His roots run deep in Arizona, and so does the work ethic that seems to find its way into just about every part of his life.
When he isn’t behind a microphone, Dakoda wears more hats than most people could keep track of. He has spent much of his adult life working as a diesel mechanic on semitrucks and heavy equipment, is an experienced welder and fabricator, enjoys building custom Harley-Davidsons and currently helps run an irrigation company with his father-in-law.
And somehow, that still isn’t the whole list.
Dakoda also serves as a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve, working in an engineer company as a 12W specializing in carpentry and masonry.
But at the center of everything is family. Dakoda and his wife, Rachel, are raising their young son, Easton, and preparing to welcome a baby girl in January. Rachel has been one of Dakoda’s biggest supporters throughout his music journey, helping make it possible for him to continue chasing something that started almost completely by accident.
Every artist has a beginning. Dakoda’s just happens to involve detailing cars, a forgotten gift card and a ukulele.
While working around dealerships in high school, Dakoda was cleaning a trade-in when he discovered a Guitar Center gift card underneath one of the seats. He was told he could keep it since everyone assumed there probably wasn’t anything left on it.
There was.
Fifty dollars.
That wasn’t enough for the guitar he might have imagined bringing home, but it was enough for a ukulele.
Dakoda started learning chords, singing along and discovered that making music came naturally to him.
Then, about a year later, another unexpected opportunity arrived. His grandmother had a guitar she had purchased for the grandkids that nobody else wanted. Dakoda took it home.
That guitar changed everything.
What began around campfires eventually became live performances, regular gigs and a growing connection with the people who kept coming back to hear him play.
Years later, those relationships are still one of his favorite parts of performing. Familiar faces in the crowd, people who follow him from show to show and the energy that happens when an audience is completely locked into the music are what continue to make performing feel like something much bigger than a job.
Dakoda’s musical foundation was shaped heavily by what his parents played while he was growing up.
There was plenty of classic rock — Led Zeppelin, The Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd — mixed with generations of country music from artists like Marty Robbins, George Strait, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and David Allan Coe.
That combination is still easy to hear in the kind of artist Dakoda has become.
At his core, he is a country musician with a deep appreciation for songs that actually say something. He gravitates toward honky-tonk, traditional country and music with strong storytelling, but he isn’t afraid to throw something unexpected into a set either.
You might hear classic country one minute and 4 Non Blondes' “What’s Up?” the next.
For Dakoda, the genre matters less than whether the song connects.
One of the most telling things about Dakoda as a performer may be his approach to the nights that aren’t packed.
Every working musician knows them.
The quiet bar. The small crowd. The night when it feels like the bartender may be your most attentive audience member.
Dakoda has had those nights, and he considers them an important part of becoming the performer he is today.
Whether there are five people watching or a packed room singing along, his approach is the same: play like the place is sold out.
Those quieter shows taught him how to stay composed, remain humble, connect with whoever is listening and give the performance everything he has regardless of the crowd size.
They also make the great nights that much sweeter.
When the dance floor is full, the crowd is singing and the entire room is moving together, Dakoda knows exactly why he keeps doing it.
Performing someone else's song can be fun.
Performing your own is different.
For Dakoda, songwriting means putting pieces of yourself in front of an audience, and that vulnerability hasn't always come easily.
Some of his originals lean toward cowboy poetry. Others preserve specific places, moments and chapters from his life. Each one becomes another page in a story that belongs completely to him.
He describes performing original music as something close to reading your diary out loud.
That vulnerability, though, is also what makes original music powerful.
Dakoda is currently working toward getting into the studio to record several of those songs, with hopes of beginning that next chapter around the new year.
As Arizona's country music community continues to grow, Dakoda knows what he hopes to contribute to it.
He wants to help keep traditional country — including its musicianship and instrumental roots — alive.
While he enjoys some of today's artists, including Cody Johnson, Zach Top and Ryan Bingham, his heart continues to pull him toward the country music that came before.
In Dakoda's perfect world, there would simply be more “new old music.”
Not music trying to recreate the past, but new songs that still carry the storytelling, musicianship and character that made generations of country music resonate in the first place.
That philosophy carries directly into his live shows.
Dakoda wants people to feel something.
Maybe a song brings back a memory. Maybe it makes someone laugh. Maybe it hits a little harder than expected. Or maybe it simply gets them out of their chair and onto the dance floor.
Whatever the emotion, connection is the goal.
And one of his favorite compliments comes from someone who walks into a show claiming they don't even like country music — then stays until the end because they enjoyed the energy, atmosphere and variety.
That's a win.
Ask Dakoda what life looks like right now and the answer is pretty simple:
Grind. Grind. Grind.
Between work, military service, music, marriage, fatherhood and another baby on the way, slowing down doesn't seem to be on the schedule.
Then again, Dakoda doesn't seem particularly interested in slowing down.
If this chapter of his life had its own country song title, he already knows exactly what it would be:
Because apparently nothing makes the years move faster than paying bills, raising babies...and having another one on the way.
Dakoda Wylie Crockett represents so much of what makes Arizona's country music community special — a working musician balancing real life, family, service and a love for the music while continuing to show up, plug in and give every crowd everything he's got.
We're excited to have Dakoda Crockett as part of the AZ Desert Country Music Association and proud to feature him as this week's AZDCMA Artist of the Week.
Be sure to catch Dakoda at an upcoming show, follow along with what's next and keep an ear out for the original music he hopes to bring to the studio soon.
Because something tells us “Bills and Babies” might actually make a pretty good country song.
