Session Drummer | Studio Drummer | Touring and Worship Drummer for Hire | Dale Baker | Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, NC

It's 4:39am...

More updates.  I'm trying to spend less time online these days and consolidate my emails, so over the past week I've been trying to port all my email stuff over to Google and just answer my mail online, as opposed to downloading it to my computer.  I was really liking Thunderbird, but the last update I downloaded messed up my email, and I ended up losing a whole bunch of email.  A couple of which were gigs.  Ugh. 

So if by chance you were the guy wanting me to come to Asheville to record with you this summer...I'm up for it!  I just lost your email - I wasn't trying to blow you off or anything!

Also, I'm enamored with this new flash based online file storage thing called the Box.  So I'm in the process of uploading a bunch of demo tracks to it.  The next time you look on my demo page, it should be staring you in the face.

Oh, let's see...I'll be playing at Hope Creek Church this weekend and next.  Also, I'll be playing with Nathan Fancher at Crosspointe Church next Friday night.  I'm looking forward to getting to play with the guys again in Nathan's band.  It's gonna be a fun evening of music for sure.

ah, summer...

Yes, summer is upon us here in North Carolina...the days have been hot and humid and then if we're lucky it rains later in the day to cool everything off.  I was thinking of what summer used to mean to me and thought I'd write down my thoughts for you...

When I was in college I used to come home every summer and work at Silver Dollar City a theme park close to my home that I grew up more or less obsessed with.  I thought it was such a wonderful job!  I played drums in their "Saloon" show and then later was paid to dress up in some comfortable hillbilly clothes and roam the streets of the "City" and chat people up, perform little skits (for lack of a better term) and once a day, I was able to fulfill my stuntman fantasies and get to fall off a building as part of one of the aforementioned skits.

After my time at Silver Dollar City, I was fortunate to spend two summers working at Disney World in Florida and was able to work with and meet alot of great players there...

Later on - post college -  I spent less time going back home and working over the summer.  There was one summer I went back and spent two weeks playing for Shoji Tabuchi, who (at the time) was becoming one of the big stars in my hometown of Branson.  I was fortunate to sub for my friend James Ingals who was going on a vacation and picked me to fill in (literally, I suppose) for him while he was gone.

After that I soon joined Sixpence None the Richer and spent many summers playing shows on the road and at the various festivals.  We played alot of amusement parks like Six Flags in Georgia, Stone Mountain (though not really an amusement park), Darien Lakes up in New York and even travelled to Greenbelt (just a big farm really) and then to Flevo Fest (which was held NEAR an amusement park...we could see one of the cool rollercoasters from the stage when we played).  Oh yeah, we played Cornerstone which (like Greenbelt) is more or less a big farm area...anyway, I'm sure I'm leaving out a whole bunch of places we played...but I always had fond memories of the summer touring season...[note:  I also have fond memories of our times travelling in a van and in rental cars to various radio stations during the early promotional (guerilla style, if you will) stages of the Sixpence record that featured "Kiss Me" and "There She Goes"...it was a fascinating time and exciting to see our work (and of course, the efforts of others) really pay off, so to speak.  I seem to remember alot of this promotional work occuring during the summer as well... ]

Other summer memories...it was summer that I played with Sixpence on the David Letterman Show which stands out as one of my favorite memories from my time with them.  It was summer when I recorded a song with Emmylou Harris and Sixpence None the Richer for the "Roaring Lambs" compilation record.  It was summer when I played a series of shows at some Indian Reservations with Sixpence and then later hung out with Rich Mullins.

All this to say, summer has always been something I've looked forward to.  I hope your summer is filled with some great memories and exciting moments...

This summer-I know this has nothing to do with drumming or really anything other than expressing my supreme geekiness-I'm looking forward to visiting with my family back in Branson and possibly spending some time again, roaming the streets of Silver Dollar City...rumour has it they have this awesome rollercoaster that is new this year, I'm trying to build up enough courage to actually ride it...I still have a couple months before my trip to psych myself up...

Biography

Note:  This bio is current as of 2/11/05, for the most recent bio, click the link labeled Biography (pdf) under the heading, "Credentials" in the column to your left.

Dale Baker

Biography

After growing up and playing in the burgeoning country music scene of Branson, Missouri, Dale went to Texas to more thoroughly pursue his musical interests, attending college at University of North Texas and eventually moving to Dallas to play with a variety of acts ranging from singer/songwriters to contemporary gospel to reggae.           

In the fall of 1993 Dale began performing and recording with Sixpence None The Richer, a group from Austin, Texas and in December of 1996 moved to Nashville with the band. Sixpence was named "#1 Breakthrough Artist" for 1999 in the CHR/ POP, Hot AC and AC radio formats by Radio & Records (R&R) magazine. Their self-titled album was RIAA certified Platinum and was twice nominated for a GRAMMY in 1998 and again in 1999. Their song "Kiss Me" was the #1 most played song in over 11 countries, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, and Israel, among others and topped VH 1’s “Video Countdown.” The song was also nominated for a GRAMMY, appeared on sitcoms and soaps and most notably was played for over 200 million viewers at Prince Edward’s 1999 wedding. In addition, "Kiss Me" was the #1 movie soundtrack single for 1999, according to Billboard magazine.

Dale's drumming can also be heard on Sixpence's follow-up single, "There She Goes," which became the #28 most played song of 2000 on the combined Billboard Modern AC and Adult Top 40 chart and the #39 most played song of 2000 on Billboard's AC chart. In 2002 his playing with Sixpence was heard on the WB network shows Birds of Prey and the season finale of Felicity.

In 2003 Sixpence released Divine Discontent, and Dale's playing is featured prominently on that recording as well, including the Top 20 hit, “Breathe Your Name.” Another song from Divine Discontent - "I've Been Waiting" (with Dale on drums)- was featured in the Gwyneth Paltrow/ Miramax comedy "A View from the Top" as well as on the soundtrack released by Curb Records. Dale's drumming can also be heard in the Paramount movie and on the Virgin soundtrack "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days," starrring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.

In the past ten years, Dale has been privileged to lend his distinct drumming and percussion skills to an ever growing, diverse range of artists and songwriters, including Stewart Copeland (She’s All That movie soundtrack), Natalie Imbruglia (Demos), Jars of Clay (Demo), Michael W. Smith (Exodus compilation), Emmylou Harris (Roaring Lambs compilation), and The Rolling Creek Dippers (comprised of Buddy and Julie Miller, Mark Olsen, Victoria Williams, and Jim Lauderdale) for the compilation, Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons. He has recorded for labels such as Mammoth, Virgin, Almo Sounds, Elektra, Epic, Sony, RCA and played on jingles and commercial projects for Southwest Airlines, Pepsi, and Scholastic Books. He's also performed on numerous television and radio shows in the United States, Europe and Japan, including Late Show with David Letterman (CBS), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (NBC), Late Night with Conan O' Brien (NBC), and Top of the Pops (BBC).

Dale continues to lend his talent to many emerging and established regional singer/ songwriters such as Judd and Maggie (Maryland), Dave Potts (Southern Alabama), Steven Jackson (Middle Tennesee), Karl Ruch, Sam Hensley, Spencer-Acuff (North Carolina), Drew Kennedy (South Texas), Kim Taylor (Ohio/ Northern Kentucky) and The Basics (Northern California and North Carolina).

Currently you can hear Dale playing on new releases by Sixpence ("The Early Years," and "The Best of..."), on television commercials (Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo), television series such as 7^th Heaven (on the WB), touring with modern worship band Mali, recording with The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers and Daniel Hart’s (The Polyphonic Spree, Go Machine) new project, The Physics of Meaning. Additionally, Dale is continuing to produce and write songs for his own project, The Maudlin Fee.

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