Folk singer-songwriter Brodie Dawson has released her latest single, “Paycheck,” the third off her next album Wholehearted slated for Spring 2022. Dawson’s latest track is a fun, upbeat country song about her experiences as an artist living paycheck to paycheck. Audiences see a different side to Dawson here, exploring a more humorous side lyrically as she pokes fun at herself and her spending habits in this light-hearted song. The track even features Dawson’s mother, Betty Dawson, at the end of the track.
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Brodie about the new release, surviving the pandemic, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and how do You describe your style of music?
I am originally from Hamilton ON, but live on Vancouver Island, BC now (via Montreal and then Yellowknife!) I call my style a mix of ‘soulful bluesy folk’ with a gospel funk, a twist of pop and a twang of old-school country. I love so many different genres and they all tend to filtrate into my songs.
How did you get here? As in, what inspired or motivated you to take on this journey through music and the music biz?
My mom and dad always had such a love of music, and played it in the house and car – always. My dad still has his legendary epic record collection to this day! My dad played in bands when I was a kid and they would always be over rehearsing in the basement, so it was just a way of life for my brother and I. It was steeped into our souls you could say! I got my first record player when I was 10 and starting to ‘collect’ my own favourite records (basically go downstairs and grab them from my dad’s record shelves and keep my own little stash in my room) and I’d be singing away in my bedroom at the top of my lungs to Olivia Newton John, The Eagles, Bonnie Raitt and Juice Newton etc… It became my passion. I just knew it was something I always wanted to do.
I have tried to run from it several times in my life and the music just keeps insisting. It keeps finding me and bringing me back home. So I’ve learned to stop resisting. Or at least I had before the pandemic… Record scratch! I had expected 2020 to be a year of really diving into it, really stepping back into the music and flourishing with this new record. But like everyone else I was stopped in my tracks.. And it’s been quite a process of trying to come back to it. I’ve been questioning everything quite frankly. With the state of the world most days I feel I just want to hide in a hole somewhere and write in my journal, stay cocooned from all the crazy. And then there’s that part of me that knows that I can’t run from it. I am my happiest when I am playing music and just sharing & exchanging that energy with an audience. So I’ve learned to be OK with the quiet moments and understand that they are also part of it; remembering there is a season for everything. What I’ve come to find is the silence is allowing the new seeds of music to be heard and to bloom. I’ve been doing a lot of writing and co-writing this past year and I’m super excited about some of the new songs that are being birthed!
How does your latest project compare/contrast with your previous release(s)? Were you setting out to accomplish anything specific, follow a specific theme, or explore different styles of creation?
My last release was in 2016 and it was with my band She Could Be Trouble. We did it live off the floor in Monarch Studios in Vancouver and it took the three of us ladies a day and a half – one 13 hour day of recording all the tracks, and 6 hours the next day to do some mixing and a few edits. That’s why we decided to name the album ‘Nineteen Hours’. It was a whirlwind project and so much fun! It was a pretty raw sound, yet freshly polished at the same time as we’d just come back from a spring/summer West Coast tour.
Wholehearted was a completely different experience. I was in Nashville in the studio with some of the best players in the industry, and handed over my song babies to them with absolute confidence and excitement to hear what they would do with them. And let me tell you it was magical! The newest song was three months old – just written that summer, and the oldest song was 20 years old believe it or not! And to hear these giants playing and loving up MY songs was SUCH a trip! I can honestly say it was one of the best weeks of my life! I’ve never felt more alive… And I’m so excited for this music!! Can’t wait for these babies to fly out into the world! There’s some pretty great shit here.. 🙂
Name the biggest challenge you faced as a creative during these unprecedented times? How did you adapt? How have you kept the creative fires burning during all this time?
Well, I recorded my album December of 2019 so really ended that year on a high note with great expectations for 2020 as I’d said before, and of course I had been in full-on booking mode planning a tour and a release strategy for the album when our world shut down. I definitely was hit hard by it. I was also laid off of my day job that I loved, and so I just stopped and hunkered down on EI. I basically shut down myself… Looking back I guess you could call it some kind of PTSD – it was only a year later when I actually started to come out of what I had known as a brain fog. It’s like time itself had only just started again and I’d woken up from a deep sleep and started to integrate myself back into the world. I found some amazing online connections – Deanna Walker from Vanderbilt University was putting on some songwriter classes out of Nashville (thank God for Zoom!) and I began to take those classes weekly and connect with other songwriters and people from the music industry. I also had been attending Tom Truitt’s WHO KNEW zoominars weekly which were super inspiring for me – keeping me connected with those in the Nashville music community, keeping me motivated.. I’d have to say that they were truly my life lines and I’m soooo grateful for them!
The summer of 2020 I did manage to have couple of outdoor jams with musicians before going back into the winter cocoon. And booked a bunch of mostly outdoor shows for summer of 2021 which was really incredible. Connecting with folks again on that level – all of us quenching that unbearably dry thirst for this beautiful mutual exchange that we know as live music!!
And this winter I’ve been maintaining regular cowrites and birthing some new songs which has been really beautiful and exciting! I’m also taking another one of Deanna’s epic classes. And of course releasing my first few singles off the album have all definitely been keeping the creative fires burning!
What was the last song you listened to?
‘Do it’ by Maggie Rose (She’s so badass – LOVE her!)
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? 8-tracks? Cassettes? CDs? MP3s? Streaming platforms?
Well… I’m still a CD girl over here! But I also like streaming as it’s easy, especially when I’m on my phone. (I love CD’s for the van – road trips!)
Where is the best place to connect with you and follow your journey?
I think the best place is likely Instagram or even Facebook – all of which you can find on my website which is www.brodiedawson.com
I really appreciate Your time. Anything else before we sign off?
Yes, thank you so much for supporting indie artists and their music. It’s appreciated from the bottom of my heart – more than you know.
Oh yes, and everyone needs to go and look up ‘Listen to the Beat’ by The Royal Foundry and CRANK IT UP!!! It’s simply epic – my newly found favourite song!
