Steve Dawson with Fats Kaplin

Over the past two decades, Steve Dawson has become such an indelible fixture on the Canadian musical landscape that it’s tempting to take him for granted. The music that flows out of him is so natural and authentic that it’s possible to forget all of the toil that went into producing it.

Behind the seemingly endless stream of award winning musical output (he has produced and/or played on more than 200 albums since the turn of the millennium, 7 of which have won Juno Awards), is one of the hardest working musicians this country has ever produced. Whether he’s turning heads on the concert circuit with his incendiary playing, or pulling the best possible performances out of the many artists that he works with in the studio, Dawson is always striving to take things to the next level.

A native of Vancouver, Canada, he currently resides in Nashville, where he works as a solo artist, sideman, and record producer, Steve has forged an impressive career full of highlights and awards, including:

• 7 Juno Awards as artist/producer, 18 times nominated
• 3 times named "Producer Of The Year" at Western Canadian Music Awards
• 4 times named "Producer Of The Year" at Canadian Folk Music Awards
• Recipient of many other awards including Maple Blues Awards, Grand Prix De Jazz De Montreal, Blues Blast Awards, and many Western Canadian Music Awards and Canadian Folk Awards as an artist and producer

Steve’s multi-faceted career has brought him to countless international festivals, working on stage and in the studio with an extensive cast of musicians, including Allison Russell, John Hammond, Sonny Landreth, Van Dyke Parks, David Hidalgo, Jim Byrnes, David Olney, Oliver Wood, Jill Barber, Dave Alvin, Joe Henry, Steve Poltz, Amy Helm, Tim O'Brien, Molly Tuttle, Luther Dickinson, Fats Kaplin, The McCrary Sisters, Matt Chamberlain, Birds of Chicago, Long John Baldry, Bruce Cockburn, Kelly Joe Phelps, Linda McRae, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Geoff Muldaur, Scott Amendola, Danny Barnes, The Deep Dark Woods, The Matinee, Colin Linden, Big Dave McLean, and many others.

Between producing projects for other artists, Steve has recorded music of his own that has explored blues, jazz, Hawaiian, rock, and experimental music. His groundbreaking work with Jesse Zubot in Zubot and Dawson kicked things off in 1998, leading to 2 albums with Toronto jazz stalwarts Andrew Downing and Kevin Turcotte in the award-winning Great Uncles of the Revolution.

For this show Steve will be joined by the talented multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplin, an American musician, best known as a fiddler, who also plays guitar, button accordion, banjo, mandolin, steel guitar, an Arab oud, and a Turkish cümbüş, among others. Fats has worked with artists such as Jack White, Trisha Yearwood, The Tractors, Nanci Griffith, Pure Prairie League, John Prine, Roy Bookbinder, Beck, Mitski, and Tinariwen.

The Upstairs Lounge is a licensed restaurant and bar, doors open at 6 pm for dinner service, the concert starts at 7:30 pm - PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A LISTENING VENUE