If you measure musical success by the company you keep, then Dave Mallett would be king of the Billboard charts.
Among his songwriting credits are works performed by country stars Hal Ketchum, Kathy Mattea, Emmylou Harris and Marty Stuart, as well as contributions to the repertoires of Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary and John Denver.
Since 1978, the year he recorded his first album, the songs of Dave Mallett have been performed by more than 100 artists. They include the writer himself, who is not only proficient with a pen but knows his way around a six-string.
"I'm just a guy with his guitar," Mr. Mallett says with a laugh over the phone from his home in Nashville, Tenn. A simple description, perhaps, but one he can live with.
Just make sure you don't call him a folk singer. "I've often been labeled a folk singer," he explains, "but to me, folk singers play banjo on their front porch."
Originally from Maine (he plans to return there in the very near future), Dave Mallett never expected songwriting to play a major role in his career.
"I was a singer first," he says. "My brother and I used to earn our spending money singing at country fairs. It's a nice plus having someone else sing your songs, but it's much more rewarding when I am the vehicle for my thoughts and music."
His Maine upbringing is the basis for the Norman Rockwell-like sketches he paints with his melodies and lyrics. "Where I come from has a lot to do with my outlook," Mr. Mallett says. "I have a deep connection to my heritage. I was brought up to appreciate life, especially when it's lived with dignity and harmony."
Hmmmm, Dave Mallett sure talks like a folk singer. But when you give a listen to his latest Vanguard Records release, " . . . In the Dark Falling," you uncover a gloomy lean uncommon to the genre.
"I don't know about gloomy," Mr. Mallett disagrees. "I look at everything as 50-50. Where there's hope, there's despair. Things sort of balance themselves out."
So if his songs can't comfortably be described as folk, would the country category provide a better fit?
"Country is a suburban thing now. It's funny, I've lived in Nashville for eight years, and there's very little left of the real rural lifestyle. I think country music should talk about the country once in a while.
"I will admit that I'm partial toward the folk audience," Mr. Mallett concedes. "The folk audience tends to compare their songwriters to poets. Well, I love Robert Frost, and not a songwriter alive, me included, can even approach the power of that material."
MALLETT AND MURDOCK
What: Dave Mallett with Lee Murdock opening
When: 8:30 tonight
Where: CoffeeHouse at Mays Chapel, 11911 Jenifer Road, Timonium.
Tickets: $10
Call: (410) 922-5210
'IN THE FALLING DARK'
To hear excerpts from Dave Mallett's ". . . In the Falling Dark," call Sundial at (410) 783-1800. In Anne Arundel County, call 268-7736; in Harford County, 836-5028; in Carroll County, 848-0338. Using a touch-tone phone, punch in 6155 after the greeting.