Several years ago, I started writing a Christmas song each year to perform in my Christmas shows.  One year there was an “incident” with a dog I rescued named Carl, and that became the subject of that year’s song.  There’s quite a story behind how I came to end up with Carl, and how one Christmas morning turned into quite a disaster.  Check out the story, then check out the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDCljO18Sww&t=11s  I promise, no animals were harmed in the making of this video – and it’s funny!!

”I Can’t Breathe” is a very timely song given what has been on the news so much lately.  In Lacy’s words: This song shot out of me like the tears that shot out of my eyes watching what I saw on the TV again and again.  And because of the sensitivity around the issue, we did not want people to think that we were high-jacking the cause for any personal gain.  From the beginning, my manager Leslie Adams, my co-author and producer Jimmy Jackson and I agreed that we wanted to honor the spirit of the Black Lives Matter movement.  To be precise, and partly because of my work teaching in the California Prison System, all proceeds will go to the Equal Justice Initiative part of the movement.  You can check them out at https://eji.org/  We chose this foundation after checking it out on Charity Navigator where they have a 100% rating, over 90% of monies raised go to fund their programs, and only 6.2% is spent on administrative overhead (compared to an average of 40%).   Yours truly, Lacy J. Dalton

After releasing “Scarecrow” in January 2019, it was time to “break” the song on the radio. Lacy and Dale travel to Watsonville, California, home of KPIG Radio – one of the largest and most popular Americana stations in the country. This is the live interview with KPIG DJ, John Sandidge, from March 24th, and the radio debut of “Scarecrow” and “It Takes An Earthquake Sometimes.”

Imagine you are feeling totally shattered by a divorce, or you only have $6 in the bank, or you can’t sell your house in the desert because you have no water after drilling 6 times, or the IRS decides to audit you.  Now, imagine all that happening at the same time!  Having the clerk at the grocery store tell you that you can’t afford your groceries because you only have $6 is not the easiest way to learn what is going on. If not for a belief in a higher power, it could be totally devastating. So, I decided to write about it, to tell the story and get it out there – and so “Scarecrow” is born. You never know how much something you say or do might have a profound impact on another human being. Sometimes, we just need to know that we are not alone, that we are not the only one to feel this way, or to have to weather this kind of storm by ourselves. Sometimes, you just need to laugh about it.

  They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Never underestimate the importance of having a good graphic artist around to help with album artwork and publicity photographs.  As we start talking about the making of “Scarecrow”, we are introduced to one of Lacy’s producers and former band members, Jimmy Jackson, who she recently discovered is also a phenomenal graphic artist. Jimmy has become Lacy’s photographer of choice and has taken most of her newer publicity photos.  He also produced her latest videos– one for the GoFundMe campaign that was started to raise money for the new project (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGy2y0wW1Z4&t=3s), and the other is the official music video for “Scarecrow” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaVFP-BEcYc).  Many people ask, “What genre of music is “Scarecrow”?”  Well, it’s not western, and it’s not Americana, but we’ve been getting standing ovations in the middle of shows from people who are hearing it for the first time – so I guess it’s just plain, good music.

Hi! Lacy here!  What do you do when world renowned producer, Billy Sherrill, says you will have a difficult time in the music business, because you care about what you are singing.  You need to believe what he says, but you also have a message to share (and that always takes a lot longer)… Well, you persevere!  The best advice I ever got was, “Don’t ever let them tell you that you can’t write.” My new single, “Scarecrow”, came from feelings of betrayal, devastation, shock, and disbelief when my marriage of 20 years came to an end.  But it’s not all gloom and doom – sitting around the dining room table, you’re bound to meet my dogs Carl and Bip-bip and learn about our new mascot Cujo as well.  It’s all part of the journey from then to now.