Smoke Dawson: Fiddle
Fiddler and bagpiper Smoke Dawson is a genetic link in the history of the American string-band underground, connecting the proto-freak-folkers of the Lower East Side (where he played with future Holy Modal Rounder Peter Stampfel in the Old-Timey Wool Thumpers) to the mysterious countercultural zones of the early Renaissance Faires (where he played with Grateful Dead logo designer Bob Thomas in the heavily psychedelic and unrecorded early world-music outfit The Golden Toad). There’s a lot of living packed into the solo performances of his only album, the 35-minute Fiddle, recorded in 1971, trembling in the silent movie creep of “The Minotaur,” the expressive bowing of “Drowsy Maggie” and the deft overtones of the traditional “Pretty Polly.” Only a single too-brief minute-long segment (“Marche Venerie”) captures Dawson’s bagpipes and it acts as a symbol for the collection as a whole. Fiddle is a quietly wonderful and far too small window into a singular and fascinating American folk musician.