My name is Jim Dolan. I am a Father, singer songwriter, Business executive, professional sports team owner. There are many misconceptions about me. I am not going to attempt to clear those up. Instead I am going to write about the music that my band and I make. Each of my bandmates is a professional musician. They have dedicated their lives to making music. I on the other hand have had many other endeavors that I have pursued. My first real effort as teenager was playing guitar. I have always loved music and it has always been a part of my life. The first version of “ JD and the Straight Shot” was formed in 2001. We were pretty bad. The band was made up almost entirely of people I worked with. We played mostly cover songs. Still, the fun of making music with others was there. I got bitten again by the music bug. Since that time I have tried to become a better musician every day. I have been studying with a great voice coach for 13 years and am constantly working to improve as a lyricist.
As I said, my bandmates are all professional musicians. So making music with them can be daunting sometimes. They are very skilled in their craft. Together we are a band. We travel together, share our personal thoughts and are all striving to create and perform the best music we can. We are friends. I hope we always will be.
We are currently in the studio working on a new album. The first track (I should’ve known) has already been released. Writing a song can be an agonizing task. Struggling to make the words convey the meaning you want while fitting them into meter and melody is not always easy. Then there are the rhymes . All of our songs convey meaning and often tell a story. It is not just the words but the feel and tone of the music. Hopefully they all come together to evoke emotion in the listeners heart. That is when music is filling its purpose. To be the language of the soul.
