Cover photo © 2026 Arnie Goodman
The term “Wild Card” is sometimes used to refer to a person who brings unexpected elements to every situation. That word seems like a perfect fit for guitarist/singer/songwriter and author/screenwriter/film director Jesse Dayton, who frequently surprises his fans with the diversity of his projects. Although he grew up listening to and playing a wide range of blues, zydeco and country music, he has always kept one foot in the blues. And Blues Blast Magazine had the opportunity to catch up with Jesse prior to his show at the Ramshead in Annapolis, MD, part of his tour with Tab Benoit.
Jesse grew up in Beaumont, Texas and played the drums at an early age, but like almost every other child he knew, he was required to take piano lessons and sing in church. It was later that he taught himself how to play guitar. As a teen, he was discovered by Clifford Antone, founder of the iconic Austin blues club (Antone’s). and mentor to such greats as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan and Kim Wilson. Antone could see that there was something special in Jesse.
“I was playing in a bar at the age of 15, and Clifford Antone came in with his bodyguard, ‘Sugarbear’. My brother told me to play ‘Matilda’ because that was his favorite song, so I did. After the set, he told me to come with him to his car, and he gave me some blues records: Slim Harpo, Lazy Lester, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Muddy Waters. He told me if I could learn those records, I could sit in with the house band at the club in Austin.”
In 1999, Clifford Antone was charged with 11 counts of drug trafficking and agreed to a plea bargain related to marijuana possession and money laundering for which he was given a four-year prison sentence. Jesse remembers going to the prison in Huntsville to visit him.
“I remember talking to Buddy Guy about this when I opened for him in Central Park. Buddy asked me if I knew Clifford and I told him I’d known him since I was a kid and knew about the pot he kept in the ceiling of the club, and that I had gone to see him in prison. I told Buddy that Clifford had said to me, ‘well you don’t think the blues paid for all of this shit, do you?’ Buddy then told me a story about when he and Junior Wells first played Antone’s. As they were being driven back to the airport they asked to be paid, and Clifford said, ‘there’s a paper bag in the back of the car—take as much as you want’. He said they looked and saw a paper bag full of hundred-dollar bills, and they were not shy about taking as much as they wanted. Clifford was selling pot on the side to keep the club going. The prison used to let him out on the weekends, and we’d go to blues clubs and ‘tittie’ bars in Houston. It’s funny, the way he got out of prison was that Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Thunderbirds and Willie Nelson played a show to fund raise to help build a wing of the prison.”
Jesse played with two rockabilly bands, The Road Kings and the Alamo Jets. He played on an album with The Road Kings in 1993 before releasing his own debut album, Raisin’ Cain. That became the first-ever Billboard Americana #1 album. In 1996 Jesse worked with superstars Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash on the album Right for the Time, and he performed with Lucinda Williams at Bill Clinton’s second inaugural ball in 1997. He recalled a funny story about recording with Jennings and Cash.
“One day I was sitting in the studio with Waylon and Johnny, and Waylon walks in says, ‘they want me to play with Lola Falana’ (Vegas singer/dancer). We were surprised to hear that, and he very defeatedly walked out. But about five minutes later his manager walks in and says, ‘did you hear the big news? Waylon’s going to play Lollapalooza!”
Since that collaboration, Jesse has released numerous albums that manage to successfully blend varying influences from outlaw country, blues and even punk rock. However, music is not Jesse’s only talent. After being commissioned by Rob Zombie to record an album for the fictional characters in the film The Devil’s Rejects, Jesse performed as part of the fictional band in Zombie’s movie, Halloween II. He noted that the guitar he uses most often (a black King double cutaway hollow body) was made specifically for him to play in his role as a vampire guitar player, with the intent to create “an evil-looking guitar”. Jesse later wrote and directed his own horror film, Zombex, starring Malcolm McDowell, Lew Temple and Sid Haig. He was asked how he made the transition from songwriting to writing a screenplay and directing.
“It’s all just storytelling, and I did two music videos with Rob Zombie, so that was like attending film school. He would tell me about what lens to use and about camera angles. I’ve actually written my third script. The second one didn’t get made but I did get an advance to write it. My most recent one is a western crime drama that takes place in Mexico. I will be directing that one too, and we should start filming next year. I’m really excited about directing films and I’m going to bring in all my friends for the soundtrack—the Headhunters, Tab (Benoit) and Samantha (Fish).”
Jesse also published his memoir, Beaumonster, and recorded himself narrating it for audio books.
“The book did well for me and it kept me in the public eye during COVID. At that time, I also had a radio show on iHeart radio, which also did well.”
In 2023, Jesse toured with Samantha Fish promoting their album, Death Wish Blues, which was nominated for a Grammy for best contemporary blues album. He has described her as being “Bonnie to my Clyde”.
“She is like family to me. I’m very lucky to know her and to work with her. Nobody I know works as hard as Samantha Fish. Samantha is more melodic with her guitar playing. I am a conversational guitar player, but I think I have more influences. I do different stuff, like during one lead I might play some jazz licks and some country chicken pickin’ in the middle of the lead instead of just doing the obvious blues pentatonic stuff. I also frequently play in a major scale. I’m just trying to make it more interesting for myself and others. Samantha has a really interesting approach to songwriting. She loves melody. She will call my phone and leave a voice mail of her singing a melody and then I would write the lyrics for that melody. It was fun. She would call me from hotel rooms all over the world and all those songs for the album were written together on Zoom. It was a shock to me that we were nominated for the Grammy. We were performing on the Big Easy Cruise at the time with no phone service, so we were the last ones to know. When we docked and got phone service I had about 150 text messages.”
The next year, Jesse released an album titled Hard Way Blues. As a gifted songwriter, his lyrics tell vivid stories that are easy to visualize. He has noted that his writing has been influenced by such authors as James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and Cormac McCarthy while his guitar playing has been influenced by such greats as Lightnin’ Hopkins, T-Bone Walker and Freddie King. He was asked about two songs in particular from the Hard Way Blues album: one about the Huntsville Prison Rodeo and one titled “Esther Pearl”.
“When we were kids we would go to the prison rodeo, where the inmates would ride. It was totally crazy-just wild! There was some pretty graphic violence at those rodeos. Esther Pearl was a story I made up. I heard so much about slaves escaping to Canada and wanted to write about that. I feel like the blues could use some better song lyrics. Sometimes it seems that a lot of the songs are a bit ‘paint by number’. The good thing about the Texas songwriter lineage is that we work a little bit harder on the lyrics.”
In the middle of his tour opening for Tab Benoit, Jesse raced to Nashville for one night so that he could play at the fundraiser at the Ryman in honor of Raul Malo, who was battling cancer. (Raul sadly recently passed away following that show.)
“It was beautiful and sad. The Ryman was sold out, and I saw so many old friends. I’ve been knowing Raul and the Mavericks since 1994. I was happy that I got to play with Jimmie Vaughan at the Ryman, and he couldn’t have been nicer. I’m such a huge fan of Jimmie Vaughan.”
Not one to stay put for even a minute, Jesse is about to perform with the third annual revival of The Road Kings and is also about to make a second album with The Texas Headhunters, a band he formed with old friends Ian Moore and Johnny Moeller. That band has been described as “an explosive band uniting three of the Lone Star State’s most respected guitar slingers”. Their self-titled first album earned high acclaim and demonstrated the magic that can occur when seasoned musicians/friends known for their authenticity get together for a project. The Headhunters have been touring some with Samantha Fish and are scheduled to perform at next year’s Big Blues Bender in Las Vegas. 2026 will be a big year for Jesse. In addition to the new film, the Headhunters album and tour and the Road Kings tour, he and Tab Benoit plan to collaborate on an album.
As the second night of performing at the Ramshead was about to begin, Jesse was asked if it would have made his life easier if he had focused on just one of his many talents or one sub-genre of American Roots music. But he made it clear that he would not have it any other way.
“I think if I would have stuck with the same thing, I could have been more famous, but my career is way more interesting this way. I’ve had the opportunity to play with a lot of people, and it’s been an amazing ride!”
You can find out more about this intriguing, versatile artist at www.jessedayton.com. And his memoir, Beaumonster, is available on Amazon.
