Darkest before Dawn? Not a chance

By Mat Herron
Dawn Landes is finally thawing out.
En route to her band’s first show opening for Jason Isbell & 400 Unit in Minneapolis, their fruitful sojourn ground to a halt when they hit a snowstorm outside Madison, Wisc., that left them stranded for nine hours.
“Nine and a half, actually,” Landes says.
She blogged about the ordeal for Harp magazine. Needless to say, touring in winter is always tricky, especially when you have to share a cab with a trucker for five hours to stay warm. Which she did.
She didn’t want her inertia to go unnoticed, so she made about 20 phone calls to local politicians until she found those responsible for clearing the roads near Madison. Then, she let them have it.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, prior to the tour’s Midwest leg, scoundrels broke into Isbell’s van while he was out west and stole his band’s gear. Will Hoge had a fiasco with his tour bus.
By the time they reach Headliners Music Hall Friday, you should buy all three a drink for even making it there.
“I consider this my first proper southern rock tour,” says Landes, a Louisville native who moved to New York to attend NYU in 2000, quit, and now works as a recording engineer.
Landes will no doubt have more road stories to tell by the time she’s done touring for her upcoming album, Fireproof, which drops March 4. She made the record two years ago, and released it in France last year, and all over Europe in January — her third European release. America’s now getting a taste, and Landes notices the irony. “It’s bizarre to me, because my music is very American.”
Renowned drummer Ray Rizzo lent his talents on Fireproof, which was recorded live in one day, a new tactic for Landes. She nailed her vocals on the first take, then spent the rest of the time adding “bells and whistles” to the batch.
Landes is happy to return to her hometown for another reason. She’s recording a cover of Paul McCartney’s “Dear Boy” for a compilation that will benefit Teach for America, a national organization that places recent college graduates in struggling rural and urban schools.
Landes opens for Isbell and Hoge this Friday night at Headliners. Call 584-8088 for ticketing and schedule information.
Contact the writer at mherron@leoweekly.com