“Every cloud has a silver lining”, or so the old adage goes. That cloud is, of course, the pandemic. Like so many other artists Steve Dawson put the enforced downtime to good use, but don’t mistake this for ‘just another Covid album’, these songs have a life of their own that will last long after our memories of the last couple of years have faded. He used the time on his hands to work on a large volume of music that might not have seen the light of day otherwise. Even while working remotely with other artists from his Nashville studio, Dawson came up with enough material for 3 separate and distinct solo albums, all of which will see the light of day this year. Gone Long Gone is the first of these, and it’s a rootsy, occasionally haunting, beautifully realized piece of work. As an in demand sideman, Steve mastered the art of playing in the background ages ago. As his first album since 2016’s Solid States & Loose Ends, this one has him up front and the centre of the action. His gentle, unassuming vocals float in a masterful mix of superbly talented roots musicians, his skill as an excellent producer in the genre fully apparent as well. GLG is the first time Dawson has collaborated on the writing process with another artist. He’d previously found that way of working uncomfortable, but once he started exchanging ideas with Alberta’s Matt Patershuk everything just started to flow. Steve Dawson is a Juno Award winning musician and producer so the fact that this album sounds so wonderful is hardly a surprise. His band here includes Jeremy Holmes on bass, with Gary Craig and Jay Bellerose divvying up the drumming while Kevin McKendree and Chris Gestrin handled keyboards. Of course, a number of special guests pitched in on the fun too, all beautifully recorded. This is largely acoustic roots music with a bit of a country overlay- not unexpected for a guy working out of Nashville- but there are some tasty surprises too. There’s a relaxed yet spirited cover of When I Was Younger that I remember Rod Stewart singing once upon a time, and it wouldn’t be a Steve Dawson album without at least one instrumental… so he gives us Kulaniapia Waltz, a Hawaiian string number that serves as a nice change of pace. Steve’s wonderful finger picking is on display on Cicada Sanctuary, which feels like just the thing to throw on when you’ve just come home from the rat race and need to peel yourself off the ceiling. Gone Long Gone is as thought-provoking as it is relaxing, like some of Bruce Cockburn’s recent work. At a time when the world seems to be sliding toward Hell, this disc serves as a reminder that there are still good and beautiful things in the world.