Jessica Stölen
Editor
jstolen-jacobson@cherryroad.com
On Friday evening, Kayla Daniels, of Tracy will be taking the stage at Bluenose Gopher Public House for a performance from 7-9 p.m. with no cover charge.
Daniels began singing at a very young age. “My mom showed me my baby book one day and it said in there that I was humming myself to sleep at seven and a half months old,” Daniels says. “Some of my very first memories of music were when I would force my family to listen to my ‘concerts’ and find any kind of platform I could find to sing to them from.” Her first public performances began when she was around five years old, participating in talent shows, singing the National Anthem at rodeos and ball games, and singing with her older brothers at county fairs. Daniels has been performing music for 28 years, with plans to continue. “I look back at how it all started to where I am now and I feel like 10-year-old Kayla would be pretty stoked to see all of the things she’s done. I have sung as far West as Montana, to Tennessee, to Alabama, to Ohio and Michigan and many places in between,” she says.
She grew up in Tracy, her father having spent time in his career as a Yellow Medicine County police deputy, and her mother having gone to college in Granite Falls. After moving around the country, Daniels has settled in a home in Tracy that she purchased just two blocks from where she grew up.
Daniels writes her own music but also performs a lot of covers. “Usually my mood drives what I write about,” she says. “I write my best songs when I’m sad or angry.”
Her sound can best be described as a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. “I don’t typically like to try to compare myself to other artists, because I really try to think of myself as my own artist, but I’ve been compared to Miranda Lambert, Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt, and Linda Perry [of Four Non-Blondes] in the past. I’m kind of all over, but I also try to keep my shows interesting,” Daniels says.
With a lot to be proud of in her musical journey, one thing Daniels is most proud of is having chased her dream all the way to Nashville. “I moved across the country with just me and my dog, and didn’t know a soul when I got there. I lived there for four years and feel like I actually made my mark on the town, which not many that come and go get to say,” she says. “But, as much as I loved singing every day and really getting to do what I loved for a living, the big city life just wasn’t for me and I missed my small town roots. I really stayed true to who I am and that alone is something I am proud of. A town like that can swallow someone whole, but still, whenever I go to visit there’s always a few places that I still get called up on stage to play because someone recognizes me even after years have passed. The last time I was there, someone I didn’t even know recognized me in the crowd and requested I come up and play my original song ‘Bus Ride to Heaven’. That’s a pretty cool high that’s hard to come down from.”
On Saturday evening, Slayton area musician Tony Moger is also providing the community with live music at Bluenose Gopher Public House from 7-9 p.m. There is no cover charge for Moger’s performance.
