Interview: Sharpe Dunaway & Daughter London On Bands, Broadcasting, and Building a Creative Life

Sharpe Dunaway is no stranger to being in the spotlight, whether it be behind a microphone, behind the drums, or behind the video camera. And though he’s enjoyed his success and attention, he beams with pride when he talks about his children, father to Quint, Grey, and London (the youngest one who is taking great strides in the same vein as her father). In a free-wheeling conversation with Broadway World, Sharpe and his daughter London—a budding music journalist, concert photographer, and frontwoman in the making—dig into craft, community, and the power of doing the work. 

BWW: Sharpe, you opened by saying you’ve “failed forward” a lot. Is that your life motto? 

Sharpe: Absolutely. Failing forward is how I learn. I’ve done it more times than I can count, and I’m trying to pass that on to my kids. Don’t fear the miss—use it to move. 

BWW: (Turning to London) London, how’s life—and what’s the plan after high school? 

London: Life is lifing! School keeps me busy. I graduate in about a year and a half. After that, I want to study journalism and broadcasting, but someone doesn’t want me to. 

Sharpe: I just want her to steer clear of radio. 

BWW: The future of media is in podcasting and vlogging anyway. Radio and TV are being redefined. What about writing?  

London: I love writing. My English teachers have said I’m a really good writer. I’ve gotten good responses on my Facebook posts when I write about the artists I love. My posts about Lzzy Hale and KISS had people like Luke Williams saying ‘girl, you are a writer.’ 

BWW: So what really excites me about you is that you’ve started stepping onstage with your dad. What drives that? 

London: I’ve been around music my whole life. My first concert was when I was five—KISS, Def Leppard, and The Dead Daisies—and I’ve wanted a life in music ever since. Watching Dad onstage looked fun, so I wanted to try it too. 

BWW: He’s fun. You have a fun father. Are you learning an instrument? 

London: I have a bass and an electric guitar. Time’s tight with school, but I’m leaning toward bass first. 

Sharpe: From a drummer’s perspective: four strings might be friendlier than six. (I’m a GC&D guy on guitar—and terrible at all three.) 

BWW: Sharpe, what got you behind the kit? 

Sharpe: It was my psychiatric treatment. I was a hyper kid who banged his head on everything—including lockers. One day in St. Louis I saw a drum set in a garage and traded a summer of mowing for it. I started by smacking it with no real rhyme or reason. Then I decided to play the radio, put on headphones and see if I could play to that, and realized, “Oh…this is how it’s supposed to work. I’m supposed to play with other people and their instruments.” My first band was a punk group called The Frustrated. I was raised on punk rock, which is why if you’ve ever seen me play, I’m a little ahead of the beat. My friends call it “faster than the speed of Sharpe.” 

BWW: London, are you starting a band?

London: Yes! We’re putting together a rock cover band to start, then developing originals. My friend Rachel plays bass and sings—and she’s already writing. We’ll swap bass and lead vocals depending on the song. We do have a band name, but we’re not quite ready to share it. 

BWW: Marketing thoughts yet? 

Sharpe: Photos, video, consistency. I’d call my go-to photographer, but she’s in the band. 

BWW: London, you shoot concerts too, right?

London: I do—London Dunaway Photography on Facebook and Instagram. I started with a hand-me-down Nikon, got my first paid job at CabotFest, and I’m a year into treating it like a business. I’ve shot national acts like Sebastian Bach, Puddle of Mudd, and JUMP – America’s Van Halen Experience, plus a lot of local bands—Josie John, Jam Halen, Ryan Harmon, 10K Mistake, and more. My goal is to support the local scene with strong images—great photos help bands get booked. 

Sharpe: She follows the rules, gets the job done, and hustles. At a recent “Monsters of Todd” event, she shot over a thousand frames. It was a proud papa moment.

BWW: Top three shows you’ve seen, London?

London: Halestorm July 31, 2024 at Walmart AMP in Rogers, Lizzy & Joe at The Hall on April 15, 2025, and KISS September 5, 2019. Honorable mention: Night Ranger August 17, 2024.  

BWW: And you, Sharpe? 

Sharpe: I don’t know dates, but Paul McCartney at the Liberty Bowl, Pink Floyd at Texas Stadium, and my first rock concert that I count is Van Halen, 1984, in St. Louis at the arena. That was a great memory, because we had to stand in line. Me and my buddy were first in line, but we got bullied back to the end of the line. People would just walk up to people in front of us and go ‘hey buddy.’ Next thing you know somehow, we are not in the front of the line anymore. We ended up with tickets even though it sold out in two hours, which was insane for tickets where they had to do by hand. Van Halen in 2004 was a great show too. The show wasn’t his best because Eddie was strung out, he was not in his A game, but we were in the pit on Michael Anthony’s side, and Michael Anthony has half a cup of Jack Daniels and hands it down to this girl who doesn’t want it, so I say I’ll drink it. The next thing you know I have it in my hand, Michael Anthony has his arms crossed looking down at me, and I went ‘well, here we go.’ I slam like half a cup of Jack Daniels, which is like two or three shots. So needless to say, I continued to not be of sound mind the rest of the evening, and Sammy Hagar comes down and puts his arms around me, and I’m singing with Sammy on the big screen.  

BWW: Thoughts on Arkansas’s music scene? 

Sharpe: Totally underrated. Folks like Luke Williams, Shane Thornton, Ryan Harmon, Cliff & Susan—tons of talent here. The trick is getting discovered and investing in your craft. To me, one of the most underrated singer/songwriters is Jeff Coleman. He has a song called “Shut Up and Drink Like a Man,” and it is hit in my book. He just needs to get that break.

BWW: What about Dirty Lindsey? 

Sharpe: We’re a cheese eating cover band. We do it because we enjoy it. We have no agenda. We don’t care about the future. All we care about is what we are going to do in that three-to-four-hour window. We want to entertain you. Laugh at us, laugh with us, just laugh, because we don’t take ourselves seriously. We want to have fun. Fun is contagious. If you’re having fun, I’m having fun. And we think if we’re having fun, the audience is having fun. We practice weekly in a room we all pay for—it’s therapy. Currently, our band is made up of Danny Millsaps on lead vocals, Darrell Yates on guitar, Matt Hays on bass, and me on drums.  

BWW: Upcoming dates? 

Sharpe: Nov. 14 is our first Dirty Lindsey show at Four Quarter Bar in North Little Rock, and New Year’s Eve at TC’s Midtown Grill—come early for the opening act Ladies Room. 

BWW: Do you two work together much? 

Sharpe: She’s my favorite person to run a show with—organized, reliable, and she can break down my drum kit without dismantling it. That’s trust. 

London: I don’t do it for free. 

Sharpe: I pay her $100 to set my drums up and take them down. She’s quick. 

BWW: London, will you be joining your dad on stage in more shows? 

London: I don’t know if I’ll be on stage, but I’ll be at them. 

BWW: Girl, get you three or four songs prepared and force your way on the stage. What are they going to do? Kick you off? 

Sharpe: I think Danny likes it when she sings so he can have a break. He has the tinniest bladder. Seriously though, when she got up there to sing “Photograph” by Def Leopard, I was more nervous than she was.  

London: I was shaking! 

Sharpe: Really? You didn’t look nervous at all. The hardest part about drumming while she’s singing, as a dad I would catch myself just watching her perform – it's a proud papa moment – and then I realize I am still playing drums, I have to focus on that too....must keep the beat.  

BWW: Yeah, dad, don’t mess her up. 

Sharpe: And that’s the last thing I wanted to do is be the guy that screwed the song up for her. I think everybody plays a little extra well when London sings, nothing against Danny, but nobody wants to let you down.  

BWW: Ok, London. Give me your five-year wish. 

London: I want to be in an original band with my best friends that will hopefully be on tour with the Ryan Harmon Band assuming he’s famous by then.    

BWW: That sounds like fun to me. Ok, Sharpe, for someone who has been in a band for over 20 years, what advice would you give to an up and comer? 

Sharpe: Do it for fun first. Do it because you enjoy it. The minute it feels like work, bull the reigns back. Dirty Lindsey practices every Wednesday. We go in and have fun. We call it The Boys Club. It’s our psychiatric treatment. We can talk about whatever we want to talk about, and it stays in that room. We look forward to it. There are some days where members have completely crap days at work, and they get to the practice room, start playing music, and it goes away. That’s the power of music.  

BWW: That’s powerful. Thank you for sharing that. Are your other children into the music scene? 

Sharpe: My son Quint Dunaway has a review show that he does. You can find it on www.youtube.com/quintdunaway He does great reviews on movies. His passion is movies. In my opinion, he does just as good of a job as Siskel & Ebert ever did, and they are fun to watch, because he puts a ton of effort into it, and he’s funny. He throws a little opinion in there, but he doesn’t spoil the movie. That’s the greatest thing about what he’s doing, he doesn’t spoil the movie. So, I would highly recommend people go check out his movie review page on Youtube and on Facebook.  

BWW: And your daughter? 

Sharpe: Grace is going to be a fashionista and is a fan of theater. She goes by Grey now. Her creative outlet is costume design. She is handy with a sewing machine. Grey will graduate from the University of Arkansas in Little Rock in December. She does art and has her work on the socials. Look her up at art.by.grey. 

BWW: Wonderful! Everyone is artistic. I’m not surprised. And your wife? How long have you been married? 

Sharpe: We just hit the 30 year mark on October 7 of this year.

BWW: Oh wow! That's great! So she is used to her husband being in the spotlight. With your children making a mark for themselves, how does that work in the family dynamics?

Sharpe: We support each other the best we can. She gets me. She's never been overly possessive and lets me be me. I always say, she's the only person that hasn't fired me...yet.

BWW: Hopefully you get to keep that job. Ok, to wrap this up, tell us about your production company.  

Sharpe: At Sharpe Video Productions (sharpevideoproductions.com), we shoot corporate videos, music videos, real estate, weddings, funeral, you name it, we shoot it. I’ve been doing this since 2014, and people ask me is there something I won’t shoot, and I say ‘yeah, illegal stuff.’ If it’s illegal, I don’t want it. If it’s legal, I’ll shoot it. Now I know there are some things that are legal that I shouldn’t shoot, and I haven’t...yet. 

BWW: Oh my goodness! That’s great! 

Sharpe:  I’ve had amazing times shooting in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, The Masters, San Diego, Las Vegas. I’ve been places with Sharpe Video Production that, no offense, I would have never gotten a chance to go to if I worked for radio. I thought losing my job in radio was going to be the end of the world, but instead it just opened new doors. I miss radio terribly, but now if a radio station hired me, it would be a distraction. I’m focused on putting out a great product for my clients. I want them to know that when I work for you, I’m on your team. My job is to make you shine as brightly as possible. In the end, you have a product that you get to keep and get to hold on to forever. Which would you rather have, a billboard on the side of the interstate, or a video that you can replay on Youtube, Facebook, or even TV? It’s a good investment. 

BWW: We will be sure to check you out. Thank you London and Sharpe for taking out time to share your life with me! I look forward to chasing you guys around in the near future.  

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