ABOUT THE ARTIST

"I’m filled with hope/I’m filled with dread…”

Steve Dawson’s new solo album, AT THE BOTTOM OF A CANYON IN THE BRANCHES OF A TREE (Pravda Records), tells a powerful story of faith lost and artistry reborn. Crushed by the late-2017 deaths of his mother- and father-in-law—and prompted to deal with the long-ago loss of his own mother and abandonment by his father, all while fending off a general state of despair—Dawson quit songwriting and performing. This was a startling shift for the prolific singer-songwriter behind the celebrated Americana band Dolly Varden and the boundaries-pushing jazz-folk ensemble Funeral Bonsai Wedding.

“I wanted to figure out if I still cared enough about music to keep making it,” Dawson said.

He put his creativity on ice for months, then traveled to the Catskills Mountains for legendary guitarist Richard Thompson’s summer songwriting camp, where singer-songwriter Patty Griffin was the special guest. Griffin’s remarkable ability to address stone cold reality in prayer-like songs illuminated a path for Dawson.

“It reminded me of why I started doing it in the first place when I was a teenager,” he said. “I got home from that and started working on this album.”

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