Tempest Going Home
Every year, it seems when St. Patrick’s Day rolls around I get inebriated celebrating the wrong holiday. Long has passed the days where I would wear green beads, a big green novelty Irish hat and drown my liver in green beer. Lately, the opening round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has coincided with the Feast of Saint Patrick, making it more difficult to find a seat at a sports bar so I can instead drown my liver and sorrows in non-green beer as my bracket is busted.
This year was a great opening day of the tournament and St. Patrick’s Day as I sat at a sports bar with a great view of all of the games and spent the rest of my day listening to some great Celtic music. I listened to The Pogues, Flogging Molly, and longtime favorites The Chieftains, plus the latest from Bay Area Celtic Band Tempest.
Tempest released their new album Going Home on St. Patrick’s Day and was co-produced by band leader Lief Sorbye and Robert Berry. The album can be best described as “Euro Celtic,” as Tempest incorporates more Scandinavian and British Isles material into their brand of Progressive Folk Rock. Lead single “Jolly Roger” is a folk-rock cover of one of Lief’s favorite “deep tracks” from the Byrds’ Roger McGuinn. Lief wrote “The Shepherd’s Daughter,” based on the traditional British ballad, The Knight and The Shepherd’s Daughter. “Dream Morris” was a melody fully formed in Lief’s head one morning when he woke.
The album features a range of spirited fiddle and mandolin instrumentals “The Optimist” and “Mrs. Preston’s Favorite.” There are songs in Lief’s native language Norwegian. “Hjemreise” which translates to the album’s title was written in honor of his mother who recently passed away and the magical mountain cabin ‘Jegerstølen,’ pictured on the front cover of the record. The album also features other traditional folk songs including the Norwegian children’s song “Pål Sine Høner” (Paul’s Chickens), a Swedish murder ballad “De Två Systrarna” (The Two Sisters), and the British “The Devil and the Farmer.”
Tempest is currently on a spring tour in support of Going Home and will be in St. Louis on March 26 and in Columbus, OH on April 8. @sorbye
Steve Dawson Gone, Long Gone
Vancouver native and current Nashvillian Steve Dawson has spent the better part of twenty years building one of the most impressive resumés in music. He has been nominated for 18 Juno Awards as an artist and producer collectively winning 7 of them and has been named Producer of the Year four times at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. 2022 finds Dawson looking to add to his credentials as an artist with the release of his new album Gone, Long Gone.
Gone, Long Gone is the follow up to his highly acclaimed 2018 instrumental release Lucky Hand. The new album is his return to singing and he brought back up. Birds of Chicago singer Allison Russel joins Dawson on the straight out of New Orleans horn-laden “Dimes” as well as the Faces’ cover “Ooh La La.”
Dawson mastered the art of playing in the background a long time ago, so to hear him front and center on his new album Gone, Long Gone is a sonic treat to fans new and old. His first of three collections of material born amidst the pandemic Gone, Long Gone shows us that there is a bright side to our enforced isolation. As the weather moves from the harsh cold days of winter and into the crisp warmer days of spring, Dawson’s new release offers a ray of sunshine the listener desperately could use. The impeccable fingering Dawson delivers throughout the album on guitar is just a testament to why he is always in demand to play for some of the best artists in folk and blues. His guitar work is fully on display on the Hawaiian inspired “Kulaniapia Waltz,” an instrumental track that has Dawson showing off his slide guitar skills that also features Russel on the ukulele. Another Hawaiian inspired song is “King Benny Had His Shit Together.” The song plays homage to legendary street musician “King” Bennie Nawahi who lived a life worthy of a Hollywood telling. Nawahi was extremely healthy when he was suddenly stricken blind in 1935 at the age of 36. The new handicap did not stop him as he took up open water swimming. One night in 1946 he entered the sea at Avalon on Catalina Island and, following his guide boat’s ringing bell, began swimming towards San Pedro, twenty-two miles away. Nearly twenty-four hours later he walked ashore with two lifeguards “dog tired but happy.”
Adding his relaxing vocals and his beautifully detailed guitar playing Gone, Long Gone is a record that not only stamps Dawson as an artist to be reckoned with in folk music but also double downs on him as the best producer in folk music too. @Nailbiter16
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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