Ghosts is the sixth solo album from Chicago-based musician and songwriter Steve Dawson. It’s being released June 7th on venerable Chicago label Pravda Records on CD, 12” LP vinyl, digital download, and on streaming platforms.
Hope, a poet wrote, is a thing with feathers, perched in the soul and singing a tune without words. In the hard-won and hopeful songs of Steve Dawson, the words are very much present – supple, wise, spilling out hard truths – and the tunes are crystalline – often they offer the clearest glimpse of hope after all.
On the new album, Steve, well-known for the impassioned alternative country of the band Dolly Varden, crafts ten songs that find reasons to believe – in music, in human connections, in desert vistas – even as the ghosts move all around him, all around us. But those ghosts, those presences of the past, are part of why we hope.
Across all ten songs, Dawson’s voice, with his soulful, golden burr, communicates with searing emotion and resilience. That visceral and instantly recognizable tone finds an ideal complement in an ensemble of principally Chicago-based musicians and close friends.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for the standout track “Time to Let Some Light In,” which balances roots rock with a smooth R&B sound anchored by Dawson’s easygoing vocals. Focusing on the idea of gratitude, the song brims with a sense of hope and optimism that is accentuated by the band’s warm harmonies, soulful keyboard, and flourishes of slide guitar from Dawson. It also serves as a nice showcase for Dawson’s ability to pen songs that are both catchy and emotionally resonant.
“This song has gone through a lot of changes over time. Originally it was a pretty angry song called, “Sick of Being Lied To.” It was okay but something wasn’t right. I’ve been working on being less angry and more grateful in all things and it occurred to me that this song was a place I could directly make that change. So I renamed it, “Time To Let Some Light In,” adjusted some lyrics and made it lean toward a 60’s R&B groove, in the Dan Penn / Spooner Oldham mode. The line “barrel down barrel down four leaf clover” came out of nowhere when I originally wrote it. It doesn’t make perfect sense, I guess, but it feels right to me and people have told me they like the line. My friend Alton Smith sings the close harmony. He and I have been singing together for over 10 years now in all kinds of situations and one of my favorite things is to sing old soul and country songs with him, like Sam Cooke’s “That’s Where It’s At,” the O’Neal Twins’ “Jesus Dropped The Charges,” and so many others. On this track I play electric guitar and sing, Alton plays Wurlitzer electric piano and sings harmony, Gerald Dowd plays drums and John Abbey plays bass. It was tracked live to tape in the studio at Kingsize Sound Labs in Chicago, with John Abbey at the board.” – Steve Dawson
WATCH:
The post VIDEO PREMIERE: Dolly Varden’s Steve Dawson Swirls a Hopeful Mix of Roots Rock and 60s R&B on “Time to Let Some Light In” appeared first on Glide Magazine.
