Being longtime friends, Dawn and Paul had an easy and comfortable collaboration.
An interview with the unstoppable Dawn Tyler Watson!
Her new album 'En Duo' showcases a softer side
It's easy to spot the people who are doing what they were meant to be doing in life; they have a smile on their face and an energy that's infectious. Singer, actor, songwriter Dawn Tyler Watson is clearly blessed to be able to do what she loves and she shows absolutely no signs of slowing down.
In fact, her new CD, "En Duo", an acoustic collaboration with longtime friend singer-guitarist Paul Deslauriers, is out now and at the top of the jazz charts and Dawn is gearing up for a busy summer.
"En Duo": a collaboration of friends
"Working with Paul was a joy," reveals Dawn. "We've worked together for years in the Dawn Tyler Blues Project and I knew that our collaboration would be spontaneous and comfortable." Add to that mix, producer Charles Papasoff, whom they both knew well and the result is an easy, accessible album, replete with a number of well-known covers and a couple of originals.
The album was recorded at Whiskey Studios, in Morin Heights over 3 cold days in February, 2006. With tunes like Bruce Cockburn's "Mamma Just Wants to Barrelhouse All Night Long", Smokey Robinson's "The Tracks of My Tears", and a version of Led Zeppelin's "Going to California", Dawn and Paul, using only six strings and two voices, seamlessly alternate between blues, jazz, folk, soul and good ol' rock and roll.
The CD has already found an eager audience, skyrocketing to the number 1 spot on the Couleur Jazz radio station. Their version of the Beatles song "Come Together" had the crowd on its feet, when Dawn recently opened for Maya Angelou, in Montreal.
Meeting a legend
"One of the organizers of the Maya Angelou tour saw me performing on TV and asked me to open for her. They just emailed me a few days before the show and asked me if I would be interested," Dawn explains.
"I usually don't get nervous when I perform, but I get goose bumps just telling you about this, because she is such a spiritual giant and she emanates such energy and here I was introducing HER? I was hyperventilating, that's how excited I was. The experience was without a doubt one of the highlights of my career," she says.
Non-stop performing
And this is a career that has already had a number of highlights; a career that shows no signs of stopping! This past year, the Island songbird travelled to Moscow to perform at the National Arts Center, opened for none other than Roberta Flack in Qatar, in the Middle East, just performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, at Club Soda and the Mt. Tremblant Blues Fest (opening for Coco Taylor) and will be travelling to France in the fall and returning to Moscow in the winter for more shows.
One wonders where she even found the time to record an album, but she did. "En Duo" was quickly picked up by Justin Records, the largest jazz and blues record company in Canada and so far the support and promotion behind it has aided in its success. Dawn informs us she's already in pre-production for another album.
"What I love most is performing for people, the energy that I get when I'm on stage," says the Canadian Maple Blues Award 2006 Female Vocalist of the Year.
Speaking of being on stage, Dawn will be making an appearance closer to home, before departing again for foreign shores. On October 19, she'll be performing right here, on L'Ile-des-Soeurs, at the Elgar Centre. Don't miss your opportunity to see one of Canada's and the Island's very own most accomplished and talented –and dare I add, down to earth and extremely gracious—performers in action.
Météo: Montréal, 22 mai 2008 / 12°C
/ Faible averse de pluie
/ Vents: 9 Km/h / Humidité relative: 67 % 
par Toula Foscolos 
Steven Guilbeault - 
