Steve Dawson
Rattlesnake Cage
Release Date: Feb 18, 2014
Genre(s): Folk, Blues, Pop/Rock, Acoustic Blues
Record label: Black Hen Music
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Album Review: Rattlesnake Cage by Steve Dawson
Fairly Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 7/10
He recently relocated to Nashville, but Steve Dawson remains a renaissance man within Canadian roots music. He has won seven Junos as a producer for the likes of Jenny Whiteley and Old Man Luedecke, is an acclaimed guitarist and songwriter himself and runs the Black Hen label.His formidable skills as a guitarist take centre stage on this solo instrumental record. Recorded with a single vintage tube microphone, it captures the purity of Dawson's sound and sensibility.
Based on rating 3/5
One man, one microphone, one acoustic guitar. . . pure magic. It doesn’t take much when you have Canadian producer/singer/songwriter Steve Dawson’s talent to wring folk, blues, country and gospel out of his instrument. Best known to those north of the border as a producer, solo artist and label ….
Based on rating 3/5
It doesn't get much more solo than this: a man in a room with an old microphone (he I.D.s it, even: a Neumann M49) and four of his favourite guitars. Vancouver-bred Steve Dawson - now a Nashville-based guitarist, songwriter and producer - revels in that simplicity on his latest, an instrumental guitar album showcasing his various styles of fingerpicking and slide work without overdubs or effects (technically impressive considering the shower of notes on opener Blind Thomas At The Crime Scene, for instance). The result is tunes that are pleasant more often than arresting, tailor-made for playing quietly in the kitchen.
Opinion: Fairly Good
A multiple Juno Award winner in his native Canada, guitarist Steve Dawson boasts a mighty impressive resume. Yet despite a production roster that includes such notables as Jim Byrnes, Kelly Joe Phelps, Old Man Luedecke, The Sojourners, and The Deep Dark Woods, it’s Dawson’s reputation as a multifaceted guitarist that’s reaped him the bulk of his awards and accolades. As if to assert that status, Rattlesnake Cage foregoes vocals entirely and offers instead a series of solo instrumentals that spotlight his skills in a variety of acoustic settings.
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