Dale Kardos is singer-songwriter-instrumentalist living in York, Pennsylvania. In 2019, he released his debut album, Songs for Janey. On Songs for Janey, Dale plays six and twelve string acoustic and electric guitars, dobro, pedal steel, banjo, bass, keyboards and percussion. With a few exceptions, all music was written, performed and recorded in his home studio in York. Songs for Janey was followed by the singles, Coffee, Gin, Women and Whiskey, Manitoba Line, the DMV, Girl Like You, and It’s Good to be Back Home.
More than you probably need to know…. I grew up in rural western Pennsylvania an hour east of Pittsburgh. I started taking guitar lessons when I was about 8. I studied classical guitar, bottleneck blues guitar, and ragtime for a number of years. My idols were guitarists like Leo Kottke and Rory Gallagher. When I was about 14, I formed the rock band Essex with my best friend and two other classmates and we played bars and biker weddings throughout high school (good clean fun). While in high school, I wrote some music and used what little money I had to rent time in a local studio with my fellow bandmate and drummer, Mike Krupa. Considering our little town of 4,000 people didn't have a whole lot, it was actually kind of crazy that we had a recording studio, but we did. We recorded three original songs (one jazz fusion piece, one rocker and one acoustic ballad). That experience left an indelible mark on me. I'll never forget seeing that studio for the first time (the mixing console, the 16 track Tascam reel-to-reel). Wow! During my junior year of high school, I saw an advertisement in the back of Guitar Player magazine for a recording institute in Grenwich Village. I talked to my parents about it, but they nixed the idea and instead suggested that I attend college and study electrical engineering. There, they said I would learn how to design recording equipment, not just use it. Sounded legit so I scrapped my plans of moving to NY and instead headed 45 minutes down the road to study electrons at the University of Pittsburgh's Johnstown campus (not exactly MIT but it was nearby and the best I could do). All went well there until I failed my Circuits 101 midterm. A week later I transferred into the mechanical engineering program and four years later I graduated from Pitt with a degree in mechanical engineering. After graduating from college, I got a job in Washington, DC. I bought used 4 track Tascam reel to reel recorder which I played around with a little before deciding to attend grad school. I met my first wife a few years after moving to DC and we got married and started a family not long thereafter. Over the next twenty years, I played a lot of guitar at home (mostly classical), but never got into song writing. In 2011, my wife and I separated and I moved into an apartment. It was during that somewhat lonely time that I returned to writing. I think the first song I wrote was about how much I missed my kids. I played that song for a friend who cried and told me I should spend more time writing music. Heeding her advice, I set out to write more songs. I struggled in the beginning coming up with things to write about, but when I met Marge in 2013, that problem was solved. The time we spent together, as well as the time we spent apart, provided some good subject material. In 2018, I finished recording my debut album, Songs for Janey. Released on March 22, 2019, Songs for Janey spans a number of genres (rock, country, folk, blues, and R&B). On the record, I sing and play six and twelve string acoustic and electric guitars, dobro, pedal steel, banjo, bass, keyboards and percussion. To hear music from Songs for Janey, please go to the MUSC & VIDEO page. Back to HOME |
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