Steve Dawson – At the Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree
Pravda Records – 16 July 2021
We can thank Richard Thompson and Patti Griffin that Steve Dawson was able to record At the Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree. 2017 was a rocky time for him; both his mother- and father-in-law died. That brought up memories of his own mother’s death years earlier, along with his father’s abandonment. The weight of all that caused him to put down his guitar and reassess his career choices. Eventually, he attended Thompson’s songwriting camp in the Catskills. In Griffin’s songwriting class, he had the assignment of writing a song inspired by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You”. That afternoon he wrote “I Will Never Stop Being Sorry,” performing it for Griffin and the class the next day. The lesson he learned was, “To be fearless and to write the songs that push at the boundaries of what is scary or intimidating. That life is short, and there’s no point in worrying so much!”
Unlike his most recent album, Steve Dawson and Funeral Bonsai Wedding’s Last Flight Out, which was recorded and mixed in a day, At the Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree is primarily a solo record recorded in the midst of the pandemic. Building an album piece by piece offers a significant change of pace which the world situation only helped along. Focused on the songs, he recorded several versions attempting to find the perfect arrangement. Despite the dark times he had been through, exorcising some ghosts, he found the process of recording joyful.
Taking notes from the classics “This Is All There Is” begins with a drum fill from Gladys Knight and the Pips “Midnight Train to Georgia” combined with the introductory chords from Al Green’s “(Here I Am) Come and Take Me.” Interesting choices for a song that deals with the effects of the disease on loved ones during the pandemic. “It’s not gonna be all right/ So what are you gonna do about it?/ Get back in bed and turn out the light/ try not to think about it.” It’s a tough choice, but what else is there to do?
Meaning often comes in strange places. “22 Rubber Bands” offers a view of the world as organ and guitar merge, while first love plays out against his strange daily collection found around town. The memories of those times dance in the most unexpected ways, “I never loved anything the way I love you/ Impossible and all the way deep through/ I know that I made a lot of mistakes/ 22 tiny rubber bands in one day.” Remembering those moments seems to crystalize experiences in ways one would never expect.
The problem, though, is that you don’t get to just remember the good times. “I Will Never Stop Being Sorry” works a kind of magic against an acoustic guitar and soft piano while incorporating the Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic “I Put a Spell on You.” It’s a track with some serious darkness, “The dogs in the basement/ Locked up in cages/ Our beautiful house, our beautiful tree/ Burned to the ground/ All because of me.” Music doesn’t always have to be pretty to be powerful.
As something of a bonus, Dawson adds a couple of tracks that were previously recorded. One in particular, “However Long It Takes,” was on Last Flight Out. It holds up remarkably well in this context, especially since it really is about finding a new path to walk. A reminder to us all, it is perhaps the mantra we need now, “I will be filled with love/ however long it takes/ to give back the wasted breath/ cause there is no time for that.”
Setting his crisis of confidence to music, Steve Dawson’s At the Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree offers a renewal of hope. We’ve never needed that more.
http://www.stevedawsonmusic.com
Photo Credit: Matthew Gilson