We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dominic DeLaney a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Dominic thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I think the most meaningful project that I’ve been involved in has to be my touring operation. It’s certainly still ongoing, thankfully, and growing, but I remember all too well a time where touring seemed like an impossible feat.

After reading books like Our Band Could Be Your Life, and diving into old punk bands, I realized that these bands weren’t handed anything – they went out there and just did it. I heard Frank Turner say “if you want to tour, then go and book one.” What was a passing comment by Frank, hit me like a ton of bricks. “You can do that?!”

Well, it turns out you can! To date I’ve played in 19/50 states, and by the end of the year I’ll be past the halfway mark of playing every state in the US.

Dominic, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been playing music since childhood, but only started releasing music under my own name in 2018. My music blends styles of folk storytelling with punk rock instrumentation. I’m frequently traveling to play shows, working on playing every state in the US. This year I’ve been experimenting with different ways of touring, most notably my Off The Rails tours, where I use the Amtrak trains to get from place to place.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Getting sober. Man, that was rough. But, it saved my life. I can’t overstate that enough. If i had continued using alcohol and drugs the way I was, there’s no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t be here right now.

I’ve been relatively private with my addiction struggles, but as time goes on I feel able to open up more about them. I started using drugs really young, like summer of 5th grade going into 6th grade young. For many years after that, even in to early adulthood, I was constantly drinking and drugging, and still finding a way to function, albeit barely.

The Covid-19 pandemic was rough on everyone, but for me, I dove further into my addiction, arguably drunk or high for 2 years straight. I won’t go into the details of withdrawals, and shakey nights, but they sucked.

When the world started to return to normal, and things like shows, and responsibilities started to come back, I was in no shape to hold up my end of the bargain. It didn’t take long until I realized I needed help, and I’m glad to say I’ve been sober over a year now.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In this day and age, trying to make any sort of connection through music is thwarted simply by the volume of music out there. It’s hard to have that personal connection with someone in the day and age of the 15 second song. So unless you’re making music that’s trendy on TikTok, or whatever, there has to be something to spark the interest to people. Then, they can listen to the whole song, album, whatever, and get that connection.

The whole point, at least for me, is creating something that is true to myself and then finding the connection that other people have within their own lives.    

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.dominicdelaney.com
• Instagram: @dominicdelaney
• Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/dominicdelaneymusic
• Twitter: @DeLaneyDominic
• Youtube: YouTube.com/@dominicdelaney
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3kvfMtzBWaSdljMek09OkO?si=Ubu_ujoZRiShh2KWq1KDSQ

Image Credits
Mitch Greer Exploding Lens