COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — After years in the industry, making music remains the goal. Brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith have been playing music since they were children, having been inspired by their father, who was also a musician.
The brothers’ established folk-rock band Dawes is set to headline Columbus’ inaugural, two-day RushSouth music festival, which begins on Saturday, Oct. 14. The event will happen in concert with the ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championship.
“[It] definitely means the world, the fact that we’re able to continue to build a catalogue and to look back and have all this to show,” said Taylor, acknowledging his music has changed significantly over the course of his life.
Taylor officially began his music career alongside guitarist Blake Mills. The two formed the alternative rock group Simon Dawes which broke up in 2007 as Mills and Taylor moved on to new ventures. While Mills would go on to work with Jack Johnson, Bob Dylan and Alabama Shakes, amongst others, Taylor and Griffin began to play together as an offshoot of Simon and Dawes, now simply “Dawes.”
Working together the brothers and other band members adopted a more indie-folk tone reminiscent of California-based musicians in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
“It wasn’t a conscious thing, of like, ‘Let’s listen to this, let’s sound like this,’” said Taylor about Dawes’ current sound.
Taylor added the band’s sound is often called “mellower” than other popular rock bands. Ultimately, Taylor explained, the band’s goal is to produce music which feels true to them.
Dawes’ most recently released album is “Misadventures of Doomscroller,” which was originally released in 2022 and again in 2023 as a deluxe edition.
“This job kind of never stops,” said Taylor.
He added the band’s recently released single “I Love” is a cover of the song released by Tom T. Hall in 1973. It’s a song he’s frequently played for his son and one the band originally covered as a contribution for a collection.
Since they liked the sound, Taylor said the band decided they might as well release “I Love” as a single too after gaining the correct permissions.
According to Taylor, Dawes got involved with the RushSouth festival through the event’s other headlining act, rock band Gov’t Mule. The two worked together previously for the Island Exodus festival in Jamaica in 2022.
Speaking about the upcoming RushSouth festival, Taylor said, “It’s obviously an honor.”
He was looking forward to working with other bands at the festival, a diverse group representing the greater “Americana” genre which is characterized by elements of American music traditions like folk, country and blues.
Taylor said, “From what I gather, this is the kind of [event] where we can kind of explore and really like dig into the material.”
On Oct. 14, Dawes will hit the “Move to Meaningful” stage in Woodruff Riverfront Park at 9 p.m. Access to the concert requires the purchase of a ticket (starting at $70) to the RushSouth music festival, however free festival events outside the main festival such as a “Zen Zone” and vendor village will be open to the public starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Main festival gates will open at 2 p.m. on Saturday. A full schedule of events for Saturday and Sunday is available at http://www.rushsouthfest.com.
