Last year, Chicago’s Steve Dawson (Dolly Varden/Funeral Bonsai Wedding) released At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree (Pravda Records). In his review of the album, Bob Fish shared how grief and loss had influenced the creation of that album. He included some background on how Steve had attended a songwriting camp in the Catskills run by Richard Thompson along with special guest Patty Griffin. From Patty’s class, he took away the lesson “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!”
That lesson is put into practice again on his new single, ‘A World Without You A World Without You’, an achingly soulful number to be released on 21 January. We have the pleasure of sharing with accompanying video with you today.
He shared the following:
“This song came pouring out one night a few years ago. It could be heard as a lost love song, but I think, honestly, it’s about the passing of my wife’s parents, who I was closer with than my own parents. Right when it was written, it was included on a recording project called “On Big Shoulders.” I didn’t get the arrangement right at the time, though. It was too new and I didn’t have the right feel for it. I recorded a double album’s worth of songs for ‘At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree” and this retake of the song was one of them.
“The album ended up a single LP so I have a bunch of finished tracks that I will be releasing over the next year or so, some as singles, and possibly an EP of others. I tried A World Without You as a country / soul ballad and I felt that it worked much better. I’m a huge fan of classic country music of the 1960’s and 70’s and Merle Haggard is one of my top 5 favorite singers and songwriters. I’ve written a handful of songs over the years aiming for that classic feeling and this, I think, is the closest I’ve gotten.”
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.
Bob Fish, Folk Radio
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Photo Credit: Matthew Gilkson