Paul Dakota

In 1990, Paul started busking the streets of downtown Toronto with partner Greg McConnell as the Dakotas. After selling over 1,000 independent cassettes playing in the city’s subway system and on Queen Street West, the duo founded a full band, the country-pop outfit Lost Dakotas. The band showcased at the CMJ festival (New York, 1992) and the SXSW festival (Texas, 1993). The Lost Dakotas played several national folk festivals while on tour, including the Edmonton Folk Festival and the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Along the way, Lost Dakotas shared the stage with The Band, Tea Party, Spirit of the West, Barenaked Ladies and Mary Margaret O’Hara among others. The band also took part in the Kumbaya benefit concerts held at Ontario Place two years running (in 1992 and 1993). They released two albums: Last Train to Kipling in 1991 and Sun Machine in 1993, both distributed by Universal and selling more than 15,000 copies. Lost Dakotas crossed Canada several times on tour before their breakup in 1995. The band—and more specifically, the songs—garnered the interest of Sire Records label head Seymour Stein. Paul is also currently working on writing songs for a solo project, composing on guitar and piano. Several of his recent compositions (one is ‘Stars’) are being considered for inclusion on an Emmylou Harris album. Recently Paul received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council.