Steve Dawson

management: Bob Andrews & Adam Klavohn
booking: Marie Arsenault / Roughneck Booking
record label: Chris Grabau / Undertow Records
links: website | myspace | facebook

Steve Dawson grew up in small town Idaho during the dark ages of Ronald Reagan and the Urban Cowboy soundtrack. To fight the boredom he spent hours and hours obsessing over his parent’s record collection. His dad, a renown wildlife illustrator, had a huge wall of Soul, R&B and Jazz Lp’s, and his step mom had all the 60′s and 70′s basics: the Beatles, the Stones, Dylan… and Country music was everywhere – on the town’s only radio station, in the park at night, propelling summer parades – and it all dug into his consciousness. When he was 13 he took guitar lessons from one of Idaho’s mountain fiddle champions and started writing songs. Later he taught himself to play piano by hammering away on the family upright. His first professional gig was at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Bellevue, ID at age 16 playing guitar with Cadillac Carl and the Road Rangers.

After high school Dawson spent some time in Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music, but eventually settled in Chicago. His first band was called Stump the Host, a group that wore its rock, soul and country influences on its sleeve. At the heart of the band were Steve’s melodic, hook-filled songs and the plaintive two-part harmony singing of Dawson and his wife, Diane Christiansen. The critics loved it, but record companies were not yet ready for what would later come to be called ‘alternative country’. After releasing a 7″ single on Minty Fresh and signing a publishing deal with Polygram, Stump the Host broke up.

In the mid 90′s Dawson and Christiansen formed a new band called Dolly Varden. Dolly Varden’s stylistic influences were less obvious and Dawson’s songwriting developed a new subtlety and depth. Over the course of 4 albums and steady touring the band has built a devoted following in the US and Britain. Critics from Rolling Stone, Mojo, and the Village Voice, among others, have praised Dawson’s gift for melodic, evocative songwriting and the group’s soulful vocal harmonies. His songs have been compared to the short stories of Raymond Carver for their use of language and dark introspective subject matter.