Dawn Langstroth

DAWN LANGSTROTH
Singer…songwriter…poet…painter…

“I get impatient with me,
But I get it together eventually.
It’s all good!”

That refrain, from the upbeat, opening song on Highwire, tells it like it is for singer/songwriter Dawn Langstroth.

Her first full-length debut album was a long time coming – almost 10 years of co-writing music and lyrics and making demos of tracks for nine of the 12 songs in the album. But “it’s all good!” to her legions of fans on Twitter, MySpace, Facebook and YouTube, and at concerts.

Langstroth’s pure, fluid vocals have a wide, melodic range suited to any musical genre – from the soulful blues of No Prize, to the acoustic ballad of You Don’t Want Me, and the sinewy Middle-Eastern/blue grass mix of Dark and Twisted. She does them all.

“I love all kinds of music,” Dawn says. “I don’t discriminate.

“My inspiration to write comes when I’m extremely emotional or passionate about something,” she explains. “I immerse myself in that emotion, feel its intensity, and let my mind flow through all sorts of ideas. For me, it’s like having a good cry or a gut-busting laugh.”

More than any other song, “Mother’s Child” exemplifies how Langstroth uses her writing to get a grip on her true feelings. Born the daughter of legendary Canadian songstress Anne Murray, Dawn spent much of her younger years denying her natural talents as an artist in her own right. In “Mother’s Child”, we feel Dawn’s torment gradually turn to a hint of wonder as she begins:

God help me, I’m my mother’s child.
Try to fight it, but I just can’t win.

And ends:

God blessed me, I’m my mother’s child.
Yes mister, I’m my mother’s child.
What a happy tragedy;
Crazy, custom made for me.
That’s the way I want it to be.

A natural thing to do

A defining moment in Dawn’s life came about ten years ago, after a chance meeting and chat with legendary entertainment manager Bruce Allen. Dawn decided to turn from writing poetry to composing lyrics. One of her first tunes, Stranded, is about her personal pain of unrequited love. “I wrote this song with Anthony Vanderburgh,” Dawn says. “I was surprised that it seemed like such a natural thing for me to do.”

Everyone connects with each song in a different way, finding their own meaning from personal experience. With Elevator Music, for example, one person sees the monotony of a manufactured world, while another might lament the loss of passion in their marriage.

“It’s all good!” Dawn laughs. “I enjoy working with other musicians (David Martin – It’s All Good and Elevator Music; Amanda Stott – It’s All Good; Ron Sexsmith – Enough for Two and You Don’t Want Me; John Randall Stewart and Sally Barris – Dark and Twisted; Geoff Gibbons – No Prize; Matthew Gerrard and Christopher Ward – Highwire Heart; Anthony Vanderburgh – Stranded; and Mike James and Troy Samson – Mother’s Child) because we inspire each other with our ideas and experiences. Whether I’m listening or creating, I always bring something of myself to the music – otherwise, what’s the point?”

Sharing music with others has been a lifelong pastime for Dawn, who spent her summers at the family cottage in Nova Scotia. During one of their regular sing-alongs – accompanied by guitars, “gut buckets” (a wash-tub bass) and a broom – Dawn was startled to hear one of her tunes sung in harmony by her mother and her brother, Will. “It seemed amazing to realize that I had created that piece…and it sounded pretty good.” she recalls.

So you can imagine Dawn’s sincere surprise when, in 2007, she was invited by the legendary, Grammy-Award-winning producer/engineer, George Massenburgh (i.e. Earth, Wind & Fire, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Randy Newman), to do a couple of tunes with him in Nashville. This fateful meeting came about while Dawn was performing an opening set for The Rankin Family’s cross-country tour.

“I wasn’t originally scheduled for the Massey Hall performance in Toronto, but I was added in with a two-song opener ahead of the opening act,” Dawn explains. “George was there to meet up with his wife, Cookie Rankin, and caught my short set. He was very nice, and expressed an interest in working with me.

“Frankly, I didn’t think he was serious,” she continues, in clear awe of her destiny. “We ended up doing not just a few songs, but all 12 of the songs that I’ve had tucked under my pillow for the last 10 years. And that, in turn, has led to my debut album, Highwire, produced by George Massenburgh and Jon Randall Stewart.”

Recently chosen as a female artist to watch by GWNtertainment – 100% Pure Canadian Music Magazine, Langstroth continues to push her boundaries through songwriting, performing live concerts in intimate venues, and stepping outside her true character for a Dark and Twisted music video. To add even more versatility to her artistic repertoire, she tops it off with burgeoning commissions for her delightfully bold and wonky paintings of whimsical house