We were lucky to catch up with Mel Dalton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mel, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

In a sense I definitely wish I had gotten serious about writing music and playing guitar years ago. Like, 25 years ago would have been great! I think about the catalog I could have by now and yeah, maybe there’s a little regret at what could have been. But sometimes we just aren’t ready for the things that we want to do; we need to spend a little more time getting ourselves into a place where we are ready.

I spent my twenties and my thirties working. I had several careers, all of which not only help me survive and pay my bills, but which also gave me a wider perspective on the world. And songwriting is all about sharing your perspective – your perspective on an event or an experience, your perspective on an emotion, your perspective on life. How can you write songs that will appeal to people and that people can relate to if you don’t have much perspective?

So yeah, sometimes I feel a little like I might not have used my limited time in this world as well as I could have. But in the end I really feel like it all works well together. And I’m certainly in a wonderful place right now and can’t complain about how things have ended up!

Mel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been singing my whole life; I don’t remember this but my mom tells me that when I was very young I used to make up songs about whatever I saw or whatever I was feeling at the time. She and my older sister and I used to sing a lot together, so I learned to sing harmonies even before I was school age.

When I was in the 5th grade I started singing at school and church functions. In Junior High I realized that I wanted to be a professional musician, but despite all the encouragement I got I still had very low self-confidence and wasn’t sure I could ever learn an instrument or how to write songs. In fact I’m not sure I even realized that these are skills that can be learned and developed! A lot of people think you have to be born with the ability to make music, and that just isn’t true. Lessons are important and practice is vital; you have to give yourself permission to be bad before you can be good.

For a long time the only performing I did was with prerecorded backing tracks, and then for a long time after that I just did karaoke. Finally I got into a couple bands where I was singing lead and not really playing much. But slowly, very slowly, I got up the nerve to start playing a little. And then a little more. I also started writing a few songs, which went about the same way. Not very good at first but slowly improving as I pushed myself.

I spent 9 years playing with a classic rock and blues band called Northwest Chill. For the first time I really felt comfortable on stage, like I belonged there. The guys and I got close enough that I felt comfortable bringing out my originals, and we put three of them on an EP that we released in 2016. And even better, people responded and enjoyed my songs! They requested our songs at shows and they bought copies of our CD and shared them with friends.

In 2019 I ended up moving to Idaho to get married, and that fall I found the Inland Northwest Country Music Association. I met Rusty and Kelly, and through them Chrissy and the Sams and Ben and a whole mess of other musicians who have become really great friends. In 2020 when all the venues were shut down, we spent a lot of time doing open mics and live streams together, which was a bright spot for all of us in a very dark time.

Another thing that happened during the pandemic was I started a weekly live stream called Monday Music. The original idea was that most folks were used to getting up on Monday to go to work. Instead of thinking of Monday morning as a bad thing, I could start the week off right by streaming live music out to the world. We just had our third anniversary party last month for Monday Music, and I don’t plan to quit any time soon.

My favorite part of playing music is getting out and meeting people at gigs. I love making personal connections with folks, hearing how my music inspires or entertains them. This is the best job I’ve ever had! I get to make new friends all the time, travel around and see different places, share what’s on my heart in a way that people can relate to.

Right now I’m excited for my upcoming EP, Ramblings and Recollections. It’s in the final mixing stage right now at Ohio Match Studio and I’m really looking forward to setting a date for the release party soon. This album is the story of thirty years’ worth of dreams, wishes, hopes, disappointments, and trials. It’s the story of decades spent in self-doubt and uncertainty. It tells a story of persistence, of trial and failure, and finally success. The road that brought me here was narrow and winding, but it ended in the right place.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

There are so very many resources out there for musicians! You can find an association for pretty much any kind of music, both regional and national. I’ve been a member of the Inland Northwest Country Music Association for several years now, which is an incredibly helpful and welcoming group of local and regional musicians who bill each other at shows and promote each other’s music.

Last year I joined the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and I have been really impressed with all the resources they offer to members. Between the support I get at chapter meetings, the mentorship opportunities they offer, and the one-on-one song reviews, I’ve already seen a substantial improvement in my songwriting skills and my confidence level. And I haven’t even used all of their services yet!

There are also lots of books out there on songwriting as well as how to navigate the music business itself. I’m currently reading the third edition of Ari Herstand’s “How to Make it in the New Music Business” and I keep a copy of Pat Pattison’s “Writing Better Lyrics” close to hand at all times.

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

The most important thing that anyone can do to support a thriving creative ecosystem is to give your time and money to people who are not famous yet. Go to local shows and buy a piece of merch. Find them online and feed the algorithm by following them. Sign up on their email list, and then open the email when you get it.

A lot of people talk about how the big “household names” got there because of industry support instead of talent or skill. But those same people have the opportunity to lift up local artists and help them get on bigger stages. We all have the ability to promote, in our own little way, folks that we think are doing important and noteworthy work. And the more of us who do that, the bigger it grows and the better it works.

I don’t really know about “society” as a whole but I know that individual people can and do make a difference. Every T-shirt you buy directly from an artist, every comment you make on their social media posts, every person you turn on to their music or art, every bit of that matters. Every bit of that helps.

Contact Info:

• Website: MelDaltonMusic.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/MelDaltonMusic
• Facebook: Facebook.com/MelDaltonMusic
• Linkedin: LinkedIn.com/MelDaltonMusic
• Twitter: Twitter.com/MelDaltonMusic
• Youtube: YouTube.com/MelDaltonMusic
• Other: TikTok.com/MelDaltonMusic Twitch.tv/MelDaltonMusic

Image Credits
Les Radnor Jeff O’Brien