Richard Dawson
Richard Dawson: Geordie songwriter who found a voice in his local library
Singer says his eye condition means he sees things differently – and, when you hear his music, what he’s saying makes sense
At a time of year when the music industry is fixated more than ever on commerce – generating buzz for its priority acts for the forthcoming year, shifting vast piles of box sets and mass market albums to Christmas gift buyers – there is something heartening about the slowly rising profile of Richard Dawson.
The […] Geordie singer-songwriter released his album Nothing Important last month, to a level of acclaim that would surely have seen it featuring on end-of-year lists all over the place had it come out a little earlier.
It is a far cry from the other male singer-songwriters who have featured in success stories this year, though – there’s nothing of Ben Howard or George Ezra or Hozier about Dawson.[ . . . ] Read more at: Richard Dawson: Geordie songwriter who found a voice in his local library
Horror in the Hills: When Rural Life Meets Acid-Tinged Folk Music
From Richard Dawson’s bellowed workers’ songs to Shirley Collins’ delicate folk, there’s a story told beyond ruddy-faced farmer stereotypes.
“…If things looking bleak now, they’ve always sounded psychedelic. As the acid-laced optimism of the late 60s slumped into the nuclear comedown of the early 70s, a string of artists sprung from the dark heart of rural Britain. Albums likeBasket of Light by Pentangle, The Incredible String Band’s Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter, or First Utterance by Comus, hum with cosmic vibrations, and those vibrations reverberate to this very day. Listen carefully and you’ll hear them today in the newer music of acts like Bendith – a Welsh folk collab act – Richard Dawson, who roars over a detuned guitar like someone who’s just stood on an upwards-facing plug and octogenarian legend Shirley Collins…” | Read full story