David Dawson - Wilderness Artist

About the Artist

He remembers as a small boy, listening to his mother recite the poems of Robert Service, and knew by heart at the age of six, one poem in particular, "The Cremation of Sam McGee". He became familiar with Robert Service and William Henry Drummond (the poet of the Habitant), at the age of 15 while working in a machine shop in Port St. Charles on Montreal's waterfront. He marvelled at the way they could put a story into a few short lines and make the rhyme. In later years, David took several of Mr. Drummond's poems and, sitting down with his guitar, put them to music.

David is a retired "telephone man" living near Sharbot Lake, Ontario, in a renovated "one room" schoolhouse on the old "Bell Line" road (which is depicted in his poem House on the Old Bell Line). He is an accomplished landscape painter and sketch artist, and has been for over thirty years.

He also composes poetry and writes and performs songs. Many of his poems became the lyrics to one of his music compositions.

Poetry

This volume of poetry is a collection of work written over a span of nearly thirty years. Some of this work came through as a "on the spot" inspiration, but the majority of the work was through David's own personal life experiences.

David started writing around 1968, when he went to the USA as a landed immigrant. Poems such as "The Night I passed a Week" reflects the mood of a particular night in a one horse town near Fort Wayne, Indiana, while working for a telephone contractor there.

"The Night I Took THe Bus" was written on a scheduled night run from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Madison Wisconsin.

Ever since he was knee high to a grasshopper David has been a loyal fan of the late Jimmie Rogers, (America's Blue Yodeller), having heard him sing such songs as "Daddy and Home", "Mule Skinner Blues", "Hard Time Blues", and "Frankie and Johnie" on a wind up Victrola back in the early 40;;'s. The poem "The Singing Brakesman", (which was later set to music), was written close to the spot where Rogers had cut his first recording with RCA Victor back in 1927

"Passing Through" was scribbled out on a napkin in a greasy spoon, somewhere between Val D'Or and Rouyn, Quebec, minutes after dropping off an old gent who was travelling from Montreal to Val D'Or on a blizzard bound night in January of 1973.

Ten years of cross country travelling after returning from the USA produced numerous pieces of work about life as David saw and experienced it. "Views From LIfe's Other Side", "The Gallery Of Life", and "The Storm" ( a poem written while drying out by the kitchen stove after working through most of a Christmas Eve while in the employ of a telephone company), are three of the poems included in this volume. These poems reflect various moods from hitting rock bottom, to the Spiritual. It is David's sincere wish that this volume of poetry may touch the reader in some way.

New Books from Dave Dawson

The above books of Poetry and short stories are available from the author.

Recordings

David is not just a loyal fan of the late Jimmie Rodgers - he has multiple recordings dedicated to Jimmie Rodgers available in cassette and CD formats.

New Recordings from Dave Dawson.

Material Copyright © Dave Dawson.
Cover Art Painting Copyright © Rose Wilson
The Night I Sang You Jimmie Rodgers Songs and The Old Gramophone are produced by Bryne Carruthers, Carruthers Studio, RR#1 Perth Ontario

Visit the Jimmie Rodgers Website.