Jesse Dayton is an American musician, actor and record producer from

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

best known for his guitar contributions to albums by country musicians including Johnny Cash,

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

, and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

. He is also notable for his collaborations with horror film director Rob Zombie, who has commissioned Dayton on multiple occasions to record music to accompany his films.

Career

Dayton was born in Beaumont, Texas, where he was raised on the music of

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

, Hank Williams, and

Lefty Frizzell William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. Frizzell released many songs that charted ...

, all the while harboring an affinity for the spirit of punk with bands like

the Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

. After touring with two rockabilly bands, the Road Kings and the Alamo Jets, Dayton ventured off into solo territory, recording his Americana-chart-topping record ''Raisin' Cain''. With

Lucinda Williams Lucinda Gayle Williams (born January 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a solo guitarist. She recorded her first two albums: '' Ramblin' on My Mind'' (1979) and '' Happy Woman Blues'' (1980), in a traditional country and blues style ...

Dayton performed at

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

's second inaugural ball. Since then Dayton has released several different solo albums and worked with a variety of country rock artists, most notably

and Johnny Cash on ''Right for the Time'' (1996) after Jennings injured his picking thumb and required a guitar stand-in. Dayton also contributed guitarwork on albums by

the Supersuckers The Supersuckers are an American rock band, formed in 1988, whose music ranges from alternative rock to country rock to cowpunk. AllMusic describes the band as "the bastard sons of Foghat, AC/DC, and ZZ Top after being weaned on punk rock, una ...

and

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are " Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", " Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the ...

. In 2004, horror film director Rob Zombie commissioned Jesse Dayton to record an album for the fictional characters Banjo & Sullivan from his sophomore feature ''

The Devil's Rejects ''The Devil's Rejects'' is a 2005 black comedy horror film written, produced and directed by Rob Zombie, and is the second film in the ''Firefly'' film series, serving as a sequel to his 2003 film ''House of 1000 Corpses''. The film is centere ...

''. The resulting album was a collection of tongue-in-cheek honky-tonk country entitled '' Banjo & Sullivan: The Ultimate Collection''. In Zombie's '' Halloween II'', Dayton performs as the lead singer and guitarist of the fictional psychobilly band Captain Clegg & the Night Creatures. He released an album entitled ''Rob Zombie presents Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures'' on August 28, same day as the film ''Halloween II'' premiered. Following this, Jesse Dayton wrote and directed the 2013 horror film ''Zombex'', starring

Malcolm McDowell Malcolm McDowell (born Malcolm John Taylor; 13 June 1943) is a British actor, producer, and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Alex DeLarge in ''A Clockwork Orange.'' He was born in the Horsforth suburb of Leeds and raised i ...

Lew Temple Lew Temple (born October 2, 1967) is an American actor, known for his roles as Locus Fender in the action film, '' Domino'', Cal, the diner manager in the comedy-drama '' Waitress'', and Axel in the third season of '' The Walking Dead''. Early ...

and Sid Haig. In 2014 he toured with

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

both as the opening act and a member of Doe's backing band. In 2015 Dayton played guitar in the band X on their US tour, filling in for

Billy Zoom Billy Zoom (born Stuart Tyson Kindell; February 20, 1948) is an American guitarist, best known as one of the founders of the punk rock band X. At 68 years old, Zoom was diagnosed in 2015 with an aggressive form of bladder cancer and began imme ...

who had been diagnosed with cancer. In 2016 he again toured with John Doe as well being the opener on the Supersuckers European and US tours. On September 16, 2016, he released his ninth album titled ''The Revealer'' on his Hardcharger Records imprint through

Blue Élan Records Blue Élan Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded by entertainment and insurance lawyer Kirk Pasich, and his son, musician Connor Pasich, in 2014. Stylistically, the label's releases cover Alt ...

. This was followed by ''The Outsider'' in 2018. 2019 saw the release of a live album, ''On Fire in Nashville'', and ''Mixtape Volume 1'', a collection of covers. In 2020, Dayton released the ''Gulf Coast Sessions'' EP, as well as ''Texas '45 RPM Showdown'', a limited 7 inch vinyl made in conjunction with

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

. On October 30 & 31, 2021, Jesse played guitar at the Danzig Sings Elvis shows (along with Glenn Danzig-vocals, Steve Zing-drums, and Ronnie King- piano) at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel in Los Angeles, California.

Discography

Albums

* ''Raisin' Cain'' (1995) * ''Tall Texas Tales'' (2000) * ''Hey Nashvegas'' (2001) * ''Country Soul Brother'' (2004) * '' Banjo & Sullivan: The Ultimate Collection'' (2005; with

, as Banjo and Sullivan) * ''South Austin Sessions'' (2006) * ''Holdin' Our Own'' (2007) * ''Captain Clegg and the Nightcreatures'' (2009; as Captain Clegg and the Nightcreatures) * ''One for the Dance Halls'' (2010) * ''Jesse Sings Kinky'' (2012) * ''The Revealer'' (2016) * ''The Outsider'' (2018) * ''On Fire in Nashville'' (2019) * ''Mixtape Vol. 1'' (2019) *''Gulf Coast Sessions'' (2020) *''Texas '45 RPM Showdown''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dayton, Jesse American male guitarists Living people American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Musicians from Austin, Texas Guitarists from Texas Singer-songwriters from Texas Country musicians from Texas American rockabilly guitarists Year of birth missing (living people)