Local musician and songwriter Dale Kidd passed away on Saturday 12.12.09 after a month long battle with the H1N1 virus and asthma. As a southern Wisconsin native, Dale knew just about everyone who was anyone in the regional music community. He had a generous smile, a patient ear, and, hands down, the best laugh on the planet.
Dale was a friend to me through the early days of the Madison Songwriter’s Group, days in dusty apartments, dark basements and other borrowed spaces – anyplace that would hold a dozen people or less and be tolerant of loud acoustic music. I never did write any songs with Dale but he worked with several songwriter friends of mine, most recently Andrew Nath in the acoustic R&B duo The Hang Loueys (also known as White Dynamite!). If you had the chance to see them, you know how good they had become and how much Dale truly, thoroughly, enjoyed sharing his talent with Andy on stage.
Over the years Dale played in the acoustic duo Kydd & Byrd, the rock band Coffee and Alcohol, The Skates, the Dale Savage Band and many others. He traveled the world and had many great stories to tell. But he always loved and returned to his hometown(s) of Richland Center, Madison, and Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin. Dale worked for the Safety division at UW-Madison. It wasn’t uncommon for him to slip away during a lunch break into a room stocked with rows of fire extinguishers and pull out his guitar. I joined him there just once but his spirit of encouraging collaboration is an inspiration I share with many.
Our mutual songwriter friend Aaron Nathans recently shared a story via email about spending time with Dale in that room as well:
“We gathered after work in the sterile back room of the Safety building at UW where he worked, amid dozens of fire extinguishers and steel stools scraping against a concrete floor. One night around Valentine's Day he asked me to pick up a few boxes of candy hearts and we spilled them on a table, read the messages out loud and used them to write a song while we gobbled them down.”
Aaron went on to write:
“For a guy that didn't crave attention and always gave credit to someone else, he made an immense impact on my life. Before our current president, Dale was all about "Yes you can." He gave me the confidence to be a songwriter, to keep going, pushing my limits. But more than our collaborations, he was a buddy, and I will miss him more than I can say. Our circle of friends in Madison will always be incomplete, but warmed forever by his memory. The sum of our parts will live on in our songs. Yet there will always be a Dale-sized hole in my heart.”
I include this last quote because I think it touches on what a lot of us are feeling. Dale was probably like a brother to many of the veteran regional musicians but to a group of us “younger” songwriters, he was like a favorite uncle who encouraged and cheered our many various artistic and life pursuits.
Whether or not you knew Dale, rest assured he’s now in a better place. Heaven, if you believe in that sort of thing, has a new house guitarist. It’s hard to sum up a man’s life in just a few words so I encourage readers to also look and listen. Visit www.dalekidd.com for some of Dale’s music, photos, and to read some touching sentiments written by friends far and near. Goodbye Dale, and Rest in Peace. You will be greatly missed.
