Dawes singer Taylor Goldsmith talks 'Good Luck with Whatever,' lockdown with Mandy Moore
You might think the latest album from the rock band Dawes was a product of the past year and a half of pandemic isolation, with its songs about gaining new perspectives on life, and family and friends, and what truly matters. But singer-songwriter Taylor Goldsmith said you’d be wrong to assume “Good Luck with Whatever,” released last October on Rounder Records, was inspired by the lockdowns.
“Actually the album was written and recorded the year before COVID-19 hit,” said Goldsmith, from a Birmingham, Alabama, tour stop last week. “We were getting ready to release it when everything happened, and so we felt ‘let’s keep it on ice.’ But we finally put it out in October.”
Dawes is headlining the Orpheum Theatre in Boston on Saturday night, part of its national tour, which also stops in Holyoke on Sept. 21 for a concert at Gateway City Arts.
Goldsmith, 36, said he realizes that some of the themes on the album do prompt speculation that at least some of the songs were written about the quarantines and the self-reflection they brought.
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Dawes has most often been called a folk-rock band and compared to singer-songwriters like Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell and Crosby, Stills and Nash, but the new album is soaring pop-rock that has them firmly on the rock side of the Americana genre. But like the music of their stylistic forebears, Dawes’ music invites listeners to think and consider things in new ways.
“It’s interesting, and I think it is a cool thing that as the lockdowns came around they started to complicate some of the themes from the record,” said Goldsmith. “It brought a new dimension to the record and I liked that. Whenever you can create something and then have this shift in everyone’s existence and your art still speaks to that it means you’ve succeeding in touching something universal.”
It’s a fair bet everyone can relate to the rocker “Still Feel Like a Kid,” in which the singer contemplates maturing and having a family, even if he still feels like a carefree teenager.
“I think it’s a watershed moment when two adults know each other well enough to be able to admit that, while we’re all carrying it off apparently successfully, no one really feels like an adult,” Goldsmith said, laughing.
The title cut, “Good Luck with Whatever,” is a brisk and kinetic rocker with a fast-paced lyric stream of real-world quandaries, but the theme seems to be that you can’t change the world, or save everybody, and you have to focus at some point on what and who you can affect.
“I think the idea of relinquishing control is a big theme there,” said Goldsmith. “Realizing what is in your control, and what you can control, is part of it, and of course that really lends itself to being in a lockdown. When you’re looking out your window, as in the song, and becoming suspicious of the guy trimming the trees. It was written well before, but it fits into all the collective emotional experiences we were all going through. Relinquishing control also means seeing what is none of your business, and in my case, realizing what I should be giving my attention to, and what not to give it to.”
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Another striking rocker from the album, with an indelible animated video, is “Didn’t Fix Me,” which posits all sorts of good things happening to the protagonist, none of which does the trick. It is a concise reminder that life is complicated and has no easy answers, and emblematic of the kind of thoughtful writing that has marked the Dawes musical canon.
“We all always want the easy fix, don’t we?” Goldsmith said. “Like all our problems will go away with money, or at least it’ll all make sense, but that’s never been the case. It’s about one day just accepting yourself. Not to get too school-marmy, but so many of our problems begin and end with our self and our attitude towards life.”
Perhaps a more tranquil take on modern life comes in the gorgeous ballad “St. Augustine Night,” a kind of reverie about one’s hometown. There’s also a beautiful video set as simply a ride around the town at dusk.
“I think we all take a kind of ownership of our own hometown,” said Goldsmith. “It’s such a distinct part of your identity. I’ve written a lot of songs that were a series of vignettes, but this one is less in the narrative style and more staying in one place. It’s about a place and a time and that story.”
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Dawes had its latest record produced by Dave Cobb, who is beyond a doubt the most in-demand record producer in American roots music, having helmed superb albums from artists including Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton and Stoughton’s Lori McKenna.
“Our two records before this had been very studio-centric, lush and fun,” Goldsmith explained. “For this one we wanted to go minimalist, like the Plastic Ono Band, and just celebrate us as a quartet. Dave Cobb specializes in that, and was saying the same things to us, to just stay out of the way of our music. All four of us played just one instrument on every song, with the lyrics right out front. His records have such a continuity that way. We also got it done in breakneck speed; Dave forces you to think on your feet. There’s a whole sense of urgency he insists upon, and it translates to the record.”
One of the best and most overlooked albums of 2020 was “Silver Landings” by Goldsmith’s wife Mandy Moore, who stars on TV’s "This Is Us." The album was released on March 6, 2020, and unfortunately got kind of lost in the shuffle, despite critical raves. Although Goldsmith plays on the record and co-wrote some of the songs with his wife, the couple enlisted their friend Stoughton’s Mike Viola to produce it. Viola also collaborated with Moore and Goldsmith on some of the songwriting and the album is a gem of warm pop-rock.
“Mike Viola has become one of my best friends,” said Goldsmith. “He’s been close to me for our last two records and to have access to that creative spirit is so inspiring. He has it all as a performer, musician, songwriter and producer and he’s so nice it floors me. Now, my wife is the sweetest person I’ve ever known and since Mike is a much better producer than I could ever hope to be, it was an easy choice. You need a producer to be in charge and I don’t know if I’m built for that.
“It was easier in every way to have Mike produce, and just collaborate with Mandy as a musician,” Goldsmith said. “Doing her record didn’t feel like work. If we ever disagreed about something, it was fun to take a back seat and let her ideas take over. I don’t go into songwriting with her with any criteria. I just throw things at the wall and see if any of it appeals to her.”
One of the verses in “Still Feel Like a Kid” states “I got dreams of coaching Little League …” And now that seems like a real possibility, since in February of this year, Moore and Goldsmith welcomed their son Gus.
“I hope that’s not bad luck for whatever team I end up coaching,” Goldsmith said, laughing. “But yes, we can’t complain about the lockdowns or Mandy’s tour being canceled because a lot of people have had it a lot worse. And we had our first kid and I’m not sure that would’ve happened if we had been out on tour right after her record came out. In that sense, everything worked out for the best for us.”
If you go
What: Dawes with Nashville folk-pop singer Erin Rae opening
When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18
Where: The Orpheum Theatre, One Hamilton Place, Boston
Tickets: $33.50-$63.50.
Info: 617-482-0106 or crossroadspresents.com
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