As long as he can remember, Dutton frontman Logan Walter has wanted to follow along the trail blazed by his father, Jeff Walter, who fronted the worship band, Gabriel. Logan started out in 1998 by leading worship for his 7th grade Sunday School class, and when the family moved to Waco, TX two years later, he further honed his skills playing guitar in the youth praise band. By his freshman year of high school, he was asked to take over and lead the band.
Soon, Shane Wilson [guitar] and Nathan Jennings [drums] stepped onto the path to walk alongside Logan. Doors began opening for the trio, including a chance for Logan to mentor under David Crowder, frontman of nationally known, award-winning band, David Crowder Band.
“David Crowder is a friend and mentor. We met when he led worship for my high school bible study, just Crowder and a guitar,” explains Logan. “Since then, he has counseled me through every category of questions: ministerial, relational, theological, even financial. But most of all, he has been my model for humble leadership and creative excellence.”
In 2003, Crowder asked Logan, Shane, and Nathan to fill in as back-up worship band at University Baptist Church [UBC] when David Crowder Band was on tour. Needing a name, the three adopted the moniker, Dutton – the name of the street where UBC is located.
Brian Patterson [guitar/keys] joined the band a year later, and Dutton kept moving forward down the path.
By the summer of 2005, word of their reputation as a solid worship band spread, and their calendar began to fill with youth camps, retreats, and discipleship weekends. And, in 2007, Dutton moved from being the UBC backup band to leading Sunday worship for The Heights Baptist Church [THBC] in Richardson, TX.
Nathan explains the difference between the two experiences: “UBC was mostly college students. When we got to The Heights, we found ourselves ministering to a much broader demographic – from children to grandparents. It’s opened our perspective and helped us to become more mature leaders.”
The group’s maturity as leaders has also been developed through trials.
“Something we don’t talk about a whole lot but that really affected us as a band is the death of our pastor in 2005. He was a friend to us. He was a mentor to us, and he was taken from us one day – while we were on stage – in a freak accident in the baptismal,” explains Logan. “We’ve faced a lot of trials in this band – everything from having our trailer stolen and trying to recover from that financially and logistically to experiencing a near-fatal car crash together, to witnessing the death of a friend. But, through that, the trials haven’t been empty. In those moments you can run to God or away from God, and we’ve run to Him. And those trials have developed perseverance for us.”
It is this perseverance to their calling that propels them forward on the trail, desiring to bring others alongside them.
Logan continues, “We are a corporate worship band. We’ve never had aspirations to be a concert band. Our songs are written specifically for the corporate worship setting. When we build the set lists and when we write albums, we’re writing them to connect with people in a live setting. They’re not just about God. They’re meant to be sung directly to Him. The songs have been written with these people in mind, with this moment in mind – that we can get on stage, the band disappears, and these scriptural lyrics can be sung by the congregation to God.”
In 2008 Josh Hicks [bass] joined Dutton, adding seminary experience to the group. By the beginning of 2011, with two studio albums and a slew of youth weekends, camps and events like Super Summer and Planet Wisdom, Dutton was set to debut Welcome Home, a project focused around scripture and Christ-centered worship.
“The most reiterated command in the Bible is to ‘sing’ and that’s the point of the songs,” explains Logan. “We want the church to sing these lyrics loudly to God. The melodies, the lyrics…everything is designed so that people can sing loudly to God with abandon in their hearts.”
Josh adds: “It’s been great to see how the songs on Welcome Home have connected with people of all ages. When you match scripture with memorable melodies, you have something the entire body of Christ wants to sing.”
Welcome Home’s title track is based on the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 and encompasses Dutton’s goal for the entire project…that the songs will turn people in the right direction and help them run toward the Father, run toward Holiness.
The road Home is not one for us to travel alone. The Dutton gentlemen have been called and are committed to ushering listeners along the path to their Father, who will anxiously be awaiting with open arms to say, “Welcome Home.”
