Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine Dines.
Hi Katherine, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My maternal grandmother was a violinist in the Colorado Springs Symphony, and parents first met as musical partners in HMS Pinafore when they were in high school. Hopefully a bit of their DNAs passed onto me. My mother once said that I sang goo-goo-ga-ga ditties for hours while bumping back and forth on a wooden rocking horse and that it drove her absolutely nuts. When I turned five, my dad taught me to play “Chopsticks” on the piano and I must have made driven him and my siblings nuts too, while pounding out 10 different versions over and over again. In the 50’s, Dad shook the house every morning with Tennessee Ernie Ford, Barbershop Quartets or scratchy records being played full-volume on an old Victrola. We took car trips together and sang all the way. Often, my parents wrote new lyrics to traditional melodies everyone knew to celebrate their friends’ special occasions. I remember Mom singing “The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night” and “I Ride an Old Paint” with her guitar for one of our school assemblies. Maybe I was in the 3rd grade? Soon after that, she lost the nerve in her left arm due to a bout with cancer, and couldn’t play her guitar, so it ended up in my hands, but the neck was so skinny my fat little fingers couldn’t play it easily. We were lucky to be able to afford piano lessons so I ended up with a woman who had terrible breath, and whose long red fingernails constantly tapped the keys. Luckily I played by ear, so our lessons zoomed by. I loved playing but still don’t read music very well.
When I was 16, my dad took introduced me to Harry Tuft, owner of the Denver Folklore Center. Dad loaned me the money and Harry took it plus my Mom’s guitar in trade for a beautiful 0-28 Martin with a thicker neck which I loved. It took three summers of babysitting and yard work to pay my Dad back for it. Our front porch was just right for summertime concerts, so a few of us would gather there to play music. It never once crossed my mind to learn other people’s songs. I just started making up my own, then met my first love that same year– a “bad boy” who played in a Rock and Roll band. We started a folksy foursome and played during the breaks at his rock concerts and at a few weddings and events.
I soon discovered Joni Mitchell and emulated her vocals and played with different guitar tunings. In college, I met three amazing guitar players and we nailed every single song Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young did. Our dorm room and campus loved it.
After graduating, I spent 6 months driving up to, hiking in and exploring Alaska, and writing many songs.
After returning to Denver my first real job was in a museum and every day at lunch I would sneak into the auditorium and write, play or practice the songs I was writing. My parents didn’t want me to get into “show business” so weren’t very supportive. Plus they believed that whatever you loved shouldn’t be a chosen career, and even though Up With People asked me to join them, I decided I didn’t want to perform. But I kept going, playing open mic nights, coffee houses and clubs and started entering and making a few waves in competitions. I won the Kerrville Folk Festival, and received several Honorable Mentions here and there. Yet no one in my circle knew how to be a songwriter— which was all I wanted to do– so the guitar went into a closet and I went on with my life.
After marrying a man I worked with and leaving the museum, my husband encouraged me to follow my dream, as did John Braheny, founder of Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase (LASS), who wrote copious personal notes on every single lyric and lead sheet I sent. I was hooked on writing songs for the Pop market, but still didn’t have a clue as to what to do. While attending one of the LASS events, I met Marv Mattis, Vice President of BMI in LA, and we became friends. He encouraged me to build a music scene in and around Denver including the front range—like South By Southwest. So I voluntarily founded and named it “Rocky Mountain Music Association.” I did everything as the founder/director–appointed a board from every aspect of the business, plus a number of pro musicians. We held monthly meetings, had over 500 members, a newsletter, an office, brought in pros from the industry and from the 3 coasts (Nashville included) to give workshops, hosted an event called MusicFest where different acts were showcased. And during one MusicFest, three bands were signed. Todd and The Big Head Monsters, The Fluid, and a songwriter. It was happening.
My husband encouraged me to take annual trips to Nashville, so for four years I drove and spent a month there then would meet up with him at his family farm in Evansville, Indiana for Thanksgiving. I had struggled with ovarian cysts and ended up having to have a total hysterectomy when I was 27. It was pretty difficult. Then during one of my visits in 1987, I met Aaron Brown, a publisher, who asked if I would write lullabies. They came pouring out, and two were published on the album “A Child’s Gift of Lullabies.” That album was nominated for a Grammy and is also a Platinum-selling album. I loved being able to find it in Walmart, Target and other big box stores. Plus it was incredible to hear your songs recorded by another person and in 6 different languages! I was getting great royalties too– Meanwhile, a representative from ASCAP had heard my lullabies and asked if I would write children’s songs for a Dollywood production. I had no idea what children’s music was so I started riding around town with friends who were carpooling their children and hanging out at playgrounds just watching and listening to their conversations. It was so inspired! Twelve songs were born in just a few sittings. Soon that was ALL I wanted to do, so I made my first record at ATM Studios with Producer/musician Dick Weissman (Journeymen), in Denver. I did NOT want to perform. However, my sister’s best friend begged me to play at a birthday party and bought 42 cassette tapes as party favors. People LOVED the songs and soon I was traveling all over the place.
After divorcing I decided to forget music all together and travel globally for 6 months. After returning, I sold my house and rented a place before buying a loft in downtown Denver. Instead, the contract fell through. My housemate applied for a job in Nashville as an art director, and got it, so turned to me one night and said, “Dines, when are you gonna follow your heart? I will move you to Nashville! You need to be a songwriter!” Off I went. I immediately found a place to live, as well as a job working at Nashville Songwriter’s Association International as a receptionist. I personally met everyone in Nashville from WannaBee’s just starting out to the greats of their times: Willie Nelson, Emmy Lou Harris, Dolly Parton, and every songwriter/producer, engineer, etc. It was an incredible gift to be there in a community of songwriters! I kept writing country and pop songs and had a few songs published and placed “on hold.” But it never felt as good as writing songs for children. After starting the affiliate program for NSAI around the country. I resigned in order to focus on my career as a children’s performer. I really was clueless about it, but kept writing; teaching music and songwriting as Wolf Trap artist and in schools; took every gig I could—paid or not– doing store openings (Zany Brainy, Pottery Barn), presenting at educational and library conferences, festivals, fairs, children’s hospitals, malls, the International Toy Fair, Book conferences, corporate events… you name it. I did it.
Luckily, I trademarked “Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta” after overhearing someone getting a hair cut in a stall next to mine say, “Hey—have you heard that new album for kids called “Hunk-Ta-Bunk or something?” Securing that trademark allowed me to win a judgement against ToysRUS in 2014, who sold thousands of hideous stuffed animals under my brand. After the third album, I had three opportunities to sign with labels—The Turner Network, Warner Brothers and Liberty (a division of Capital). No one had a clue as to how to market music for children—so why would l sign my life away? So I focused on performing full time, presenting at educational conferences, and making more albums. The third album, Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta BED was co-written with someone I never met in person. Bonnie Nichols. She was one of the other writers on Child’s Gift of Lullabyes. I just kept writing, performing and touring nationally and internationally. In 2000, I was asked to tour with the US Department of Defense and perform for military families.
Soon I realized I could live anywhere and do my work and decided to move back to Denver to be closer to my family. Here, I re-married, and continue to write, record, produce and perform. As of June 28, Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta will be my 13th album in the Hunk-Ta-Bunk-Ta series, and I continue to write, record, teach, perform and present workshops and keynotes. I am a judge for the International Songwriting Contest and have been a member, board member, co-president and advisory board chair of the Children’s Music Network, and District Advocate for the recording Academy.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
For me it has been relatively smooth. Some of the struggles along the way have been:
Parents that tried to steer you away from your chosen profession because they didn’t understand it.
Having the music industry and technology change so much so quickly.
Cell phones– both a convenience and distraction/disengagement.
Trying to keep afloat during the Pandemic.
Children growing up so quickly. You are always reinventing… and there is so much competition with other activities
The cost and complexity of travel.
Budgets cuts for children in schools and venues
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am first and foremost a songwriter as well as someone who has an ability to connect with children.
I specialize in writing songs that are global in intention, fun and educational at the same time and full of movement.
I am known for memorable melodies with singable lyrics.
I almost proud of meeting children on their terms and my sensitivity and ability to communicate.
People say that what sets me apart is my personal engagement with my audiences and ease of movement. I try to play “with them” as opposed to “at them.”
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I wish I had had more focus and tenacity and that I had started my career sooner.
My best advice is to get out and about as much as you possibly can. Join groups that are aligned with your goals. Travel, and stay current. Everything changes. Never turn down an opportunity– even if it doesn’t seem like an opportunity. Be and stay kind. You never know who you are speaking with or sitting next to. Anyone can help you grow, learn and succeed. Remember and honor those in your past– your family and friends and anyone who helped you along the way. Also remember that life and luck happen and if and when it does or doesn’t to you, keep doing what you love. Don’t stop or give up.
Pricing:
- $15 on my website which includes shipping and handling
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hunktabunkta.com
- Instagram: @hunktabunkta
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HunktabunktaMusic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-dines-0480148/
- Twitter: kdines
- Youtube: katherinedines
- soundcloud: soundcloud/katherine-dines
Image Credits
Katy Tartakoff
