Newsposted on:
Friday, January 09, 2009
Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen have quietly pieced together one of the city's most impressive musical legacies as the husband-and-wife singers and songwriters fronting Dolly Varden. -Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune Dolly Varden singer/songwriter Steve Dawson's second solo album, "I will miss the trumpets and the drums" will be released February 23, 2010. Get the full story at his website: stevedawsonmusic.com Dolly Varden is currently working on new songs for a follow-up to "The Panic Bell", and playing select shows in the Chicago area. Dolly Varden on Myspace Dolly Varden catalog now available on itunes and all other online retailers also now available online only, Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen's 'Duets' album Panic!posted on:
Saturday, December 02, 2006
REVIEWS FOR 'THE PANIC BELL' album available now at the Undertow Store It's been four years since the last installment of Dolly Varden music, but The Panic Bell arrives with the key elements of the band's music wholly intact. Songwriter Steve Dawson has an unerring capacity for finding the caveat in joy and desolation, in light and darkness. His voice thins and strains with compelling force; partner Diane Christiansen's is here a fragile ache, there a soothing croon of reassurance; and when they sing together, the two create an entirely new whole. The band moves seamlessly from the delicate, folky sound of "Small Pockets" and the Stones-tinged rock of "You Never Will" to the guitar-and-harp wail of "Triumph Mine, Idaho" and the gorgeous pop of "It's All Gonna Change," all the while managing to inhabit the music with a simmering, barely contained intensity. The Panic Bell serves notice that Dolly Varden continues to make pop music that is seductive, transcendent and peerless. - Harp Although it's tempting to assert that they don't make records like Dolly Varden's The Panic Bell anymore, it's far more accurate to say that they never really did. Led by the founding husband-and-wife, singer/songwriter duo of Steve Dawson (who wrote all but one of the album's 10 tunes) and Diane Christiansen, the group occupies a self-contained musical universe. Sure, classic echoes abound throughout the taut and cohesive collection. But for all the Beatles, Band, or early Little Feat references you can comb out of the tightly threaded mix, there's an utterly distinctive, here-and-now artfulness to the proceedings that defies easy pigeonholing. Much like their higher-profile homies in Wilco, Dolly Varden (named, incidentally, after a species of trout that in turn took its name from a fictional Dickens character) blends vintage guitar tones and historically aware song craft with a bold and restless insistence on reinventing the wheel. And let's just say that the Chicago-based quintet is currently on a serious roll. -PUREMUSIC.COM The Panic Bell seems to channel the 1960s classicism of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, even a hint of the Beach Boys. The pop buoyancy of both "Everything" and "You Never Will" offers a rapturous testament to marital bliss, while the much darker "Your LastMistake" is a song Elvis Costello would be proud to call his own - No Depression Check out the Varden Vaultposted on:
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Recordings of shows going back to the band's very humble beginnings. Live shows, radio interviews and more with notes from our friend and archivist Chandler. Stop by, listen, make comments. There is a growing series of shows available for free download at the Live Music Archive. You can download a whole show, or listen to individual songs. Check it out! Here's the main page. Itunes now has 4 of 5 of Dolly Varden's CD catalog available for purchase, as well as my solo album (Steve Dawson, 'Sweet Is The Anchor'): The Thrill of Gravity, The Dumbest Magnets, Forgiven Now, and The Panic Bell. CD's on Undertow also available via the Undertow online store Other Musicposted on:
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
For information on Steve Dawson's solo album, 'Sweet Is The Anchor' please visit stevedawsonmusic.com. For Mark Balletto's band, My Record Player please visit myrecordplayer.com |