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STEVE
DAWSON |
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Over the last decade, Steve has risen to prominence in the Canadian music scene with his work on dozens of acclaimed recordings and tours that have taken him around the world and across North America countless times. Steve grew up in Vancouver. At 18, Steve spent two years at Boston’s Berklee College, before returning home to perform in touring original bands for several years. His interest in acoustic music began to take root at this time, as he explored the earliest recordings of blues, jazz, and Hawaiian music from the 1920s and 30s. The Spirit Merchants were the most prominent and this band played countless gigs all over North America. Steve’s subsequent duo with violinist Jesse Zubot (Zubot and Dawson) featured acoustic instruments in genre-stretching original music. Zubot and Dawson released 3 albums and won many awards, including a Juno in 2002. The Great Uncles of the Revolution teamed Zubot and Dawson with 2 exceptional jazz musicians from Toronto. This band was the winner of a Juno Award in 2003, as well as The Grand Prix de Jazz at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2003. Steve began his solo recording career at the same time, releasing his debut Bug Parade in 2001. Other artists began asking Steve to produce records for them. In between tours and sessions, he started a career as record producer. Steve has produced award-winning albums for Jenny Whiteley, Jim Byrnes, Old Man Luedecke, Kelly Joe Phelps, Ndidi Onukwulu, The Sojourners, John Wort Hannam, and many more. He has been awarded Producer of the Year twice at both the Canadian Folk Music Awards and the Western Canadian Music Awards. In 1998, Steve started Black Hen Music, an independent record label with the intention of releasing roots, acoustic, jazz and blues music. Over the last 10 years, the label has thrived and now has a roster of almost 20 artists and over 30 releases that are distributed internationally. His solo career continued and 2005 saw the Juno Award nominated We Belong to the Gold Coast, which further explored his love of antique and modern sounds, mixing traditional blues and Hawaiian music with originals. Over the last decade, Steve has performed at major jazz festivals and folk festivals in Canada, the USA and Europe. 2008 saw the release of 2 solo albums Waiting For The Lights To Come Up – a collection of new songs, and a few traditional, and Telescope – an all-instrumental album featuring the pedal steel guitar as the main voice. Recorded at the same time, these were 2 different concepts that Steve wanted to record with the same group of musicians. Telescope was nominated for a Juno in 2009. Steve received a grant in 2005 from the Canada Council of the Arts to study the pedal steel with Greg Leisz, the foremost player of the instrument outside of country music. Steve’s latest production project is Things About Comin’ My Way – a tribute to the 1930s group the Mississippi Sheiks. It debuts worldwide on October 20th, 2009 and features Bruce Cockburn, John Hammond, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Bill Frisell, Bob Brozman, Geoff Muldaur, Madeleine Peyroux and many more. Steve Dawson’s work as producer and musician has resulted in numerous accolades over they years, including 5 Juno Awards and 11 nominations, 10 Western Canadian Music Awards, and 22 nominations, 2 Independent Canadian Music Awards for Roots Album Of The Year and a Maple Blues Award, among others. |
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Steve Dawson is an accomplished Canadian multi-instrumentalist. Specializing in slide and fingerstyle guitar, pedal steel, lap steel, banjo and other instruments, he is in demand as a performer, session musician and producer.