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When I was fifteen years old I was the youngest of a half-dozen local folkies performing weekly in an improvised "coffeehouse" housed in the auditorium of Service Club #2 on Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. It was an odd environment for boys and girls who sang songs about peace (both political and inner) and love (both romantic and universal) at the height of the Vietnam War and the first few Sunday nights were more than a little awkward; the audience in their uniforms, regulation post basic training haircuts and fatigues and the performers in ours, embroidered jeans, work shirts and long hair-well, most of us had long hair. Al Dawson knew the same songs that we knew and some that we didn't. He came from Chicago and it was from Al that I first heard about the Old Town School of Folk Music and the names and songs of John Prine and Steve Goodman. He had the first slot head dreadnought Martin I ever saw in person and he played it as if it were an extension of his self and when he sang his voice rang out through the club and even the gung ho GI's who avoided the auditorium like the plague on Sunday nights stuck their heads in the door. Then they'd see that, to their surprise it wasn't one of us draft dodgers but one of their own and sometimes they'd slip into the back row and listen for a while. After six months the Powers That Were closed the coffeehouse down without explanation and I never saw Al again. Word on the street was that he received his orders for Vietnam and shipped out a few weeks later and was killed there the following year. For 37 some odd years I believed that Al Dawson was dead. Well he ain't. Earlier this year, I mentioned Al's name in an interview with a Chicago paper and a friend of Al's saw it and e-mailed Al and Al e-mailed then the paper and the paper called me and Well, anyway Al Dawson's alive and well and living in New Mexico and he still plays and sings like an avenging angel. Steve Earle |
If I had a nickel for every time my old buddy Al Dawson told me what a great singer/songwriter/guitarist/multi- instrumentalist/arranger/producer/philosopher /friend he is, I guess I'd still just have the nickel I came in with. And then he'd borrow it from me. That's the Al Dawson I know.
Enjoy the music., --john seay, April 2008
"Al Dawson has performed twice at the Fountain Theatre as part of the Mesilla Valley Film Society's 'Music Before the Movie' program. His strong but casual performances of his own works and that of others has already garnered requests for a return engagement. His closing piece during his first show had the audience (a full house, I might add) singing along, something which had not happened before with other artists that have played for the series."
Jeff Berg
"Thank you so much for kicking off our Intimate Concert Series at Angel's Serenity. We really enjoyed the concert and Al's wit & wisdom. His voice has such beautiful range. What a pleasure to listen! We look forward to having you come back and play for us again!"
Lisa DeChiara and Edwin Van de Grift
"On a cool evening in June, 50 people sat in an outdoor patio on the high mesa above the Mesilla Valley listening to the music of Al Dawson. What a treat! A recent transplant from the Chicago music scene, Al is an accomplished guitar player. Al treated the audience to a sampling of songs from his new CD "Against the Grain," a collection of gentle but evocative melodies full of poetry about love, life and beauty skillfully blended with stylish acoustic guitar arrangements. The music was a little bit country, a little bit blues, but all folk; accompanied by the sounds of the high desert. Crickets chirped, Al sang, poetic images drifted on the cool evening air, and guitar echoed warmly off the adobe garden walls.
It was an evening well spent among friends and neighbors, enjoying the artistry, wisdom and humor of a down-to-earth folk musician." |