ACM@UCO Presents...Tara Dillard

            Students at the Academy of Contemporary Music at The University of Central Oklahoma are taking their education outside of the classroom and bestowing their talents in the new ACM@UCO Performance Lab in downtown Oklahoma City. The two-month-old venue hosted the California-based band Local Natives as their first non-student headliner on October 5^th.  But the Performance Lab host weekly shows by students at no cost and ACM student Tara Dillard and her band were eager to show off their talent.

            Dillard is a musical theatre turned vocal performance major that is trying to find her place in the music world that she knows she belongs in.

            “I’ve been singing my whole life,” said Dillard. “I don’t think I can really tell you when I started. I think it has just always been there. I’ve never known myself not being able to sing or not singing period.”

Dillard playing the keyboard to a Sara Bareilles cover. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

            As a kid, Dillard let her imagination run wild with future career options, including a ballerina, firefighter and CIA agent, but Dillard knew “there wasn’t really another option. [She] never really wanted anything else.” Dillard has played several shows at the Picasso Café in Oklahoma City and has been asked to return to perform with her band at the Performance Lab. But for every artist, there is always a night that seems to stick out.

            “We played at Nona’s bar last semester and they have a patio on the top floor of it and I really loved being out there,” said Dillard. “It was outside, it was at night, we had the cityscape behind us, and I had my band up there in the corner of it. It had a really cool mood to it and that was actually the first time we played outside of school together so for me that was just a really cool experience to share with them.”

            The band behind the talented Oklahoma-native beauty includes Gabe Nightengale, Dane Alexander, Brett Alexander and Earl Moreno. All of the guys, except for Moreno, were originally paired with Dillard at ACM and eventually they began playing shows as a band outside of the school. Dillard claims that the group’s diversity is what makes them stand out among the other student groups.

            “I would say that we are just all so different and I think we all have been such hard workers,” said Dillard. “These boys have busted their tails for me with practicing with me, collaborating with me, and I think we are all just really driven. I asked them to play and they were just like “Yeah, sure we’ll do it, that’d be great!” and we all have really different personalities but its funny how well we work together.”

Dillard opening the show with a Rilo Kiley song. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

            Despite the group’s effortless cohesion, Dillard and her band struggle to put a label on their style of music.

            “People ask how we would describe our style of music all of the time and it is still hard for me to answer,” said Dillard. “When you write music, it is hard to explain what it sounds like. But our music is obviously really piano-based, singer-songwriter driven, and I guess it’s fairly mainstream. I am still finding my niche and that will come with more songwriting when I find what I am good at and the traits that a lot of my songs have. Maybe Ill know better myself after that because I don’t really know right now, I am still figuring it out. You guys tell me!”

            On October 29, Dillard will be back at the Picasso Café in Oklahoma City performing alone with her keyboard. For upcoming shows and her latest posts, check out www.taradillardmusic.com.

Dillard getting into an original song inspired by her brother. PHOTO: Courtney Goforth

Listen to some of my interview with Tara answering questions about singing and why she decided to stick with it.


Check out a clip of Tara singing her rendition of "Bluebird" by Sara Bareilles.