Gone Long Gone, Steve Dawson, LP

Steve Dawson has always been hard to pin down. A guitarist, a composer, a sought after musical enabler and sideman? Of course, he's all of those things and more, but none of those descriptions really do the seven-time Juno Award-winning musician justice. Since moving to Nashville in 2013, it's been full tilt for the Vancouver native. When not producing albums for a slew of roots artists, touring and recording under his own name, or putting together his acclaimed 'Music Makers and Soul Shakers' podcast (now clocking in at well over a hundred episodes), Steve was usually out on the road supporting friends such as the Maritime powerhouse Matt Andersen, or Birds of Chicago, with whom he's played over 250 shows in the past three years. In 2019 and coming into early 2020, Dawson was as busy as he'd ever been in his life. So, when the pandemic hit, like everybody else, he had to re-assess and figure out what to do to stay afloat. It's an old story by now, but the reality is that the same quarantine that closed so many doors in our daily lives, created the opportunity for Steve to work on a large volume of music that would never have seen the light of day otherwise. While perfecting his remote recording techniques producing and playing on tracks for many other artists, this flurry of activity resulted in enough solo material for three distinct albums, the first of which, 'Gone, Long Gone' reflects Dawson's mastery of song-craft. Like all of Steve's albums, 'Gone, Long Gone' features brilliant instrumental performances from some of the finest players in roots music. Jeremy Holmes holds everything together on bass with drumming split between Gary Craig and Jay Bellerose (both drummers play together on 'Six Skeletons'), while Kevin McKendree and Chris Gestrin laid down the piano, organ and other keyboards. Keri Latimer joins in on vocals on two songs, and Steve's old 'Birds of Chicago' band-mate, Allison Russell joined in to sing on a few as did Steve's daughter Casey Dawson. John Prine alumnus Fats Kaplin also dropped in to add some sweet fiddle and mandolin. 'Gone, Long Gone' is just the first of three new albums that Steve created during the lockdown. The next two will come to light over three month intervals throughout 2022. Be on the lookout for a moody, psychedelic pedal steel excursion coming up next