Steve Dawson, late of Vancouver, now residing in Nashville, is a busy guy.
Besides winning several Juno Awards and producing over a hundred episodes of his "Music Makers and Soul Shakers" podcast, plus being the quite capable sideman for quite a few other noteworthy musicians, Dawson is planning to release, not one, but THREE albums in 2022.
Is he making up for lost time during a global pandemic or just a guy who likes to stay busy?
Either way, he's off to a good start with Gone, Long Gone, his first album of songs that were co-written with new songwriting partner and friend of the Rocking Magpie, Matt Patershuk.
Dawson does a good job of checking off all the standard "Americana" boxes: Soulful backing vocals, simmering Hammond organ, laid back, yet funky, bass, backbeat drums—and then adds some nicely understated finger-picked guitar alongside some quite expressive slide playing to the mix.
Dawson's effortless vocal style works well in the storytelling songs such as "King Benny Had His Shit Together" (about legendary Hawaiian street musician King Bennie Nawahi), and the title track, "Gone, Long Gone," (which Dawson and his studio band do a masterful job of conveying the feeling of driving along a long highway out in the middle of nowhere.)
While the first song, "Dimes" is charged with funky horns and some powerful backing vocals by Allison Russell, "6 Skeletons in a Car" is embellished with a string section and stands out from the rest of the tunes with a gritty guitar solo that seemingly comes out of nowhere yet totally works.
Dawson is a noted slide guitarist and acoustic finger-stylist and really shines on the Instrumental tunes "Cicada Sanctuary" and "Kulaniapia Waltz."
Dawson has two more albums planned for the remainder of the year, the next one purportedly a pedal steel-laden psychedelic mood piece!