Dirk Hamilton

Born in Indiana and raised in California, at age 14 Hamilton played in a surf band called The Regents. For a 45-rpm record they were about to make, the band needed a B-side, so Dirk whipped out “Truck” the night before the session. It was the first song he ever wrote and it stunk.“I began playing guitar and singing songs when I was 8 years old. I was writing stories and poems before that. I always thought of the two activities as completely different and separate — writing was ‘serious’, playing and singing was ‘fun’. Then I discovered Dylan and learned that songs could be just as deep as the best poetry. It was an epiphany! At that moment I knew what I wanted to do with my life.” Dirk wrote two more songs for another 45, this one under his own name, both for the IKON label in Sacramento. “These two were stinkers too but after what seemed like a real long time, I began writing good songs and realized I’d done it! I had enjoyed myself into a real songwriter poet!” By the early ’70s, he was playing in California nightclubs and eventually signed with ABC Records, thanks to Steely Dan producer Gary Katz, who produced his first album. Dirk went on to record 3 more major label records, another one for ABC (Alias i) and two for Elektra (Meet Me at the Crux and Thug of Love). He toured the country with his band for 5 years with great reviews but somehow never became a huge commercial success.

In the early ’80s, Dirk traded the record business for a seat at The Shamrock, a bar below a boxing gym in Stockton, California. He painted walls, worked security and became a counselor for emotionally disturbed teenagers. When he joined a cover band, he rediscovered his calling as a songwriter, quit his counseling job, began playing solo in coffee houses and clubs, and self-released a cassette of original songs called Big at the Blackwater. The cassette somehow made it’s way to Italy, where he was invited by Franco Ratti (president of Appaloosa records and CEO of International Record Distributers in Milan) to make records and tour in Europe. In the decades that followed, Dirk toured Europe and the US every year, playing solo and with bands, and released 14 more CDs on Appaloosa, Fan Club and Comet Records in Italy, also on CORE (Nashville) and his own Acoustic Rock Records in the US.
Dirk currently lives in New Mexico, still writing and performing. His latest CD is Apocalyptic Love songs.

Doors 7PM /  Show 7:30 / no opener

$20.00 – 100% of  proceeds go to the artist.

Presented in collaboration with The Kitchen Sink.