Steve Dawson (from the album Solid States and Loose Ends) - Steve Dawson has packed a lot into twenty years. His performance and studio work in Vancouver, Canada made him a go-to producer, with Steve logging over eighty album credits in the north before relocating to Nashville, TN. When Steve made his move to Tennessee he packed up completely, bringing his Henhouse Studios with him, where he created Solid States and Loose Ends, his latest release. He gathers personal pieces from a past that played host to varied styles, mixing them with the studio tricks and life tales that Steve Dawson has captured along the way. Solid States and Loose Ends showcases Blues slide guitar on the Folk Country of “Riley’s Henhouse Door”, and keeps Country Blues close as horns steady the weaving guitar lines popping around Steve as he admits “You Got What It Takes”.
Steve Dawson offers Solid States and Loose Ends as a vocal driven album, musically in contrast with the sparser instrumentation and darker themes of his last few releases. He speaks with Southern Soul as Steve back his words with warm organ notes, stinging guitar riffs, and sympathetic horns with “Final Words”. A snaking lead guitar opens Solid States and Loose Ends on jittery percussion with “Loose Ends” as gypsy jazz hurries over the thick twang of “On Top of the World’ while a fiddle and guitar choose sides behind the “Drivers Wheel” and an electric guitar sears the sound as mandolin strums fan the flames in “Can't Put That Monkey on your Back”. Steve Dawson plucks a Folk ode for a “California Savior”, tells of the times coming backed by The McCrary Sisters in “Early Warning”, pumps a bass heartbeat for “Broken Future Blues”, and sings goodbye to “Delia” on a front porch jam.