A veteran of the progressive roots music scene, Dustin Arbuckle (formerly of Moreland & Arbuckle) continues kicking up dust with Dustin Arbuckle & The Damnations. A musician of vast appetites, he’s long held an appreciation for traditional American music in the vein of Charley Patton as well as the cross-pollinated sounds of The Band or Stax-style soul. His work with The Damnations allows for that along with occasionally forays into deep country and even jazz.
The Kansas native marks hearing the Leadbelly classic “The Gallows Pole” as his earliest music memory, becoming an astute devotee of the blues by the time he’d reached his teens. He experienced a parallel upbringing with his musician father and singing from a very early age. He also followed his muse to play at 15 after hearing Elmore James and B.B. King, though the blues harp lessons would become his vocation.
Arbuckle, who also fronts the Kansas-based acoustic group Haymakers and is a frequent collaborator with multiple other Midwestern roots music acts, is working on the first full-length studio LP with The Damntations, after 2 EPs. Fans will hear an evolution in the new music with feet planted firmly in the world of roots music he’s known for.
