Guitarist Steve
Dawson Is Ready to Shake the Rattlesnake Cage on New Black Hen Music CD
Coming February 18, 2014
All-Instrumental Solo Disc Showcases a Master Guitar
Player
NASHVILLE, TN – Black Hen Music announces a February 18, 2014
release date for Rattlesnake Cage, the all-instrumental latest CD
from master guitarist Steve Dawson. The album’s original 11 tracks showcase
Dawson in a no-frills setting: just him, his guitars and a microphone to record
all the beautiful tones emanating from his fingers.
Rattlesnake Cage is
the album that Steve Dawson’s growing numbers of fans have been waiting for and
finally gives them the opportunity to hear Steve interact with his guitar
in a way that has never been captured on record before. Until
now, hearing the sweet melodies and deep soul of Steve playing solo guitar has
been a treat reserved for live audiences in intimate settings. These new simple
and unadorned recordings hearken back to the “American Primitive” sound
that John Fahey and other artists such as Peter Lang and Leo
Kottke recorded on Fahey’s iconic Takoma record label in the sixties –
instrumental music informed by the deep traditions of blues, ragtime, jazz and
even Hawaiian music, but taking those influences in unexpected directions. The
opening track, “Blind Thomas at the Crime Scene,” which takes its title from
Fahey’s earliest nom de plume, is the recording that most clearly communicates
Dawson’s respect for the American Primitive aesthetic, and gives the listener
the clearest indication of what’s to come.
Recorded using a single vintage
tube microphone that had recently been rescued from decades of hanging from the
ceiling rafters of an old theatre in Detroit, listeners can hear every detail
and nuance of each note. The effect of hearing a recording this open and pure is
quite astounding. Dawson’s gear list for the sessions included a jumbo Larrivee
guitar that he’s played for over 20 years, a Weissenborn Hawaiian guitar built
by Michael Dunn, a National tricone and a Taylor 12-string
guitar.
After countless successes in the industry both as a performer
and producer in his native Canada (including 7 Juno Awards as an artist and
producer), Steve has relocated to Nashville, Tennessee to begin a new chapter in
his career. Rattlesnake Cage reflects all of the places Dawson has
been and everything he’s heard, resulting in some of the loveliest
melodies of his career as a recording artist. As much as these songs can
be unobtrusive and listened to in the background at low volume, if a solo
instrument is going to hold its own like this in the spotlight, the music
being played on it has to have very good bones, and be able to stand up to some
pretty intense scrutiny. For all their simplicity and deceptive moments of
tranquility, a closer listen to songs such as “Lighthouse Avenue” or ‘The
Flagpole Skater Laughs from Above,” brings to the forefront that this is music
with fire in its belly. Fans of Reverend Gary Davis will recognize the musical
references in “The Altar at Center Raven” that evokes an imaginary scene at the
pulpit where he preached. In the same way, “The Medicine Show Comes to Avalon’
bounces along a razor’s edge between antique and future sounds with its
heartfelt homage to the music of Mississippi John Hurt. Yet, for all of the
influences Dawson tips his hat to, the sound that emerges on these recordings
reflects a confluence of a lifetime’s listening to and collecting vintage songs
that fuses with Dawson’s contemporary sensibilities and mastery of modern
recording techniques.
In the same way guitar performances from Bert Jansch, Ry
Cooder or Mississippi John Hurt can be recognized after hearing just a few
notes, Steve Dawson has established a voice for his instrument that is as
distinct as any of theirs to become one of the most identifiable sounds in
modern roots music. The 11 songs on Rattlesnake Cage represent the
first chance on record to hear Dawson explore the infinite possibilities offered
by his pallet of acoustic guitars without any effects, or even a human voice to
separate him from his audience. It’s rare to experience such
direct communication in any kind of music these days, but the songs on the
record remind us that the sound of a single instrument creating patterns out of
the silence is as old as music itself.
The fluidity of Dawson’s playing makes what he does sound so
effortless that it’s easy to forget that it takes years of disciplined practice
to achieve such an apparent simplicity. There are lots of guitar virtuosos out
there who can reel off a dizzying array of notes at lightning speed, and Steve
can certainly do that, but at a certain point, great players realize that
sometimes less is more. Nothing on this record is superfluous. This is music
that doesn’t show off or needlessly strut its stuff. Like a perfectly aged
single malt, these compositions come to us fully seasoned and
mature.
“One magazine
has referred to Steve Dawson as the T-Bone Burnett of Canada. I tend to think of
him more as a Canadian version of Ry Cooder… his fine slide guitar and
storytelling, everything seeming to flow effortlessly.” – Toledo Blade
“Anyone who can hear Dawson play and not
be moved is made of stone!”
– Penguin Eggs Magazine
(Canada)
