James "Billy" Dankert is an American musician from
Austin, Minnesota, United States, best known as the drummer, singer and songwriter for Minnesota-based band the
Gear Daddies. Dankert's songs include "Time Heals", "Blues Mary", and "One Voice". After the break-up of the band in 1992, he returned to school to study language and literature. He has released three solo albums:
Bowling Shoes Blues on the Crackpot Records label in 1993;
The Vanishing Head on the Veto Records label in 2001; and
In Spite on the Veto Records label in 2003. A fourth solo album,
The Past Is Not Complete, was recorded in 2005 but never released. His fifth solo album,
Sleep Late, is scheduled for self-release in April 2016, after a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund its pressing.