Over the course of their first two studio albums, HT faves Dawes have helped revitalize California’s Laurel Canyon music scene by offering up their modern take on the laid-back country-rock sounds that emanated from that area in the early 1970′s. Last week Taylor Goldsmith & Co. released their third full-length effort Stories Don’t End, the band’s debut on their newly launched label HUB Records. Produced by Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Norah Jones), the 12-track affair is once again steeped in Goldsmith’s emotionally wrought lyrics, and while it fully nods to the music of their mentor and pal Jackson Browne, it does so with a modern rock sheen.

For a band that seems to be consistently logging time on the road, and are currently in the midst of opening a string of dates for Bob Dylan, it seemed like a no-brainer that they chose to go with From A Window Seat as the album’s lead single. The road warrior act, who will kick off their own summer headlining tour on May 24 at the Mishakawa Amphitheater in Bellevue, Colorado have just released this music video. Let’s check it out…

Dawes – From A Window Seat

HT faves Dawes plan to keep awful busy this year as they prepare to release a new album, Stories Don’t End, on April 9th. While we haven’t heard the new disc yet, by most accounts it finds the band creating a new sound rather than offering an original spin on the music of the late ’60s and early ’70s as they did on North Hills and Nothing Is Wrong.

We’ve already told you about Dawes upcoming stint opening up for Bob Dylan at colleges and theaters. Today, the group announced a summer headlining tour. The new set of dates begins with a performance at scenic Mishawaka Amphitheatre in Bellevue, Colorado and runs through a July 24th show at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. Shovels and Rope will open most of the just-announced gigs. Here’s the full list of just-announced Dawes tour dates…

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In years past, Wednesday’s unofficial day parties would, for most, officially start their SXSW. Six years ago, Jeff Davidson and I contributed to the festivities with Earvolution’s inaugural (and only) afternoon event. (Two artists from that showcase will be playing SXSW 2013: Joshua James and Ace Reporter’s Chris Snyder formerly of The States). With Tuesday becoming the new Wednesday, there is tempered excitement while heading into downtown Austin.

[The Lone Bellow Photo by @pastemagazine]

As it their custom, Paste Magazine has taken over The Stage At 6th for the week, this year pairing with HGTV, running two stages making it The Stages At 6th. As is also their custom, they’ve booked eclectic showcases featuring a wide variety of genres as well as a nice mix of buzzbands and soon to be buzzed about bands.

After a quick run down Sixth Street due to a change in bus routes, it’s a Lone star with The Lone Bellow. Well, it would be but for Red Hook Brewery’s sponsorship and free IPAs and ESBs. The bartender responds to my query about what makes the ESB extra special with a tired “I don’t know.” I suspect I’m not the first person to ask this. The Lone Bellow may owe a debt of gratitude to Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers but with gorgeous harmonies and lovely acoustic folk melodies, they can definitely stand their own ground. Their debut record may not do justice in showing how solid they are.

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Bob Dylan will hit the road with Dawes aboard as support for a tour of colleges and theaters that starts on April 5th. When the tour was originally announced, it listed dates through a April 21st performance at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Now, the bands have added an additional eight shows together with Dylan set to play two more by himself.

Here’s a look at the full list of Dawes / Bob Dylan tour dates with new additions in bold…

4/5 – Buffalo, NY @ SUNY Buffalo – Alumni Arena
4/6 – Amherst, MA @ University of Massachusetts – Mullins Center
4/8 – Kingston, RI @ University of Rhode Island – Ryan Center
4/9 – Lowell, MA @ University of Massachusetts – Tsongas Center
4/10 – Lewiston, ME @ Androscoggin Bank Coliseum
4/12 – Newark, DE @ University of Delaware – Bob Carpenter Center
4/13 – California, PA @ Convocation Center
4/14 – Ithaca, NY @ Cornell University – Barton Hall
4/16 – Richmond, VA @ Landmark Theater
4/18 – Bethlehem, PA @ Lehigh University – Stabler Arena
4/19 – Akron, OH @ The University of Akron – EJ Thomas Hall
4/20 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Wings Stadium
4/21 – Bowling Green, OH @ Bowling Green State University – Stroh Center
4/23 – St. Louis, MO @ Peabody Opera House
4/24 – Springfield, MO @ Missouri State University – JQH Arena
4/25 – Champaign, IL @ University of Illinois – Assembly Hall
4/27 – Murray, KY @ Murray State University – CFSB Center [no Dawes]
4/28 – Louisville, KY @ Palace Theatre [no Dawes]
4/30 – Asheville, NC @ U.S. Cellular Center
5/1 – Charlotte, NC @ Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheatre
5/2 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheatre
5/4 – Charleston, SC @ Family Circle Magazine Stadium
5/5 – St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre

[via Bob Dylan.com]

Keep your eyes on the Bob Dylan Tour Page for ticketing information.

Bob Dylan has never been afraid of pairing up with musicians from future generations and this will again be the case this April when he brings HT faves Dawes on the road as support for a three-week jaunt. The run starts on April 5th at SUNY Buffalo in Buffalo, New York and visits a number of colleges and theaters before ending on April 21st in Bowling Green, Ohio.

Here’s a list of the Bob Dylan and Dawes tour dates…

4/5 –  Buffalo, NY @ SUNY Buffalo – Alumni Arena
4/6 – Amherst, MA @ University of Massachusetts – Mullins Center
4/8 –  Kingston, RI @ University of Rhode Island – Ryan Center
4/9 –  Lowell, MA @ University of Massachusetts – Tsongas Center
4/10 – Lewiston, ME @ Androscoggin Bank Coliseum
4/12 – Newark, DE @ University of Delaware – Bob Carpenter Center
4/13 – California, PA @ Convocation Center
4/14 –  Ithaca, NY @ Cornell University – Barton Hall
4/16 –  Richmond, VA @ Landmark Theater
4/18 – Bethlehem, PA @ Lehigh University – Stabler Arena
4/19 – Akron, OH @ The University of Akron – EJ Thomas Hall
4/20 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Wings Stadium
4/21 – Bowling Green, OH @ Bowling Green State University – Stroh Center

Keep your eyes on BobDylan.com for full ticketing details.

Last Saturday in Bristol on the border on Virginia and Tennessee, Mumford and Sons held their latest Gentlemen Of The Road Stopover festival. Dawes played just before the headliners took the stage and welcomed Marcus Mumford to help out on When My Time Comes…

Dawes w/ Marcus Mumford – When My Time Comes

For the finale, Mumford and Sons brought out all of the day’s performers for a cover of Wagon Wheel.

Mumford and Sons & Friends – Wagon Wheel

The next Stopover takes place in Dixon, Illinios on Saturday and will feature Gogol Bordello, Dawes, Abigail Washburn, The Very Best, Apache Relay and Haim in addition to Mumford and Sons.

Following a well-received Bonnaroo set, HT faves Dawes headed to the Melting Point in Athens, Georgia on Sunday along with opening act Sara Watkins. Dawes is in the midst of a brief tour with Watkins and her brother Sean, 2/3rds of disbanded folk act Nickel Creek. The connection comes from Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, who appears on Watkins’ new album Sun Midnight Sun.

At recent shows both Watkins siblings and Dawes have teamed up to cover In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel and in our opinion they do a fantastic job with it…

Dawes w/ Sara Watkins – In Your Eyes

Here at Hidden Track, compiling our end of the year list of the 25 best albums has been eerily similar to the process of devising another top 25 list – the college football top 25. When we started four years ago, we attempted to devise a quantitative methodology that systematized the rankings and took the individual biases out of the equation, while still incorporating the collective views of everyone involved at HT. Well, that was sort of our BCS. This year we’re going back to the old school and running it AP Top 25 style. In other words, every writer on staff submitted their own personal top 25, and then we compiled the final list based  on a simple tally of votes.

Who knows, there may still be a few kinks to work through in future editions, but you can rest assured of one thing that will always make our list a cut above the rest: we consider everything. Our submissions include all styles of music from bluegrass to jazz, jam to indie, electronica to rap, as well as everything in between (but sorry Nefertiti’s Fjord it just wasn’t the year for lesbian-Afro-Norwegian-funk music). At the end of the day, we’re a music blog. Everyone is encouraged to write about what they like with no motives, no editorial biases, and no strings attached. We hope that comes across in our picks.

We’ve hit day two of our week-long countdown of the 25 best albums of 2011, let’s check out numbers 20 through 16…

20) Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi – Rome

Key Tracks: Black, Two Against One, Season’s Trees

Sounds Like: Soundtrack to a ’60s Spaghetti Western that was never made.

The Skinny: Years in the making, Rome pairs famed Italian composer Daniele Luppi with Grammy-winning producer Danger Mouse as the two pay tribute to the Spaghetti Western soundtracks from the ’60s and ’70s created by Ennio Morricone. Luppi and Danger Mouse brought together a number of the performers Morricone utilized for such legendary soundtracks as A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and paired them with current stars Norah Jones and Jack White, who lend their distinctive vocals to three tracks a piece. Between the gorgeous instrumentals with tinges of psychedelia and the dramatic vocal tracks, Rome is a wonderful album that leaves the visuals up to the listener.

- Scott Bernstein

• Previously: HT Staff’s 25 Best Albums of 2011 – #25 – #21

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In the five years that we’ve been doing HT, we’ve never been very enthusiastic about Christmas music, but this year there has been unexpected amount of fantastic offerings from some bands we really dig that would even get The Grinch in the holiday spirit. The latest act to throw their hat in the metaphorical ring is Dawes, who contributed a cover of Vince Guaraldi’s classic Christmas Time Is Here to the second installment of The AV Club’s Holiday Undercover series. The Laural Canyon-based act turned in quite the sublime version of a tune that is best known for being a part of the much beloved A Charlie Brown Christmas special. Let’s check it out…

Earlier this afternoon HT faves Dawes teamed up with legendary singer/songwriter Jackson Browne to play a short set for the few Occupy Wall Street demonstrators left in Zuccotti Park. Both Laurel Canyon acts, each from a different generation, first paired up when Browne lent his talents to Fire Away on Dawes latest LP and have since played a co-bill and sat in with each other.

[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]

Dawes and JB’s set featured a take on the younger group’s When My Time Comes as well as a stirring rendition of Browne’s Casino Nation. HT photo editor Jeremy Gordon was at the park and captured the Californians in action. And, oh yeah, Stephan Jenkins from Third Eye Blind was there as well.

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Six weeks after starting a cross-country jaunt, Blitzen Trapper and Dawes‘ co-headlining tour comes to a close tonight in Hollywood, Calif. On Tuesday, in San Francisco, the groups paired up to cover Man In Me by Bob Dylan and did a great job with it. Take a look…

Blitzen Trapper & Dawes – Man In Me

At last month’s show celebrating the 20th anniversary of WXPN’s World Cafe show in Philadelphia, HT faves Dawes and Mumford & Sons teamed up for an outstanding version of the former’s When My Time Comes. Considering how well these two acts sound together, it’s surprising this was the first time they collaborated. Here’s the official video from WXPN…

Mumford & Sons + Dawes – When My Time Comes

Dawes/Blitzen Trapper @ Webster Hall – October 26

Words and Photos: Jeremy Gordon

HT favorites Dawes and Blitzen Trapper returned in celebratory fashion to New York City’s Webster Hall last Wednesday night.  At a concert that lead singer Taylor Goldsmith termed a “Big Evening” for the band, Dawes led the sold out crowd through heartfelt renderings of It’s A Little Bit Of Everything and Time Spent In Los Angeles, as well as a bouncy cover of Paul Simon’s Kodachrome. A highlight of the evening came during Dawes’ headlining set when Goldsmith urged the entire house to sing along with their anthem, When my Time Comes. For those NYCers who were unable to attend, you’ll get another chance to see Dawes on December 6 and 7 at Maxwell’s in Hoboken and on Dec. 5th as part of WFUV’s Holiday Cheer concert at the Beacon Theatre.

[All photos by Jeremy Gordon]

Dawes Setlist: Webster Hall, New York City, October 26, 2011
“The Way You Laugh” / “When You Call My Name” / “How Far We’ve Come” / “So Well” / “Coming Back To A Man” / “If I Wanted Someone” / “Million Dollar Bill” / “Kodachrome” (Paul Simon cover) / “A Little Bit Of Everything” / “When My Time Comes” / “Time Spent In Los Angeles”
Encore: “Take Me Out Of The City” / “That Western Skyline” / “Fire Away”

[via USDP.org]

Take a look at the rest of Jeremy’s photos of Dawes and Blitzen Trapper:

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The snow is falling at  heavy pace this evening in Woodstock, New York, where Levon Helm and his band and crew are preparing for a special “Nightmare on Helm Street” Ramble at the legendary The Band drummer’s home studio. Unfortunately there’s no power on Plochmann Lane, but “the show must go on,” so the concert will start at 8PM as scheduled.

In other Midnight Ramble news, Helm will welcome guest openers Dr. Ralph Stanley (Dec. 2), Dawes (Dec. 3), Steven Bernstein’s MTO plays Sly (Dec. 10) and The Mastersons (Dec. 17) for December Rambles. Tickets for all of these shows go on sale this Wednesday, Nov. 2, at 8PM through LevonHelm.com. If you’ve never attended one of these magical events, this might be the perfect opportunity.

While Labor Day usually signifies the “unofficial” end of summer, today we can officially book the 2011 installment of the season behind us and welcome in the fall. With the exception of a few lingering outdoor shows, autumn means the move back into seeing gigs at clubs, theaters and the like. One of the tours we’re looking forward to catching in the coming weeks is the Dawes and Blitzen Trapper co-headling tour, which kicks off on October 17 at the Mystic Theater in Petaluma, Calif. Let’s check out the video for Time Spent In Los Angeles…

Dawes – Time Spent In Los Angeles