Press & Promotion




 
QUOTES & PRESS

 
 
"You guys rock!  Dakota Blonde is soulful, delicate, powerful, insightful... all that and more.  Trust real artists to be true to the song and leave the 'Flight of the Bumble-Bee' approach to everybody else at the fair.  Mary, Don & Tony wouldn't have a prayer on American Idol. Too musical."  
               
 -Michael Johnson (International recording artist, singer/songwriter, guitarist)
 
 

 
 
"There are not many writers whose music and presentation moves me these days.  We are inundated with country music that is trying hard to be rock-n-roll with a twang.  They beat us to death with loud guitars and meaningless lyrics...  Then there's Dakota Blonde.  A group performing well written songs and singing them with heart and soul.  There is both a simplicity and depth in Mary Huckins songs that most writers can only wish for...   She takes the hard road.  She lives, she listens and she observes, and then she writes about it.  Those of us who are lucky get to hear the songs.  We tell our friends and they tell their friends and good songs get heard.  A hard way to go but well worth it "   
        
- Pete Huttlinger, Instar Records, Nashville, TN
 
 
 

 
 
"Honest, warm, comfortable, fun and utterly unique.  Quite simply the best night of music we have ever experienced!"           

- Barrett Mountain Music, Taylorsville, NC
 
 
 

 
 
"Mary Huckins belts out songs, both originals and covers, with an achingly lovely voice. She's the Front Range's answer to Shawn Colvin and Nanci Griffith; part meadowlark, part church bell."

 -Colleen Smith, free-lance journalist, Denver Post, Denver, CO
 
 

 
 
"Big Mama don't ring that bell for just nobody!!!"   -Big Mama at Big Daddy's, Orlando, FL
 
 

 
 
"Dakota Blonde's carefully composed, clear and simple guitar licks, Mary Huckins' brilliant yet sweet voice and lyrics put a voice to my mountain soul I've not known since John Denver."          

 - Doug Kinzy, Publisher of The Colorado Serenity Magazine
 
 

 
 
"Dakota Blonde with Mary Huckins' distinctive voice is one of those discoveries that people will get excited about- all they have to do is listen."  

 -John McEuen, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,  The String Wizards
 
 

 
 
"I see a lot of performers, I produce a lot of shows, I direct a lot of actors, and what I cherish most is when the entertainer gets it.  As Stanislavski said... "Love the Art in yourself... not yourself in the Art."  And you all certainly do radiate a love for the privilege of being able to sing your songs and tell your stories... without taking yourselves 'in the art' too seriously.  It was a pleasure, and privilege, and a damn good time having all of you on our stage!  I hope it happens again very soon!"       
   
 - Rick Bernstein, Producer Miners Alley Playhouse Theater, Golden, CO
 

 
 
"Mary Huckins is one of the most unique vocalists in acoustic music, and one of the most endearing personalities.  Her beautiful voice and exceptional songs are part and parcel for the Denver-based acoustic trio, Dakota Blonde's popularity among Americana aficionados.  Drawing on her S.D. roots for inspiration, she sings of life and love in a beautifully singular manner."
 
- Jon Chandler, musician, songwriter, novelist, host of Amerca Soul Live
 
 

 
 
"Sweetest Acousic sound around!"   - KCUV Radio, Denver, CO
 
 

 
 
"Mary Huckins' voice is the closest distance between a voice and a heart."   

- Jim Ratts, Raven Recording Studio, Englewood, CO
 
 

 
 
"It was 1968 or so.  I was cruising the 'burbs of Washington, D.C. in my dad's Chrysler Newport when a fairly forgettable song came on the radio.  It was a cover of the Monkey's "Different Drum" by a group called the Stone Ponies.  Within about fifteen seconds of hearing that tune, a little voice inside announced to me that the girl singing that song was gonna be big... very, very big.  What a set of pipes!  The lead singer for the Stone Ponies was, of course, Linda Ronstadt.  It took some thirty years for me to get stopped in my tracks like that again (although my first listen to EmmyLou came close).  I was helping on the sound board at a show in Denver, CO when a trio called Dakota Blonde stepped up to the mics and blew me (and as near as I could tell, everyone else in the room) completely off their chairs!  It was the voice of Mary Huckins...  Mary has been blessed with a voice that could melt the chrome off a bumper, and she knows how to use it!  That one-in-a-million voice is so extraordinary that it would be easy to miss how much flat-out talent lies within the Dakota Blonde trio.  But make no mistake, Mary Huckins (vocal, guitar, keyboard), Don Pinnella (vocal and guitar) and Tony Raddell (acoustic bass and harmony vocal) inspire and play off one another with absolute synergy, good taste and pure vitality!"  

- John Wolfe, Power Pickin' Magazine/Publication,  CO
 
 
 

 
 
"Dakota Blonde's music is full of life and speaks right to the heart."   

- Michael Ronstadt  (The Santa Cruz River Band)
 
 

 
 
"Highly addictive and absolutely contagious!"   -Long-time Blonde-Head
 
 

 
 
"I always leave a Dakota Blonde concert feeling better about the world!"   -Colorado Blonde-Head
 

 
"YOU GUYS ROCK!"   -8 year old Blonde-Head