Dawes, Cory Chisel and Jason Boesel made a tour stop at Der Rathskeller on the University of Wisconsin Madison campus Saturday night. The previous night's show in Minneapolis was sold-out and anticipation hung heavy in the air as the Valentine's weekend crowd crammed into the Union.
Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes
Drummer turned guitar player Jason Boessel opened the night with the Dawes boys as his back-up band. An interesting set of mid tempo folk rock. Boesel has drummed for Bright Eyes, Rio Kiley and Conor Oberst.
Appleton's Corey chisel and the Wandering Sons put on an excellent show highlighting the soulful melodies and lyrically rich songs off their latest album "Death Won't Send a Letter." Corey and keyboardist Adriel Harris together deliver a signature sound that puts them on the "Wisconsin artists to watch" list. Even former Raconteur Brendan Bensen is a huge fan. The more uptempo songs like "Born Again" and "Angel of Mine" drew immediate crowd response, while the more mellow material was somewhat lost among the audience chatter of Der Rathskeller. None-the-less, the future looks bright for Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons.
Dawes took the stage after Cory chisel and needed no time to warm up as they launched into gems from their 2009 debut album "North Hills" along with unreleased material. The band is heavily influenced by the acoustic-based Laurel Canyon sound pioneered by Crosby, Stills & Nash, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, as well as the earthy Americana of the Band. The album was actually recorded in Laurel Canyon live to analog tape, giving Dawes' an authentic vintage feeling.
We met the LA-based Dawes last October at the Daytrotter Barnstormer tour stop in Lodi, WI. The band took to the cool Wisconsin evening like hardcore Wisconsinites even though they must of been freezing their asses off playing in an unheated barn. They also backed up Langhorne Slim in Madison on a return trip a few weeks later. Its been amazing to watch their fan base grow over the last five months. The crowd response was unbelievable with sing-along anthems like "Love is All I Am" and "When My Time Comes."
Guitarist Taylor Goldsmith commented between songs about the manic audience reception. "We didn't know we had this many fans in the entire country", he said. "Let alone Madison!" Dawes played in Milwaukee the next evening and word is that they may be coming back to the UW-Madison Memorial Union Terrace for a show this summer.
Jason Boesel with Dawes
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