Chicago quintet Dolly Varden is built around the singing and songwriting of husband-and-wife duo Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen, along with Mark Balletto on guitar, Matt Thobe on drums and Mike Bradburn on bass. The lineup has remained the same for 25 years through tours, albums, children and relocations and they continue to enjoy their family-like connection through making music together. Though the band’s name suggests a euphonious connection to a certain country singer, it is actually derived from a rare and beautiful species of trout, which in turn was named after a character in Charles Dickens’ short novel, Barnaby Rudge. Strange, but true: Dawson and Christiansen both had fathers who were avid fishermen who dreamed of one day catching the elusive Dolly Varden in an icy Alaskan lake. Dolly Varden recorded their debut album, Mouthful of Lies, in Christiansen’s art studio on a 4-track cassette machine and released it on their own Mid-Fi label in 1995. The success of that album led to them signing with New York indie label, Evil Teen, who released The Thrill of Gravity (1998) and The Dumbest Magnets (2000). Produced by Brad Jones and considered to be one of their finest efforts, Magnets, led years of successful touring in the UK and Europe and considerable critical acclaim. The follow-up, also produced by Jones, Forgiven Now, was released on Undertow Records in 2002. After nearly constant touring and recording the band took a well-deserved break in 2003. During the hiatus Dawson recorded the first of a series of solo albums, Dawson and Christiansen recorded an album of duets, and Balletto recorded a solo album under the band name, My Record Player. The band reunited to release The Panic Bell in 2007, an album that leans more toward the power-pop side of their musical personality, followed by For A While in 2013, a life-assessing song cycle which features two of Dawson’s most acclaimed songs, “Mayfly,” and “Saskatchewan To Chicago.” Christiansen has devoted the majority of her considerable creative energy to visual art over the last decade with works and collaborations shown in galleries and museums all over the US and UK. Dawson has been teaching songwriting and guitar at the legendary Old Town School of Folk Music since 2005 and he co-wrote a book on the creative process with Mark Caro called, “Take It To The Bridge: Unlocking The Great Songs Inside You.” In 2014 Dawson formed the band, Funeral Bonsai Wedding, a folk-jazz hybrid featuring some of Chicago’s most acclaimed improvising musicians. Their self-titled debut in 2014 and the follow-up, Last Flight Out, in 2020, featuring the Quartet Parapluie String Quartet, were released to critical raves and thrilling live sets. Dawson’s newest solo album, At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree, was released on Pravda Records in 2021.
Sat Jul 15 2023
8:00 PM (Doors 7:00 PM)
$17.00 - $20.00
All Ages
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In 2013 Chicago quintet, Dolly Varden, released one of their most critically acclaimed albums, “For A While,” featuring several songs that have become mainstays of their live shows and fan favorites, including “Mayfly,” and “Saskatchewan To Chicago.” On July 15 the band will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release with a show at Evanston’s SPACE.
Chicago quintet Dolly Varden is built around the singing and songwriting of husband-and-wife duo Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen, along with Mark Balletto on guitar, Matt Thobe on drums and Mike Bradburn on bass. The lineup has remained the same for 25 years through tours, albums, children and relocations and they continue to enjoy their family-like connection through making music together. Though the band’s name suggests a euphonious connection to a certain country singer, it is actually derived from a rare and beautiful species of trout, which in turn was named after a character in Charles Dickens’ short novel, Barnaby Rudge. Strange, but true: Dawson and Christiansen both had fathers who were avid fishermen who dreamed of one day catching the elusive Dolly Varden in an icy Alaskan lake. Dolly Varden recorded their debut album, Mouthful of Lies, in Christiansen’s art studio on a 4-track cassette machine and released it on their own Mid-Fi label in 1995. The success of that album led to them signing with New York indie label, Evil Teen, who released The Thrill of Gravity (1998) and The Dumbest Magnets (2000). Produced by Brad Jones and considered to be one of their finest efforts, Magnets, led years of successful touring in the UK and Europe and considerable critical acclaim. The follow-up, also produced by Jones, Forgiven Now, was released on Undertow Records in 2002. After nearly constant touring and recording the band took a well-deserved break in 2003. During the hiatus Dawson recorded the first of a series of solo albums, Dawson and Christiansen recorded an album of duets, and Balletto recorded a solo album under the band name, My Record Player. The band reunited to release The Panic Bell in 2007, an album that leans more toward the power-pop side of their musical personality, followed by For A While in 2013, a life-assessing song cycle which features two of Dawson’s most acclaimed songs, “Mayfly,” and “Saskatchewan To Chicago.” Christiansen has devoted the majority of her considerable creative energy to visual art over the last decade with works and collaborations shown in galleries and museums all over the US and UK. Dawson has been teaching songwriting and guitar at the legendary Old Town School of Folk Music since 2005 and he co-wrote a book on the creative process with Mark Caro called, “Take It To The Bridge: Unlocking The Great Songs Inside You.” In 2014 Dawson formed the band, Funeral Bonsai Wedding, a folk-jazz hybrid featuring some of Chicago’s most acclaimed improvising musicians. Their self-titled debut in 2014 and the follow-up, Last Flight Out, in 2020, featuring the Quartet Parapluie String Quartet, were released to critical raves and thrilling live sets. Dawson’s newest solo album, At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree, was released on Pravda Records in 2021.
Chicago quintet Dolly Varden is built around the singing and songwriting of husband-and-wife duo Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen, along with Mark Balletto on guitar, Matt Thobe on drums and Mike Bradburn on bass. The lineup has remained the same for 25 years through tours, albums, children and relocations and they continue to enjoy their family-like connection through making music together. Though the band’s name suggests a euphonious connection to a certain country singer, it is actually derived from a rare and beautiful species of trout, which in turn was named after a character in Charles Dickens’ short novel, Barnaby Rudge. Strange, but true: Dawson and Christiansen both had fathers who were avid fishermen who dreamed of one day catching the elusive Dolly Varden in an icy Alaskan lake. Dolly Varden recorded their debut album, Mouthful of Lies, in Christiansen’s art studio on a 4-track cassette machine and released it on their own Mid-Fi label in 1995. The success of that album led to them signing with New York indie label, Evil Teen, who released The Thrill of Gravity (1998) and The Dumbest Magnets (2000). Produced by Brad Jones and considered to be one of their finest efforts, Magnets, led years of successful touring in the UK and Europe and considerable critical acclaim. The follow-up, also produced by Jones, Forgiven Now, was released on Undertow Records in 2002. After nearly constant touring and recording the band took a well-deserved break in 2003. During the hiatus Dawson recorded the first of a series of solo albums, Dawson and Christiansen recorded an album of duets, and Balletto recorded a solo album under the band name, My Record Player. The band reunited to release The Panic Bell in 2007, an album that leans more toward the power-pop side of their musical personality, followed by For A While in 2013, a life-assessing song cycle which features two of Dawson’s most acclaimed songs, “Mayfly,” and “Saskatchewan To Chicago.” Christiansen has devoted the majority of her considerable creative energy to visual art over the last decade with works and collaborations shown in galleries and museums all over the US and UK. Dawson has been teaching songwriting and guitar at the legendary Old Town School of Folk Music since 2005 and he co-wrote a book on the creative process with Mark Caro called, “Take It To The Bridge: Unlocking The Great Songs Inside You.” In 2014 Dawson formed the band, Funeral Bonsai Wedding, a folk-jazz hybrid featuring some of Chicago’s most acclaimed improvising musicians. Their self-titled debut in 2014 and the follow-up, Last Flight Out, in 2020, featuring the Quartet Parapluie String Quartet, were released to critical raves and thrilling live sets. Dawson’s newest solo album, At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree, was released on Pravda Records in 2021.
Dolly Varden: 10th Anniversary of "For A While" w/ Flo Estes
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Dolly Varden
Pop
“I went following the footsteps of a friendship that ended in Chicago.”
Steve Dawson sings this ambiguous, evocative line on Dolly Varden’s sixth and latest studio album, For a While, and we wonder: Did the footsteps or the friendship end in Chicago — or both? This much we know is true: Steve, born in California and raised in Idaho before studying music in Boston, moved to Chicago in 1987, formed the band Stump the Host with his soon-to-be-wife Diane Christiansen the following year and, after that band’s demise, launched Dolly Varden with Diane in 1994. Dolly Varden is a type of trout found in the Pacific Northwest, and the fish was named after a character in Charles Dickens’ novel Barnaby Rudge. So now you know.
For 18 years Dolly Varden has been wowing and charming audiences with the warm, sublime interplay of Steve’s and Diane’s voices (yes, they’re still married); the emotional potency, intelligence and undeniable melodicism of Steve’s songwriting; and the supple backing of supremely versatile guitarist Mark Balletto and the limber rhythm section of bassist Mike Bradburn and drummer Matt Thobe as the band encompasses rock, folk, country and R&B/gospel influences to create something solely its own. From the 1995 debut, Mouthful of Lies, through The Dumbest Magnets (2000) and The Panic Bell (2007), Dolly Varden has built a sizable, loyal fan base, and now listeners new and old can reap the considerable rewards of For a While. It’s an album that feels like it couldn’t have been created at any other point in the band’s history.
Recorded and mixed by Steve at Kernel Sound Emporium in Chicago and produced by the band, For a While finds Dolly Varden occupied with the passage of time, diving into lifetimes of memories to make better sense of today. From the delicate opening reflections of “Del Mar, 1976” (“I don’t remember her name, but I remember her well”), to the Diane-sung transience-themed title track to the generations-spanning ballad “Saskatchewan to Chicago” to the album’s centerpiece, the achingly gorgeous “Mayfly” (“We are lucky, and I must not forget”), Dawson and the band demonstrate that time has had only a positive effect on their artistry. Dawson’s songwriting has gained in depth and observational powers while his voice has never sounded richer or more expressive. And the rest of the band is with him every step of the way, whether tightening the screws on the taut rocker “Done (Done),” creating the eerie outer-space-garage vibe of “Temperamental Complement,” splashing a hymn-like beauty over “Girl in a Well” and “Favorite Friend” or reveling in the joyful pop of the closing “Thank You.”
Some aspects of life may be fleeting, but the pleasures of For a While will be everlasting — and for that we are lucky.
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Flo Estes
Folk
$17.00 - $20.00 All Ages
In 2013 Chicago quintet, Dolly Varden, released one of their most critically acclaimed albums, “For A While,” featuring several songs that have become mainstays of their live shows and fan favorites, including “Mayfly,” and “Saskatchewan To Chicago.” On July 15 the band will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release with a show at Evanston’s SPACE.
Chicago quintet Dolly Varden is built around the singing and songwriting of husband-and-wife duo Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen, along with Mark Balletto on guitar, Matt Thobe on drums and Mike Bradburn on bass. The lineup has remained the same for 25 years through tours, albums, children and relocations and they continue to enjoy their family-like connection through making music together. Though the band’s name suggests a euphonious connection to a certain country singer, it is actually derived from a rare and beautiful species of trout, which in turn was named after a character in Charles Dickens’ short novel, Barnaby Rudge. Strange, but true: Dawson and Christiansen both had fathers who were avid fishermen who dreamed of one day catching the elusive Dolly Varden in an icy Alaskan lake. Dolly Varden recorded their debut album, Mouthful of Lies, in Christiansen’s art studio on a 4-track cassette machine and released it on their own Mid-Fi label in 1995. The success of that album led to them signing with New York indie label, Evil Teen, who released The Thrill of Gravity (1998) and The Dumbest Magnets (2000). Produced by Brad Jones and considered to be one of their finest efforts, Magnets, led years of successful touring in the UK and Europe and considerable critical acclaim. The follow-up, also produced by Jones, Forgiven Now, was released on Undertow Records in 2002. After nearly constant touring and recording the band took a well-deserved break in 2003. During the hiatus Dawson recorded the first of a series of solo albums, Dawson and Christiansen recorded an album of duets, and Balletto recorded a solo album under the band name, My Record Player. The band reunited to release The Panic Bell in 2007, an album that leans more toward the power-pop side of their musical personality, followed by For A While in 2013, a life-assessing song cycle which features two of Dawson’s most acclaimed songs, “Mayfly,” and “Saskatchewan To Chicago.” Christiansen has devoted the majority of her considerable creative energy to visual art over the last decade with works and collaborations shown in galleries and museums all over the US and UK. Dawson has been teaching songwriting and guitar at the legendary Old Town School of Folk Music since 2005 and he co-wrote a book on the creative process with Mark Caro called, “Take It To The Bridge: Unlocking The Great Songs Inside You.” In 2014 Dawson formed the band, Funeral Bonsai Wedding, a folk-jazz hybrid featuring some of Chicago’s most acclaimed improvising musicians. Their self-titled debut in 2014 and the follow-up, Last Flight Out, in 2020, featuring the Quartet Parapluie String Quartet, were released to critical raves and thrilling live sets. Dawson’s newest solo album, At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree, was released on Pravda Records in 2021.
Chicago quintet Dolly Varden is built around the singing and songwriting of husband-and-wife duo Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen, along with Mark Balletto on guitar, Matt Thobe on drums and Mike Bradburn on bass. The lineup has remained the same for 25 years through tours, albums, children and relocations and they continue to enjoy their family-like connection through making music together. Though the band’s name suggests a euphonious connection to a certain country singer, it is actually derived from a rare and beautiful species of trout, which in turn was named after a character in Charles Dickens’ short novel, Barnaby Rudge. Strange, but true: Dawson and Christiansen both had fathers who were avid fishermen who dreamed of one day catching the elusive Dolly Varden in an icy Alaskan lake. Dolly Varden recorded their debut album, Mouthful of Lies, in Christiansen’s art studio on a 4-track cassette machine and released it on their own Mid-Fi label in 1995. The success of that album led to them signing with New York indie label, Evil Teen, who released The Thrill of Gravity (1998) and The Dumbest Magnets (2000). Produced by Brad Jones and considered to be one of their finest efforts, Magnets, led years of successful touring in the UK and Europe and considerable critical acclaim. The follow-up, also produced by Jones, Forgiven Now, was released on Undertow Records in 2002. After nearly constant touring and recording the band took a well-deserved break in 2003. During the hiatus Dawson recorded the first of a series of solo albums, Dawson and Christiansen recorded an album of duets, and Balletto recorded a solo album under the band name, My Record Player. The band reunited to release The Panic Bell in 2007, an album that leans more toward the power-pop side of their musical personality, followed by For A While in 2013, a life-assessing song cycle which features two of Dawson’s most acclaimed songs, “Mayfly,” and “Saskatchewan To Chicago.” Christiansen has devoted the majority of her considerable creative energy to visual art over the last decade with works and collaborations shown in galleries and museums all over the US and UK. Dawson has been teaching songwriting and guitar at the legendary Old Town School of Folk Music since 2005 and he co-wrote a book on the creative process with Mark Caro called, “Take It To The Bridge: Unlocking The Great Songs Inside You.” In 2014 Dawson formed the band, Funeral Bonsai Wedding, a folk-jazz hybrid featuring some of Chicago’s most acclaimed improvising musicians. Their self-titled debut in 2014 and the follow-up, Last Flight Out, in 2020, featuring the Quartet Parapluie String Quartet, were released to critical raves and thrilling live sets. Dawson’s newest solo album, At The Bottom Of A Canyon In The Branches Of A Tree, was released on Pravda Records in 2021.
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