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Folk Group Dakota Blonde Makes First Trip To The Walnut Valley Festival
Through-out time, music has worked in a multitude of ways. We use music in times of celebration, songs are sung to express love, and to provide comfort in times of despair. Music has long been a used as therapy. Mary Huckins, Don Pinnella, and Tony Raddell came together through their careers in music therapy. Thus was formed "Dakota Blonde".
Dakota Blonde will entertain fans at the thirty-first annual Walnut Valley Festival with such tightly blended harmonies that you would swear they were born to sing together. All three work with emotionally troubled children and adolescents, giving them that special knack for including audiences in their music and finding those heartstrings that music plays in all of us. Tony and Don had been playing music together for several years when Mary added her distinctive voice and beautiful interpretative talents. Don recalls, "When Tony and I heard Mary sing we knew we wanted to get out there and share our music with people. We had been performing for the kids at Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan and had a strong feeling that making music together was something that we wanted to take a step further.
Like pieces of a puzzle that fit together perfectly, Don's calming stage presence, soothing voice and steady guitar playing along with Tony's tenor vocal and rhythmic acoustic bass playing create the perfect foundation for Mary's compelling voice. Mary's enchanting voice is the heartbeat of Dakota Blonde and has helped the group become a staple of Denver's folk/acoustic music scene. Also a songwriter, Mary's lyrics are down to earth and yet sentimental and romantic. She reaches deep into her soul and pulls out the simplest poetry that tugs at your heart. In 2001 she was selected to showcase one of her compositions in the Walnut Valley Songwriting Showcase.
Don Pinnella grew up with six brothers in the small town of Manasquan on the coast of New Jersey. Family holidays were always filled with great homemade cooking and wonderful jam sessions that followed the meal. As a child he listened to his uncle and grandfather play acoustic instruments like the mandolin, guitar and ukulele. "The sound and simplicity of these instruments really appeals to me".
Tony Raddell, bassist for Dakota Blonde is also a guitarist. He learned to play the upright bass in college because "there was a surplus of guitarists and a shortage of bass players, so it made sense to pick up the instrument². His love and dedication to his family prevails in much of his song writing. "My wife and two sons are very inspiring. At times it seems that I have the heart of a poet but the words of a fool, which is another song I'm working on. Tony has been a motivating force in making it possible for audiences to enjoy the music of Dakota Blonde. He believed so strongly in their potential that he put his car up as collateral so that the trio could buy their first PA system.
They are joined by incredible talent on the stage and in the studio on a regular basis by Dr. Daniel Jones, and Ernie Martinez. Ernie is a one man band joining in on banjo, dobro, mandolin, guitar, pedal steel, and bass, just to name a few. Daniel Jones is a master in the art of pedal steel and dobro. As a professor of Musicology at CU in Boulder, Colorado, he stores enough musical know-how to keep fellow band members in line.
Dakota Blonde has shared the stage with folks like Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith, David Crosby, Nickel Creek, John McEuen, Pete Huttlinger, Tony Furtado, Firefall, Mollie O'Brien and the list goes on.
Performing originals songs that are a unique combination of folk, bluegrass, and country with a little Celtic tinge Dakota Blonde nails their tight harmonies. They are an unusual group. They come from musical families, and their charm stems both from the music they play and from the family feeling they bring into their performances.
Dakota Blonde will be performing in Winfield, Kansas on September 19th through the 22nd at the Walnut Valley Festival. For more information about this year's festival call the Walnut Valley office at 620-221-3250, or log on to the Walnut Valley Festival web site at www.wvfest.com. Advance tickets may also be purchased by phone or from the Walnut Valley Association at 918 Main Street in Winfield.
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