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At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree, his first release for the venerable indie label Pravda Records, carries on the thrilling progression of Dawson’s recent work. His songwriting continues to grow in depth and lyricism while his voice has never sounded more rich or resonant. The album’s twelve songs (plus two bonus tracks on the CD and digital releases) tie together the American musical influences that span his life: the late 60’s/early 70’s folk-rock of California, where he was born; the country music of Idaho, where he grew up; and the blues, gospel and soul of Chicago, where he has spent the bulk of his adult life. Fans of Dolly Varden, Funeral Bonsai Wedding and Dawson’s previous solo works will recognize the beautiful melodicism, brilliant craftsmanship and emotional depth expressed in the soulful balladry of “Hard Time Friend” and “Forgiveness Is Nothing Like I Thought It Would Be,” the folky reflections of “The Spaces In Between,” the sublime yearning of “Beautiful Mathematics” and the gentle dreamscape of “We Are Walking in a Forest,” a duet with Dolly Varden’s Diane Christiansen.
The album tells a powerful story of faith lost and artistry reborn. Crushed by the late-2017 deaths of his mother- and father-in-law—and prompted to deal with the long-ago loss of his own mother and abandonment by his father, all while fending off a general state of despair—Dawson quit songwriting and performing. This was a startling shift for the prolific singer-songwriter behind the celebrated Americana band Dolly Varden and the boundaries-pushing jazz-folk ensemble Funeral Bonsai Wedding. “I wanted to figure out if I still cared enough about music to keep making it,” Dawson said.
He put his creativity on ice for months, then traveled to the Catskills Mountains for legendary guitarist Richard Thompson’s summer songwriting camp, where singer-songwriter Patty Griffin was the special guest. Griffin’s remarkable ability to address stone cold reality in prayer-like songs illuminated a path for Dawson. “It reminded me of why I started doing it in the first place when I was a teenager,” he said. “I got home from that and started working on this album.”
Over the next three years, Dawson wrote dozens of songs that he recorded in his home studio, Kernel Sound Emporium in Chicago. Although the songs delved into darkness while exorcising ghosts, the process was joyful. He loved playing all the instruments, singing, producing and embracing the freedom to explore. He created three or four different versions of some songs in search of the optimal arrangement. He sang of “the thrill of letting go.”
During this period Dawson also recorded the most acclaimed album of his thirty-year career, Funeral Bonsai Wedding’s LAST FLIGHT OUT (2020), which added a string section to Dawson’s interplay with the band’s trio of jazz players. Drawing comparisons to Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, the album found Dawson eschewing traditional song structures to embrace elasticity, improvisation, open spaces as well as a more impressionistic approach to lyrics. Released early in the coronavirus pandemic, LAST FLIGHT OUT captured the surreal zeitgeist while offering a healing energy that was cherished by a wide swath of reviewers and listeners.
The first taste of this splendid album comes in the way of his latest single “Hard Time Friend,” which we are pleased to premiere the video today. The film takes the best of the COVID restrictions as we follow Steve through his studio as he jams and sings his soul in his home studio.
About the song, Dawson comments “When I was living in Boston over 30 years ago, I started a song called, “Looking Around For a Hard Time Friend.” I was lonely and wanting a friend I could count on. It was a decent start of a song but it didn’t go anywhere. It was a true statement, though, and I hung onto it with the intention of making a better song out of it at some point. I moved to Chicago in the late 80’s and met Diane Christiansen and she’s become the best friend I’ve ever had. All the details in the song are true and have become truer in a year marked with loss. The first lines came out around the time that both of Diane’s parents passed away in early 2018. A seismic shift in the lives of everyone connected with those incredible people. They loved me and supported me as their own son and gave me a sense of family that I’d never had. “One minute we’re sitting around laughing… the next minute everything’s changing.” I put the video together as winter was turning to spring in Chicago. Filmed in my home studio, Kernel Sound Emporium.”
