Julian Dawson

Julian Dawson has now been active as a musician and songwriter, in Europe and the USA, for almost forty years, breaking away occasionally from live performance long enough to make a few recordings. The current count stands at twenty-one solo albums, three of them compilations, as well as numerous guest appearances as singer, session player with his signature harmonica or as producer.

BAP, Can, E Street Band and Bruce Springsteen

The distinctive melodic and lyrical features of his writing have been well served over the years by a production style that’s gratifyingly uncluttered – and he has always surrounded himself with outstanding musicians.

While many artists tend to find a successful formula and stick to it, Julian’s career has been a constant journey of re-invention, with influences drawn from British folk, raw blues, classic country and sixties pop music. From his beginnings in the UK pub-rock environment, the mid-eighties saw a move to experimental German rock band Can’s Inner Space studio near Cologne, where he recorded two fine albums (“As real as Disneyland” and “Luckiest Man in the Western World”) for Polydor.

A first visit to Nashville in the early-nineties led to many successful co-writes and to the recording of two entirely different sounding albums (“Fragile as China” and “Headlines”), produced by E Street Band bass-player Garry Tallent, and featuring a host of local talents.

Trips to America then became a regular part of his life and two New York-based albums followed (“How Human Hearts Behave” and “Travel on”), featuring collaborations with like-minded colleagues such as Dan Penn, Nicky Hopkins and Lucinda Williams. All these diverse productions are represented here and those already familiar with Julian Dawson’s albums or live concerts will relish this anthology. It gathers together some of his finest work, combining long unavailable tracks with never before released rarities and demos.

Julian Dawson and Blue Rose Records

Personally I can’t think of another artist with a career path eclectic enough to comfortably include brushes with avant-garde performers Can, jazz with Toots Thielemans, country with Vince Gill and the Louvin Brothers, soul with Dan Penn and Lucinda Williams, rock with Gene Parsons and Little Feat, folk-rock with Richard Thompson, Iain Matthews and the Roches and a peppering of legendary performers the calibre of Duane Eddy to round things off.

The unifying thread to his still vibrant musical life remains the songs, the singing and a deep love of performing. Here’s a look back at some of the highlights…