Stereo Embers The Podcast 0145: Steve Dawson (Dolly Varden, Funeral Bonsai Wedding)

“Immersion In Music Is What I Love”

Well, it really shows. That’s how Steve Dawson describes his relationship with his craft and though he plays guitar and sings, it’s music and instruments of all kinds that really ring his creative bell. Known for his work with Chicago’s roots-soul outfit Dolly Varden, Dawson has been a busy guy since his band’s temporary hiatus. Aside from co-authoring a book, releasing solo albums and teaching music, Dawson and his Funeral Bonsai Wedding band have just released their sophomore album Last Flight Out. Experimental, affecting and
cosmically cool, it’s an innovative and inventive record that falls somewhere between Astral Weeks and The Waterboys’ A Pagan Place. In this interview Dawson chats with Alex about how he ended up in Chicago, his love of McCartney and how he started playing guitar. He also offers advice to young musicians, extols the virtues of Paul Simon, and talks about hearing Hüsker Dü while working in an ice cream store…