Q&AQ&A with singer/songwriter Taylor GoldsmithIF YOU GOWhat: Nightfall Concert Series featuring Dawes, with Dave Dykes and the Grateful Hearts opening.When: 7 p.m. today.Where: Miller Plaza, corner of M.L. King Boulevard, Cherry and Market streets.Admission: Free.Phone: 265-0771.Online: www.nightfallchattanooga.com, www.dawestheband.comTHE OPENERDave Dykes and The Grateful Hearts is a local independent Americana/alt-country sextet. For details, visit, www.myspace.com/thedavedykes.NIGHTFALL SCHEDULENote: Opening acts are in parentheses.May27: Elizabeth and The Catapult (The Culprits)June3: Bekka Bramlett (Sweet & Lowdown)10, 17: No shows during Riverbend24: Michael Kaeshammer (Strung Like a Horse)July1: Hugo (Digital Butter)8: Mia Borders (A.J. Valcarcel’s Bitter Lesson)15: Black Lillies (Moon Slew)22: Free Energy (Machines Are People Too)29: Road to Nightfall winner WTM Blues Band (The Cadillac Saints)August5: Mingo Fishtrap (The Danny Sample Band featuring Marcenia)12: TBA (Uncle Lightnin’)19: Michael Burks (Michelle Young & Pontiac Blue)26: UTC Night featuring Locos por Juana (Prophets & Kings)September2: McPeake (Slim Pickins)9: Ollabelle (The Dismembered Tennesseans)
Maybe it’s the unadorned folk/rock or the sepia tinge to the band’s vocal harmonies, but there’s something genuinely vintage in Dawes’ music.
“A lot of what matters to us – a lot of our priorities, musically – are things that we notice aren’t as important now and might never be again,” lead singer Taylor Goldsmith said. “For us, piano solos or guitar solos or well-played percussion are qualities that not only seem a little lost but are, in some cases, unaccepted.
“That’s something that’s important to us.”
Goldsmith cited artists such as The Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead and Tom Petty as among the group’s primary influences, but its music also shares much in common with other Angelista quartets such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and The Eagles.