Dalton Mills

During TakeRoot festival in November 2024, American folk singer Dalton Mills stopped by our recording space with his guitar and a handful of songs that meant something to him. Mills is the kind of songwriter who pays attention to the details. He’s drawn to the spaces between words, the stories that don’t spell everything out for you. His approach to folk music feels like someone who’s spent real time with these songs before deciding they’re worth sharing. Watch him play covers of Eric Taylor and Malcolm Holcombe, and his own song Shakespeare In Boots.

“Once you get into them, they almost feel like part of your DNA”

Malcom Holcombe is special to Dalton Mills, he explains. “I can’t remember where I first heard or found Malcolm’s songs,” Mills reflects. “The beauty is, once you get into them, they almost feel like part of your DNA – you don’t remember not knowing them. I think he was one of the most singular writers I’ve ever heard. Malcolm’s songs are very poetic yet plain spoken, which is something I’m always reaching towards. He set the bar. He could write in a wonderfully vague way, giving you just the right details needed.”

His choice of The Crossing comes from a simple place: “I chose The Crossing because it’s one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. I think it’s pretty much a perfect song. Malcolm Holcombe had plenty of those.” There’s something nice about Dalton Mills’ observation that certain songs become part of you. They don’t just sit in your playlist, they become part of how you see the world.

“Immediately, he puts you right in the middle of the story”

Dalton Mills found Eric Taylor the way a lot of folk fans do; following the threads from one great songwriter to another. He was reading about Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark and kept seeing Taylor’s name pop up. “Eric Taylor is one of my all time favorite songwriters,” Mills explains. “I discovered him by way of reading about Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark along with his duets with Nanci Griffith. Something about his writing and delivery grabbed me and hasn’t let go. I love how abstract his lyrics can be at times while still painting a vivid picture. He wrote mostly about characters – both fictional and real – and from their various prospectives.”

What drew him to Charlie Ray McWhite was how Taylor drops you right into the middle of things. “I chose Charlie Ray McWhite because it was the first of his songs I found. Immediately, he puts you right in the middle of the story. We never find out who the narrator is or Charlie Ray McWhite for that matter though he left us room to infer about both. It has a really narrative quality, just like a short story or a little vignette.”

Finding his own voice

Dalton Mills’ original song Shakespeare in Boots gives you a good sense of where he’s coming from as a writer. Like Taylor and Holcombe, Mills understands that the good folk songs often find that sweet spot between being poetic and being real. His voice has the quality of someone who’s spent time with these songs, who’s learned from them.

The Influences & TakeRoot festival

For the last seven years, The Influences has collaborated with the TakeRoot festival in Groningen, and filmed sessions with musicians from the festival’s line up. November 2nd 2024, we filmed a record amount of eight sessions in one day. Dalton Mills’ is the fifth of those to appear online. The final three are more than worth your wait, I promise you.

Photos

Keep watching

Thank you for watching and enjoying this session. You’ll probably like some other sessions from The Influences’ archive too, like these earlier ones we filmed at TakeRoot festival.

2025 acoustic session American folk American folk singer Charlie Ray McWhite covers Dalton Mills Eric Taylor folk music groningen Malcolm Holcombe Shakespeare in Boots songwriter TakeRoot Festival The Crossing the influences