Juno Award-winning guitarist, producer and songwriter Steve Dawson will be making a quick swing through the west coast of Canada in April 2025 and will have legendary sideman Fats Kaplin in tow from Nashville. Steve’s unique voice on slide and lap steel guitar is front and centre, while the two musicians improvise and play off each other as they have done in their frequent work together. Steve’s original songs and fiery slide guitar playing are the focus, along with the duo’s unique take on blues, Hawaiian, and ragtime music that both musicians love to play. While Steve is well-known to Canadian audiences in his frequent visits back to Canada, Fats Kaplin is sure to be an exciting new find to many. Fats has spent a great deal of time on the road with artists like Jack White, John Prine, Mitski, Beck, Tom Russell, The Dead Reckoners, and Buddy Miller to name just a few. His facility on the fiddle, mandolin, banjo, oud, accordion, and whatever he can lay his hands on makes him one of the most in-demand side-players in modern music. It’s rare for these 2 musicians to find a week where they are both available to tour together, but find it they have, and they look forward to sharing an exciting night of music with audiences in BC.

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

The Upstairs Lounge is a licensed restaurant and bar, doors open at 6 pm for dinner service.  Please note this is a LISTENING venue.

Tickets are also available at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre, in person or by phone (250) 595-7946, as well as through or Beacon Ridge Productions.

https://www.stevedawson.ca/