2004
o "2004 Top Albums & Songs ~ Folk Music Radio Airplay Chart

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SOME OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES:

"To Nancy ~ who knows more than a little about making musical magic!"
~ Clay Eals, Author ~ "Steve Goodman: Facing The Music"

"Very much in the Kasey Chambers and Lucinda Williams school of rootsy singer-songwriters, Nancy K. Dillon stands out as a new original talent."
~ Alan Cackett - Maverick Magazine (UK)

"Nancy K. Dillon and her two friends Paul Elliott and Stacy Phillips took the stage after a short break. With Nancy's great songs and driving rhythms, Paul's great fiddle playing and Stacy's masterful playing of the Debro, we were treated to moments of pure magic. I know I keep saying this is why I do house concerts, but this is why I do house concerts. Wow. "
~ Nolan Pepperdine ~ Olalla House Concerts

"The fancy term for Dillon's kind of writing is mythopoeia."
"The astonishing 'Nothing in Texas' is the most beautiful '60s-soul slow dance ever to wear denim."
~ Tom Peterson - Victory Review

"All the pretty América is in your fingers and in your voice.
Compliment, Jean-Claude"
~ Jean-Claude's MySpace Comment ~ Amnésia - La comedie musicale ~ France

“If I could sing like that, I wouldn’t bother much with instruments!”
Stacy Phillips (Grammy Award-Winning Dobroist)

"Surreal euphoria and small town claustrophobia..."
~ Holly Estrella del Dia - Roots Highway

"The confessional dial is turned down several notches - much is evoked and implied rather than simply on display for all to see."
~ Mark Phillips - Americana UK

"Hints of honky tonk, Tex-Mex and cowboy music, intertwined with bluegrass, country, gospel and traditional folk, make this a true Americana album that could easily have come out of Austin."
~ John Conquest - Third Coast Music

"A really fine album of singer/songwriter fare with a bit of an old-timey feel in spots. I like this CD a lot. The songs are well-written, tuneful and intelligent."
~ Greg Grant - Online Folk Festival

"Oklahoma native Nancy K. Dillon's roots are clearly cemented in the Red Dirt State."
~ Melissa Wabnitz - Norman Transcript (OK)

"Thank you very much for sending me your more than beautiful release. I've enjoyed listening to your great songs and music and I will give your disc regular airplay, because you're damn good!"
~ Raymond & Theo - Radio ATL - Belgium

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Full reviews @ www.nancykdillon.net/reviews
Just Let Me Dream CD is available from:
iTunes ~ CDBaby ~ Glitterhouse ~ MSNMusic ~ Napster
[unfortunately as of 2008 ~ Miles of Music ~ no longer in biz :-( ~ RIP]
e-mail: tallgrassgirl@nancykdillon.net