Fame Magazine

Steve Dawson hails now from Vancouver, B.C. which is not exactly pedal steel guitar territory, however a number of years ago he received a grant from the Canada Council For The Arts to study pedal steel with Greg Leisz one of the foremost players of said instrument. He used the time wisely, learned his lessons well, though most people know the pedal steel as a country music instrument he is using it sonically to create texture and space in his compositions, much like fellow Canadian Daniel Lanois. Dawson has made his mark in Canada as a musician/producer/and songwriter, and assembled a crack band to release two albums this year, this all-instrumental disc is actually the second of the two, however the first to get to the desk and thus the ears. It is mood shaping by being sound bending and creating interplay between the instruments; it is based both on structure and improvisation.

Before thinking Dawson is a one-instrument wonder, he first came to attention playing guitar and producing Tom Taylor, but it was his guitar playing that caught the ear. As well as pedal steel he plays all acoustic, electric, baritone, and slide guitars, ukulele, banjo, pump organ, marxophone, piano and glockenspiel. As said this is a band effort and he has Keith Low on electric and acoustic bass, Scott Amendola on drums, Chris Gestrin on organ piano, Wurlitzer, fun machine and clavioline. Mr. Dawson also produced and wrote all the songs except 1000 Year Old Egg, which he wrote with Chris Gestrin. We have here a Canadian that is not getting deserved airplay in the U. S.