Blues Blues UK

Nashville based Canadian Steve Dawson is becoming quite prolific with this, his third album in a year. You could be excused for saying that he might be a little jaded because of that but nothing could be further from the truth. This is, in fact, the third instalment of his ‘pandemic trilogy’ which was recorded under lockdown conditions and along with a number of friends who happen to be high level Roots musicians in their own rite, he has brought us an album full of warmth opening with the cautionary tale of Long Time To Get Old. It’s about not wasting your life and you’ll get there someday but no need to rush! Slide guitar from Dawson plays over some strong backing vocals from Allison Russell and Fats Kaplin’s acoustic solo on mandolin. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, he is a master musician. A very easy to listen to and lively opener and a great start. Next up is one of four singles, A Gift, and his fingerpicked acoustic guitar just breezes in to your mind. This already has the makings of a top album. Another of the singles is Hemingway and he’s following the acoustic fingerpicked route again. This is smooth and gentle with strings involved and a story that just sweeps over you. I thought that there may have been an accordion in there but it may well be the Moog of Chris Gestrin or a fretless zither called a Marxophone played by Steve. House Carpenter has some lovely Weissenborn playing from Steve as he delivers an effortless note bending extraordinaire. It's Folk influenced and gets better and better with each line. Tim O’Brien on mandolin is excellent, not an easy instrument to play. It’s back to electric for the third of the singles, Small Town Talk. Suitably laid back, he has an easy way with his delivery and the fluid solo stands out. I would say that acoustic is his field and on The Owl we get him at his very best. Folk influenced again, there’s a lot going on in the background as he sings away. There is some very good lap steel in amongst it all.

The last of the singles, Waikiki Stonewall Rag, has him showing his versatility again with this Ragtime instrumental played on Weissenborn, National guitar and slide ukelele. An overall jaunty feel is enhanced by Gary Craig’s brushed drums and Gestrin’s pump organ. The sombre and reminiscing Polaroid is a tale of what we can take from a photograph. He’s in retrospective mood here, and makes the listener feel that too, but his pedal steel and intricate guitar solo snaps us out of it. There’s a Hawaiian tinge to Singin’ The Blues with Steve’s guitar complemented by Gestrin’s barroom piano. Is it the famous song? Who knows as this relaxed and fulfilling instrumental gives no clues. He gets a certain bounce on some of his songs and Guess Things Happen That Way is a point in case. It’s almost like a jug band song and he makes you feel at ease with his matter-of-fact delivery, effective lyric and an on-form slide guitar again. He closes with Let Him Go On Mama and he returns to Country for the finish. He is a true storyteller and social commentator and you feel as if you are in a conversation with him. His finger picking and slide are superb as they have been throughout.

I once described Steve Dawson as a jack of all trades and master of them all. There’s nothing here to dissuade me from that!