Skylark Soul Co., the Dallas-based record label co-founded by Jeff “Skin” Wade and Josey Records’ Luke Sardello, is as much a sensibility as an imprint.
“Yeah, I agree,” said Danny Balis during a recent conversation. The Dallas musician and producer would know — a great many of the projects he’s lately participated in, not least of which was the late, great Bastards of Soul and the phenomenally funky Silver Skylarks, have found a home on Skylark Soul Co.
“With the stuff that I write, for the most part, I’m always thinking, ‘Will this fit?’” Balis said. “I think that’s kind of what the Skylark Soul Co. catalog is about — we’re drawing on influences from the past, but … some of the other labels out there want to blur those lines to where you can’t tell — when was this [recorded]?”
That blurry boundary between then and now — a modern perspective on familiar, perhaps slightly old-fashioned sounds — will be on full display June 28, during a Skylark Soul Co. showcase at the Kessler Theater.
The evening will feature performances from labelmates Paul Schalda and Michael Lee & the Wartime Limousine, as well as a DJ set from Sardello, and a Josey Records pop-up shop featuring, two months ahead of its official release, vinyl copies of Gracelandia, the debut album from Balis’ latest side project, the evocatively titled Sir Daniel Esquire.
“I was messing around with kind of bending that mid-century genre of [exotica popularized by] Les Baxter and Martin Denny, some of the Frank Sinatra croonery type of Mad Men stuff,” Balis said. “I sent it to Luke Sardello … I knew from his taste, he was into that kind of stuff. He said, ‘Dude, let’s drop this as a single as-is.’”
From there, Balis went on a tear, turning out nine originals, and a cover of Chet Baker’s rendition of “I Fall in Love Too Easily,” and enlisting contributions from artists like pianist Mike Finkel, saxophonist Jason Davis and guitarist Nick Earl.
“I always want this stuff to sound current and use elements of the past,” Balis said. “I have no interest in re-recording an era at all. It’s been done … but I think there are ways there that you can use some of the sounds and sonics and textures to create something that might be fresh.”
Gracelandia will officially be released in late August, and the staggeringly prolific Balis isn’t taking a break. New music from Silver Skylarks recently dropped — perhaps you heard last month on the KXT Homegrown Music Show? — as work continues on the follow-up to The Number One Set and Sound, and there’s also a project, Dorrington Drive, in the works, which Balis characterizes as “harder funk, rare groove fusion-type stuff.”
“I think it’s cool to have multiple landing spots for this stuff,” Balis said. “I’m not just dialed into one specific sound. Not everything has to be a fusion song from the mid- ‘70s. I want to work a broader range.”
Thanks to the adventurous taste and enduring vision of Skylark Soul Co., Balis and other musicians of similar impulse have that opportunity.
Skylark Soul Co. Showcase at Kessler Theater, Dallas. 8 p.m. June 28. Tickets are $28-$428.
Preston Jones is a North Texas freelance writer and regular contributor to KXT. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky (@prestonjones.bsky.social).Our work is made possible by our generous, music-loving members. If you like how we lift up local music, consider becoming a KXT sustaining member right here.
