For guitar maestro, roots music master, and producer Steve Dawson the pandemic meant ‘time to get busy.’ Eyes Closed, Dreaming is his third of the ‘pandemic trilogy,’ all released in the space of twelve months, and all three covered on these pages. Consider Gone Long Gone as a companion album as most tracks stemmed from the same recording session with these elite players tapped by Dawson – Fats Kaplin, Tim O’Brien, Allison Russell, Jay Bellerose, and Kevin McKendree, to name just a few. As with Gone Long Gone, the four originals of the eleven, arguably form the strength of the album and were penned with Black Hen artist Matt Patershuk. And, given Dawson’s musicologist bent, covers range from Bix Biederbecke to Bobby Charles to Jack Clement to John Hartford to Ian Tyson.
The late Tyson’s jaunty “Long Time to Get Old” opens with Kaplin’s sparkling mandolin and Russell sweet harmonies mingling with Dawson’s various guitars and his veritable “house band” – Jeremy Holmes (bass), Chris Gestrin (keys), and Gary Craig (drums). The first of four originals follow with Bellerose on the drum kit and Kari Latimer on harmonies for “The Gift,” a primarily acoustic ballad imbued by Dawson’s full arsenal of nylon string, electric guitar, pedal steel, and marxophone, the latter two of which emit some psychedelic strains. He calls on the string players, Ben Plotnick (violin and viola) and Kaitlyn Raitz (cello) for the acoustic, mellow “Hemingway” with harmonies from his daughter, Casey Dawson. The song and instrumentation are as with the title track on Gone Long Gone. “The Owl” also flows smoothly, with Dawson’s rather non-descript vocals (he can’t be a master of everything) bathed in harmonies from Russell and his daughter. The tune features Dawson’s deft acoustic fingerpicking. The fourth original, “Polaroid,” features the same cast as Dawson digs even deeper instrumentally, adding vibes and Mellotron to his guitar army to create resonating layers.
In terms of the covers, his take on the traditional acoustic blues “House Carpenter,” compares favorably to that of the late Kelly Joe Phelps with his Weissenborn paired with O’Brien’s mandolin to give it a bluegrass tinge, yet ultimately a trance-like feel. Charles” “Small Town Talk” will always be associated with Rick Danko for this writer, but this version with Dawson’s slashing slide brings plenty of soul replete with McKendree’s piano and organ along with a three-piece horn section. Dawson applies such unconventional touches as ukelele and pump organ to the rousing “Waikiki Stonewall Rag” and Beiderbecke’s “Singin’ the Blues” forming a trilogy of instrumentals with Gone Long Gone’s “Kalaniapia Waltz.” The combination of strings (Weissenborn, National, ukelele) with Gestrin’s vaudeville-like piano take us back to yesteryear.
Having opened the album in a country vein, Dawson encores with Jack Clement’s Johnny Cash-associated “Guess Things Happen That Way,” in a joyous romp punctuated with his sharp guitar picking and Gestrin’s pulsating organ. He closes, accompanying himself just on Weissenberg for John Hartford’s “Let Him Go On Mama,” an ode to a life dedicated to music.
We closed our review for Gone Long Gone this way – “This is Dawson’s tour de force to date, among an already impressive body of work.” Eyes Closed, Dreaming is now a vital contender for that honor. The albums are two of a kind.
