Steve Dawson is a name that regularly crops up here at RMHQ, either as a singer-songwriter in his own rite, as a key band member or more recently as a producer …. and it’s fair to say he never gets involved in anything that could be described as average or ordinary.
Even with this release being his third in twelve months; you instantly realise bore opening track Ian Tyson’s Long Time To Get Old, that the quality on offer is going to be sky high; and it is. The melody hints at being ‘old timey’ but the story is a razor sharp contemporary observation of life in a small town; somewhere – anywhere. Plus there’s a majestic female voice supplying harmonies that I felt sure I recognised and sure enough, there in the small print …. Allison Russell!
Most of the songs here are collaborations with another RMHQ favourite; Matt Patershuk; and again … the word ‘quality’ springs to mind; not least during A Gift and Hemingway; which follow and grab your attention and heartstrings at the same time; conjuring up imagery worthy of much more famous singer-songwriters.
Another from the dynamic duo; The Owl shouldn’t in theory be the type of song that I’d normally like; but could be the finest ‘Folk Song’ I’ve heard in many a year.
The song Small Town Talk is something of a cornerstone here; as when you listen to it you more or less here Dawson’s voice over everything else; yet the CD cover tells us 7 people are involved and the instrumentation involves slide, acoustic and electric guitars, drums and percussion, bass, organ, piano, baritone sax, tenor sax and trumpet, yet it all sounds so effortless and simple.
Tucked away in the background are two ‘Traditional’ songs re-arranged for modern ears. The first; House Carpenter I’ve not heard before; and is another bespoke Folk Song, using phrasing and intricate guitar play that are absolutely fabulous and deserve our full attention.
The other, is a particularly odd choice; an instrumental version of Singing The Blues has an arrangement that I can’t decide is Hawaiian or Ragtime …. or both; and it’s quite delightful.
A couple of tracks earlier, Dawson drops in the quirky Waikiki Stonewall Rag; so perhaps it shouldn’t have been such a surprise after all.
By this stage I get to thinking about ‘Favourite Songs’ and there are so many to choose from; a very easy on the ear Jack Clement song, Guess Things Happen That Way was an early contender, as was Small Town Talk, a Bobby Charles song, but sounds as if it was written with Dawson in mind …. or at least that’s what I hear.
The finale, Let Him Go Mama has Dawson all alone singing and playing his ‘Weissenborn’ guitar …. quite exceptionally, it has to be said; and the result is three minutes of outstanding and beautiful music.
Yet there is still one other; and simply because of the title drew me to it before I’d played the whole album and that’s Polaroid. These cameras have held a fascination for me since my teenage years half a century ago; as my remodelling of album covers in my reviews will testify; and it appears Steve Dawson has a similar affection as he describes a single photograph taken of a lover using this medium. Therefore; Polaroid is my Favourite Song here.
While there are numerous ‘famous names’ from the Alt. and Americana circuit involved in one way or another; and the Press Release pays great attention to ‘artists contributing their parts from various corners of Nashville, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver, during the pandemic‘ … that matters not a jot, as this is simply a Steve Dawson album from start to finish and is another ‘keeper’ in our humble opinion.