It was great seeing Jeff Dayton last Tuesday night.
I had just walked through the front door of the Presbyterian Church when I suddenly got engulfed in a big hug from the country singer.
“Alan, I was hoping you would be here,” he said. “We have lots of memories together.” He couldn’t believe that I was now retired, and Brent was running the paper.
“I remember when he was about nine years old and he took guitar lessons from me,” Jeff said.
“He’s now 43,” I said. Jeff just shook his head and said, “Where has the time gone?”
Jeff was in town for a concert as part of the Pat Covault Memorial Concert Series at the Fountain Hills Presbyterian Church. He does a show which is a “Tribute to Glen Campbell.” If there was anybody who could do such a tribute, it is Jeff Dayton. He was the country music legend’s bandleader, main guitarist and right-hand man for 15 years of shows and tours.
The tribute was filled with a majority of Campbell’s hit songs including “Wichita Lineman,” “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “Gentle on My Mind” and “By the Time I get to Phoenix.”
Mixed in were first-person stories and jokes played on each other during their years together.
Campbell died of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2017.
Dayton moved to Fountain Hills in 1979 from his native Minnesota. Upon moving here, he met fiddler Ron Privett. They formed the Dayton-Privett Band, playing at local bars and restaurants.
But like many bands they had a difference in opinion of where the band would be heading.
They parted ways, and Jeff formed High Noon and later the Jeff Dayton Band.
His bands were familiar and popular entertainment at the Great Fairs, Fountain Festivals, two White Castle Days and other events in the 1980s. They were the lead-in group for the Gatlin Brothers band when it played at a 1 989 concert in Fountain Park that drew some 175,000 people.
The Jeff Dayton Band was proving popular outside of Fountain Hills. It won every possible award the state had to offer, including the Wrangler Country Showdown, the Marlboro Talent Roundup and the New Times’ Best of the Decade’s Best Award.
In addition to his time with Campbell, he played guitar for two years with singer Lee Greenwood (“God Bless the U.S.A.”) and toured with country star Kenny Chesney.
He is once again living in Nashville, does some songwriting and some performing. While he was living in Hawaii, he had several appearances on the CBS program, “Hawaii 5-0.”
I asked him one last question when we talked.
“I heard a rumor that you are going to retire later this year.”
”Why would I do that?” he replied.
“Where else could I have this much fun?”
And when Jeff Dayton comes to town, the audience has fun, too. He got two standing ovations in his most recent appearance in his hometown of Fountain Hills.
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I want to congratulate my son, Brent, upon his nomination for the Chamber’s Young Professional of the Year award.
He assumed the role of publisher upon my retirement, the first of last year.
Chamber members will vote to decide the winner of the award. The other nominees are Sharron Grzybowski of Scentzy Sharron and Jarrod Stearnes of Thrivent Financial.
Voting deadline is March 25. The winner will be announced at the Chamber Gala on Friday, April 26.
I’m proud of the way you are doing your job, Brent, and I constantly get similar comments from our readers.
