Steve Dawson
Ghosts.
Pravda Records
Beautiful, Understated Americana That Combines Laurel Canyon With Muscle Shoals
Chicago based and San Diego, California-born singer-songwriter Steve Dawson formerly of Alt-Country band, Dolly Varden celebrates his sixth solo release here via his latest album, Ghosts.
Recorded and mixed during the pandemic, the ten tracks were largely written between 2017 and 2023 and see Dawson enjoying a greater freedom than on his last record, At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree (2021), where he pretty much played ‘all’ the instruments himself.
“I wanted to play with a ‘dream band’ made up of some of the amazing Chicago musicians I’ve worked with over the last fifteen or so years” he says.
He does too, when you see the pedigree behind Gerald Dowd (drums), John Abbey (bass), vocalist, Nora O’Connor (Neko Case, Andrew Bird), Alton Smith (piano), Brian Wilkie (pedal steel guitar), Chris Greene (sax), John Moore (trumpet) plus harmony vocals from his wife, Diane Christiansen.
Dawson weaves in and out of various hues, some subtle, others punchy and he’s ably supported throughout. Time To Let Some Light In rattles along as he lays down his ever authoritative soulful vocals. Oh California and Walking Cane are good tracks without breaking down any doors. Maybe, sleepers in need of time I guess.
Then it happened!
Gears started to change, his vocals soon become more character filled.
Sooner Than Expected has so much depth to it, vocally and lyrically.
What a song!
It’s a beautiful, understated performance, awash in simple, carefully crafted lyrics Dawson reflects on bygone days.
“Walking over a filthy river,
trucks and cars and buses pass,
rusted out industrial bridge in the upper mid-west.
I’m alone, I’m walking fast.
Thought it was going to be little more time,
but here it is, sooner than expected.
Sound and pull of the moving water,
that’s what I remember, that’s where I go”.
all wrapped up in sympathetic acoustic guitar, it flows, gently just like the flowing river in the song.
“I still get this stab in the centre of my chest
when I remember your laughing face.
…I thought there was going to be a little more time.
Here it is, sooner than expected.”
Exquisite and rich in poetic beauty, rarely will you come across a song as moving as this, each lyric being lovingly shared.
Leadville springs into action, immediately, as sparkling pedal steel guitar accompanies Dawson’s vivid storytelling.
Here he speaks of how the place was once a boom town, but had changed into
“a two stop light, six churches and a jail.
At night hometown boys got wasted,
raced their trucks up a town hill.”
and
“I’d be up before daylight to catch a school bus,
that took me 25 miles to another town.
Driven by a stone cold southern racist.”
Terrific, descriptive lyrics and so, so strong, vocally. What great use of pedal steel too … Wall to wall music.
It Was A Mistake is a more mellow affair.
“We are paying for it now,
we are moving backwards somehow”
…“The evil we watched,
it was a mistake”.
Soulful and soaked in brass, oh what beautiful sax in there too; it’s the sound of another era.
Muscle Shoals style vintage keyboards / organ and electric lead guitar (that ‘talks’) also get into the act with some wonderfully relaxed tones.
I Am Glad To Be Alive follows in a similar relaxed fashion, less of the horns, but more noticeable guitar and female harmonies that are 1970’s West Coast/Laurel Canyon/ singer-songwriter/Soft Rock influenced.
A Mile South Of Town has him back to his gritty, singer-songwriter best on a wonderful, vivid story-telling few minutes as Dawson weaves another image strewn scenario akin to Bruce Springsteen or Steve Earle at their best.
Only Dawson’s work has … a greater feel of sensitivity and is more finely tuned.
When I Finally Let You Down is nicely accompanied by sensitive piano, pedal steel guitar and harmony vocals drawing the listener close to the singer’s plight. Dawson speaks off ‘the inevitable’ happening after he lets her down.
Soothing tones, voice and arrangement ensure the listener soon becomes absorbed in the story, as he asks for another chance or is he going to get all he deserves.
The mournful tale, Weather In The Desert closes the album. After a choppy rhythmic opening it gives way to him telling us,
“you brought as many bottles as you could carry,
you locked yourself in a motel out in Joshua Tree.
you were going to drink those bottles down till you stop breathing,
it was a solid plan but they kicked down the door,
and carried you out to fight some more.” ….
“Never undone by whispers of gold.
There’s cancer in the water,
the seas are rising fast
I tell myself not to think about it,” he sings. Sombre throughout, the track is steeped in beautiful harmony vocals courtesy of Ingrid Graudin’s alongside a disturbing restless rhythm.
An epic piece.
On listening to these songs and the deep lyrics, as well as the moods he’s created, I believe Dawson found much solace writing the songs.
Released 14th June 2024
Review by Our Man in Havana, Maurice Hope
https://stevedawsonmusic.com/
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https://stevedawson.bandcamp.com/
The Rocking Magpie 