Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

Steve Dawson Trio
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Hermann's Jazz Club, 753 View St., Victoria
Doors 6:30pm - Showtime 8pm
Tickets: $18.00 Advance / $20 Door
Available at: Lyle's Place 770 Yates St., Ditch Records 635 Johnson St.
and online at www.hightideconcerts.net

Steve Dawson websites: www.stevedawson.ca & www.myspace.com/stevedawson05

Steve Dawson is an accomplished Canadian guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. Specializing in slide and fingerstyle
guitar, pedal steel, lap steel, banjo and other stringed instruments, he is in-demand as a live performer, session
musician, and producer.

Over the last decade, Steve has risen to prominence in the Canadian music scene with his work on dozens of
acclaimed recordings and tours that have taken him around the world and across North America countless times.

Steve grew up in Vancouver, where he began to get into music in his early teens, playing in local venues with
numerous bands. After a short time playing the guitar, Steve picked up the bottleneck slide guitar, citing Duane Allman
and Ry Cooder as his earliest influences.

At 18, Steve spent two years at Boston’s Berklee College, before returning to Vancouver, to perform in touring original
bands for several years. The Spirit Merchants were the most prominent and this band played countless gigs all over
North America. His interest in acoustic music began to take root at this time, as he explored the earliest recordings of
blues, jazz, and Hawaiian music from the 1920’s and ‘30’s.

In 1998, The Spirit Merchants evolved into a duo with violinist Jesse Zubot (Zubot and Dawson) that featured acoustic
instruments in genre-stretching original music. Zubot and Dawson rose to prominence in the Canadian music scene
over a span of 3 albums, which won many awards, including the prestigious Juno Award in 2002.

During that time, another project developed, called The Great Uncles of the Revolution, which teamed up Zubot and
Dawson with 2 exceptional jazz musicians from Toronto – Kevin Turcotte and Andrew Downing. This band was also
very well received in the short life of the group, and was also the winner of a Juno Award in 2003, as well as The Grand
Prix de Jazz at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 2003.

Steve began his solo recording career at the same time, releasing his debut “Bug Parade” in 2001.

Along the way, friends and other artists began asking Steve to produce records for them, and in between tours and
sessions, Steve started an extensive new branch of his career as record producer. After producing award-winning
albums for Jenny Whiteley, Jim Byrnes, Old Man Luedecke, Kelly Joe Phelps and many others, Steve built a small
facility to accommodate his recording needs and to house his unique collection of instruments. The Henhouse, as it is
now known, has been the creative centre of Steve’s recording life, and he has produced many records there for artists
such as Ndidi Onukwulu, The Deep Dark Woods, The Sojourners, Shuyler Jansen, John Wort Hannam, and many
more. Between 2005 and 2008 Steve has been awarded Producer of the Year twice at both the Canadian Folk Music
Awards, and at the Western Canadian Music Awards.

In 1998, Steve started Black Hen Music, and independent record label with the intention of releasing roots, acoustic,
jazz and blues music. Over the last 10 years, Black Hen has thrived and now has a roster of almost 20 artists and over
30 releases that are distributed internationally.

Steve’s solo career continued and 2005 saw the release of the Juno Award – nominated “We Belong to the Gold
Coast” which further explored Steve’s love of antique and modern sounds, mixing traditional blues and Hawaiian
music with Steve’s original songs.

Over the last decade, Steve has performed at major jazz festivals (Monterey Jazz Festival, Calgary, Sasktel, Edmonton,
Montreal, Manchester, and many more), every major Canadian folk festival, and many in the USA as well.

2008 saw the release of 2 solo albums “Waiting For The Lights To Come Up” – a collection of new songs, and a few
traditional numbers, and “Telescope” – an all-instrumental album featuring the pedal steel guitar as the main voice.
Recorded at the same time, these were 2 different concepts that Steve wanted to record with the same group of
musicians. The band consisted of musical compatriots Keith Lowe (Fiona Apple, Bill Frisell), Scott Amendola (TJ Kirk,
Madeleine Peyroux), and Chris Gestrin (K-OS, Randy Bachman).

“Telescope” was nominated for a Juno Award in 2009 and was the culmination of a grant that Steve received in 2005
from the Canada Council for the Arts, to study the pedal steel with Greg Leisz, the foremost player of the instrument
outside of country music.

Steve’s latest production project is a tribute to the 1930’s group, the Mississippi Sheiks. This project is due to be
released in the fall of 2009 and features performances by Bruce Cockburn, John Hammond, The Carolina Chocolate
Drops, The North Mississippi Allstars, Bill Frisell, Bob Brozman, Geoff Muldaur, Madeleine Peyroux, and many more.

Steve currently splits his time between performances (either solo, with his band, or as a sideman), contributing to film
and TV soundtrack scores (both as composer and musician), and when not on the road, he is usually in the studio,
working as a session musician or producer.