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.
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 other instruments. 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.
Also performing will be Aleksi Campagne, who is uniquely qualified to offer a contemporary, indie-folk take on the time-honoured fiddle-singing tradition. Aleksi grew up on stage. At five years old, he began performing alongside his mother, Canadian folk icon, Connie Kaldor. At nineteen, Aleksi moved to Paris to study under Jazz-violin legend Didier Lockwood. At twenty-one, Aleksi became the only student to have ever been simultaneously accepted into the classical violin, jazz violin and jazz voice performance programs at McGill University. And, by twenty-five, with only a six-song EP, Aleksi graced the lineups of some of the most competitive folk festivals across Canada for three consecutive years – including the Regina, Canmore, and Bear Creek Folk Festivals.
April 4 at 8:00 p.m.
MEL LEHAN HALL AT ST. JAMES
3214 West 10th Ave, Kitsilano
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