JD and The Straight Shot

JD & The Straight Shot is the country blues and roots rock vanity project of its frontman and guitarist, Cablevision Systems Corporation CEO and Madison Square Garden Company Executive Chairman James L. Dolan.

Contents

• Discography
• Songs
• References

Because of his corporate status and his friendship with entertainment executive Irving Azoff, Dolan has been able to leverage JD & The Straight Shot onto shows by The Eagles, The Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, Jewel, Keith Urban, the Dixie Chicks, Joe Walsh and Robert Randolph. The group's song "Can't Make Tears" was on the soundtrack for the TV show Hell on Wheels on the cable channel AMC, which is controlled by Dolan and his family. The group's music has also been featured in films including Hurricane Season, "August: Osage County," and "Butter," all of which were produced by The Weinstein Company, a corporate business partner of Dolan's Madison Square Garden Company. The group's most recent album Ballyhoo! sold only 113 copies in the first four months after its January 2016 release.

The New York Times has described the band as a group of "well known sidemen backing a karaoke grade singer," and noted that Dolan's "musical talents are unlikely to endanger his day job." After the group's performance opening for ZZ Top, one reviewer wrote that Dolan's "enthusiasm for playing mediocre American rock did little to make their forgettable performance entertaining."