"Never before has Dawson sounded so incredibly free."
Read MoreSaskatoon Star Phoenix
"For Dawson, the move to Nashville spells a new beginning. And a few other things."
Read MoreFame
"The guy, as you already know if you're familiar with his catalogue, is an extraordinary fingerpicker, and Rattlesnake Cage brings the old Takoma label's early days screaming right up to the present."
Read MoreEdmonton Journal
"His approach to fingerstyle guitar intentionally references parts of roots music history, pioneers like Mississippi John Hurt, and others."
Read MoreMOJO
The producer behind Jim Byrnes’s recent albums and 2009’s Mississippi Sheiks project, Dawson is also an accomplished acoustic guitar soloist in an American Primitive idiom, inspired by roots musicians whom he acknowledges in quirky titles like Blind Thomas At The Crime Scene or The Medicine Show Comes To Avalon. Recorded with vintage hardware, the guitar sound is as rich as tiramisu.
Comox Valley Record
"The fluidity of Steve’s playing makes what he does sound so effortless that it’s easy to forget that it takes years of disciplined practice to achieve such an apparent simplicity."
Read MoreEdmonton Sun
"Southern narratives are evoked with songs wuch as The Medicine Show Comes to Avalon, there's a taste of ragtime in J.R. Lockley's Dilemma and blues to found in The Altar at Centre Raven."
Read MoreThe Vancouver Province
"Dexterous, of course, with a grounding in folk-blues, the record seems unfettered (the title notwithstanding) and relishes in the sound of a guitar for its own sake. It’s not lofty, in other words, but earthy and homespun."
Read MoreVancouver Sun
"Some have even dubbed him the Canadian Ry Cooder, in reference to Cooder’s constant work as a roots revivalist. Not far off the mark when you consider Dawson’s acclaimed Mississippi Sheiks Tribute Project..."
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Acoustic Guitar
"When country-folk contrarian Townes Van Zandt quipped that there are only two kinds of songs, the blues and zip-a-dee-doo-dah, he could have been talking about Rattlesnake Cage."
Read MoreMOJO-UK
"Recorded with vintage hardware, the guitar sound is as rich as tiramisu."
Read MoreRootstime (Belgium)
“Rattlesnake Cage is an album that refers to all the places where Dawson has been and to all genres of music he has heard. "
Read MorePenguin Eggs
"Using a few different guitars and a single Neumann M49 microphone he works his way through various genres, bending them and twisting them out of shape and into his own personal sound."
Read MoreWashington Blues Society
I first discovered Dawson a few years back, he was one of the main forces behind the award winning Tribute to the Mississippi Sheiks project, and I have been very impressed by his talent. Rattlesnake Cage is one man, four guitars; a Jumbo Larivee, a Weissenborn, a National Tricone and a Taylor 12-string, an old microphone with some history, eleven original songs, and some fingers and slides. Steve includes a variety of instrumentals featuring intricate fingering, ringing tone and the impassioned and skillful playing of a master craftsman.
Read Moreminor 7th
"The Canandian native gets into your head, into your aura. His musical stew offers a hint of blues for the soul, unerring tempo for the mind, ragtime for a historical bounce, and whimsy for the romantic in all of us."
Read MoreRecord World Magazine
"...If you are even remotely a fan of the guitar, then this is a release for you."
Read MoreCrossroads Blues Society of Northern Illinois
"Dawson is easily a master guitarist who presents an instrumental CD with a level of expertise that has a certain satisfying flow."
Read MoreBlues Matters
"This is acoustic heaven, using every old school method as possible, Dawson takes the listener on a journey."
Read MoreiTunes
"These performances are filled with fluent grace and genuine warmth."
Read MoreAmerican Blues Scene
"Steve Dawson’s Rattlesnake Cage is a gift to the ears, and the soul as well. Stunning in it’s immediacy, and simplicity, this music awakens the spirit."
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