Dawes toured with Hiss Golden Messenger in 2016. That band has always sounded incredible but the line up for that tour was made up of so many amazing players that would become long term friends - Mike Taylor of course, Brad and Phil Cook and Josh Kaufman on guitar. The grooves, solos and especially Mike’s melodies had an amazing way of making the show feel contemporary and singular but still dipping into the traditions that inspired us most. We all felt like kindred spirits immediately. Since then I’ve had a few different people explain their tastes by saying, “The kind of music I love is basically like Hiss Golden Messenger and Dawes.” I beam with pride.
Mike’s songs have this rare power of always feeling emotionally led. I feel like a lot of writers, myself included sometimes, get so caught up in doing this for so long that we start thinking as craftsmen/women first. If not done right, a listener can start to hear the devices employed, the prompts, the exercises…sometimes obscuring the pure heart of it all. It’s as if writing this way is more inspired by “oh this would be a good idea for a song” rather than excavating some sort of truth. I love crafty songs and there’s a role craft plays in just about every great song, but we all know the ones that can break our hearts or fundamentally change us are the ones that dig deepest, creating their own structures and laws of physics. Hiss songs seem to search for this experience every time. Mike and I have written a few songs together so I know he has the full craftsman toolkit at his disposal, but he’s so good at keeping the emotion as his guiding light. When I listen to his tunes, I feel something every time, and sometimes I can’t even articulate what the feeling is, which is always my favorite feeling from a song.
In 2019 Mike and I sat down to write our first song together. I showed him a line I had been sitting on - “If ghosts are wrongs unrighted / then we all live in a haunted house” which led us to writing this one I’m sharing with you today. Soon after that we recorded it with Wylie, Lee and Griff (Griff is even singing some lead in the 3rd verse!). Lockdown was around the corner, we never found the right time in our different schedules to get it released, and time just moved on. But that’s what’s so great about Substack, isn’t it? Gives us a reason to dig something like this back out and bring back to life. I’m so glad it’s finally out in the world. I hope you enjoy.
For you paid subscribers, may I present to you….Haunted House