Jacksonville’s Denton Elkins lived for music

Jacksonville's gigging musicians knew this about Denton Elkins, who died Sunday in an auto accident.

If you needed a guitar player to fill in on little notice, or a drummer, or a bass player, he was your guy. His gear was usually packed in his car, and if he was free, he'd be there, for the love of music. If there were no gigs that night, he'd be the one to call: Hey, let's just jam in the garage. I'm ready to play.

And if a nightspot had a karaoke machine going, he wouldn't turn up his nose at it, like many musicians, said Jack Corcoran, who played with him in the popular band Smokestack. No, he'd sign up and sing and dance his heart out.

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Elkins was a musician through and through, said Luke Peacock, a Jacksonville singer-songwriter.

"It was the way he wanted to communicate with the world," Peacock said. "He wanted to be seen as a musician, to live like a musician, to have that be the beginning and middle and end of how he lived his life."

Elkins, 37, died Sunday night near the Buckman Bridge in a rollover crash in his SUV, the Florida Highway Patrol said. He was not wearing his seat belt and was ejected from the vehicle.

News of his death moved quickly through the city's music community, and tributes to him poured in over the week from former classmates, band-mates, friends and family. Posts praised Elkins' musicianship but said it was his fierce friendship that remains unmatched.

Posts called Elkins "a natural born entertainer," a "bonafide musician" who "oozed talent."

##youtube_1##Elkins, a singer and multi-instrumentalist, was a Northeast Florida native who graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. He played in the school jazz band, which traveled to a festival in France, and in the jazz band at Florida State College at Jacksonville.

He also played as a drummer on cruise ships, at Walt Disney World and with the World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra.

He was most recently a vocalist, guitarist and occasional drummer with Smokestack, an in-demand blues and Southern-rock band that, before the cornonavirus pandemic, played just about every weekend.

Corcoran, a guitarist who founded the band, said Elkins was up to play any instrument and take on any request.

"He was like a song encyclopedia," he said. "The guy definitely worked on his craft. When he was not working, he was playing his instruments. He sold his soul to play music."

Peacock went to Douglas Anderson with Elkins, where they became bandmates and friends. He said Elkins was a powerhouse drummer even then, but as fine as he was, he wasn't the school's top drummer. That was Ulysses Owens Jr., who went on to the Julliard School and an accomplished career in jazz.

So Elkins simply learned to play the vibraphone, becoming one of the best in the state on that instrument, Peacock said.

After high school, he also became a great guitar player. "If he didn't have a skills set but he needed it, he could weirdly grow it in a couple of months," Peacock said.

Peacock, who later managed the Regency-area Guitar Center store, hired Elkins after he got back from a stint trying to break into the music business in Nashville, Tenn.

"He came and joined our team as a favor to me. He was great. Denton, his primary quality was his generosity. Though it sometimes took some time to get there," Peacock said.

"He definitely knew more than you about whatever you were talking about. And so I think it could rub people the wrong way for a minute -- until you got to know him and you realized he was just trying to give you his knowledge."

Elkins could be a hothead at times, Corcoran said. Though not for long. "People who knew him knew that that was going to pass," he said.

He made many friends, Corcoran said, and inspired great loyalty. "It's just overwhelming how many people have reached out to me," he said. "I've literally had 200 phone calls, 100 messages on Facebook, people who knew him and were affected by his death."

A GoFundMe was launched last week for Elkins' family to help cover funeral expenses and other associated costs. Elkins, who was single, did not have life insurance, according to Alexis Restivo, who organized the fundraiser. In less than a week, the fund collected over $10,000. A meal train was also launched for the family.

"A guitar hero, class act, and most of all, my friend," one Facebook tribute from a friend said, closing with the lyrics, "my guitar, gently weeps."

Peacock chuckled as he told about one of Elkins' impromptu garage jams, where, for him, it was all about the music -- not his ego.

"This dude is the best drummer in the room and the best guitarist in the room, but he's playing bass just because he likes to play," he said. "And he's doing that so everyone else can have fun."

Matt Soergel: (904) 359-4082

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