Most bands and a lot of marriages break up in time. Steve Dawson and Diane Christiansen have successfully made a go of both.
The husband and wife are the core of Dolly Varden, a Chicago quintet that celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Saturday night. The group was founded in 1994 by Dawson and Christiansen along with bassist Lisa Wertman. Guitarist Mark Balletto and drummer Matt Thobe soon came aboard. In 1995, Mike Bradburn replaced Wertman. Remarkably, the lineup has remained intact since then.
The venue was packed with friends and fans, many of whom dated back to Dolly Varden’s early days when the band was routinely touted as a Next Big Thing. Despite a string of critically respected albums, the group never caught its big break. Their career has ebbed and flowed through the years, with the band members alternating recording and touring with intermittent breaks for solo projects and the demands of child-rearing.
Dolly Varden has an impressive catalog deserving of a celebratory retrospective. Performing with an intuitive rapport burnished over the years, the group cherry-picked highlights going back to the debut “Mouthful of Lies.” The mix of muscular power-pop and atmospheric folk-rock rang throughout the house.
Dawson donned a snazzy suit jacket while Christiansen was clad in a vintage cocktail dress and heels. The two seamlessly traded lead and harmony vocals. They also engaged in humorous banter throughout the night, including a tale of how they first met as roommates in 1987 and eventually bonded as a couple over a faulty stove and a mutual love for country legend George Jones.
Dawson is a particularly soulful singer, his voice bearing a trace of Paul Westerberg’s wounded rasp. As the band’s primary songwriter, he’s a trenchant wordsmith. Much of his material is tinged with melancholy, the lyrics subtly conveying the daily battles of the heart and mind.
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Although portions of the band’s two sets were propulsive and rocking, the most resonant moments came with quieter material. “Saskatchewan to Chicago” was Dawson’s wistful exploration of his family history. The aching “Mayfly” presented tender moments in time through the prism of a dream.
Playing delicate acoustic guitar, Dawson leaned into the song with hushed sincerity and sang the line that summed up both the night and the career, “We are lucky and the story is not over yet.”
Dickinson is a freelance critic.