Coming soon to a couch near you! We’ve been booking some intimate home shows in the Portland area this summer and are looking for some more homes to invade. So if you would like to host an Acoustic Living Room Concert please let us know!
Category Archives Discography
0 Stop the Sun
Buy Now!
Here are some quick links to various retailers where you can purchase either a downloadable MP3 copy of this album or in some cases a physical CD with lyric booklet.
Buy on iTunes Buy on Amazon Buy on CD Baby
Details
If “You And Me” by Lifehouse collided with a Howie Day song you would get this rocking new love song single that I wrote for my wife as a 1st Anniversary gift.
Once again I teamed up with producer/musician extraordinaire, Nick Garrett-Powell and delivered a new anthemic love song. “Stop The Sun” is the new single from the highly anticipated CD, “White”, due out in 2013. I wrote this song shortly before Christmas 2009 as a 1st Anniversary present for my wife, Jessica. Nick & I recorded the song on December 23rd and Nick added some synthesized drums and other parts to get the song ready in a single day to be given as a surprise to my wife on Christmas Eve, 2009. Since that time live drums, harmonies and other tracks have been added to arrive at the single you hear now.
This song speaks of wishing to be able to hold onto the special moments we have that seem fleeting. The lyrics express the wish that we could freeze time or somehow learn to “stop the sun.” This song will be featured on the upcoming full-length release, “White”, but you can enjoy it now as a preview single! Fans of Lifehouse, OneRepublic and The Script should especially enjoy this rock-inspired love ballad.
Lyrics
Stop the Sun
The days have come and they have gone
Wish I’d faith like Joshua to stop the sun
A moment frozen in time
Where I could be yours and you’d be mine
Life’s merry-go-round spins us past
Wish I could make these all too brief moments last
Turn a blink into nine
Where we’d be just one heartbeat entwined
If I had my wish time would be undone
So I could hold you forever now my love
One moment burning bright
If only my love could learn
To stop the sun
I try to show how much I cherish you in song
Though some days work takes me away from you too long
So I hope that these words
Will ring in your ears till I am home
For it seems just a glance over my shoulder when we met
But somehow a year’s flown by since the day when we were wed
Oh we’ve laughed and we’ve cried
Seen both struggles, blessings alike
I thank God for you my wife
Joshua 10:9-14
Copyright © 2009 Dawson Cowals.
0 Before You Sleep
Buy Now!
Here are some quick links to various retailers where you can purchase either a downloadable MP3 copy of this album or in some cases a physical CD with lyric booklet.
Buy on iTunes Buy on Amazon Buy on CD Baby
Details
Dawson’s latest single is an acoustic lullaby with a mellow groove reminiscent of a Joshua Radin song performed by OneRepublic.
This song is a mellow, grooving acoustic lullaby featuring guitar and mandolin along with some hand percussion and lush harmonies. Once again Dawson has teamed up with the amazing Nick Garrett-Powell and delivered a fantastic new song. Based mostly on the passage from Psalm 121 and the inspirational lyrics of an anonymous poem, it reminds us that we can lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus and he will give us perfect peace. That when we lay down to sleep we can rest assured that his eyes never close in sleep and that he is always keeping watch over us.
This song is one of the first singles completed for Dawson’s 13th full-length CD, “White”, which is currently being completed in the studio. Stay tuned for some more singles and word on a firmer release date for the new album!
For fans of Brandon Heath, Joshua Radin, OneRepublic and Nickel Creek.
Lyrics
Before You Sleep
Before you sleep, just gently lay
Every troubled thought away;
Just drop your burdens and your cares
In the quiet arms of prayer.
Then drift away, off to sleep
With a perfect sense of peace
Secure in knowing no harm will fall
For he never slumbers; but he sees all
And his eyes never close in sleep
And his eyes always keep watch over me
And his love shining from above
Awakes me softly when the new day has come
Blessed is the day that the Lord has made
We all rejoice and are glad in it
But though this day is gone
We know that His mercies are new
With the coming of the dawn
First stanza taken from an anonymous poem. Additional lyrics by Dawson Cowals.
Psalm 3:5, 4:8, 118:24, 121; Lamentations 3:21-26; Matthew 11:28-30; Philippians 4:6-7
Copyright © 2011 Dawson Cowals.
0 Happy Ever After
Buy Now!
Here are some quick links to various retailers where you can purchase either a downloadable MP3 copy of this album or in some cases a physical CD with lyric booklet.
Buy on iTunes Buy on Amazon Buy on CD Baby
Details
Original love song written for Nate & Rayleigh Leavitt’s wedding that tells their story in a quirky synthpop fashion. Think Owl City fights off a fire breathing dragon and rescues the lonely princess. This is a preview track from the next full length CD, “White”.
I’ve known Nate and Rayleigh for many years and we were all excited when Nate proposed! Finally, Rayleigh would have her fairy tale wedding and be rescued by her valiant knight in shining armor. They asked me to write a song to perform at their wedding on May 22, 2010 and this is the result. Rayleigh is a big fan of Owl City so Nick and I diverged a bit from my normal singer/songwriter acoustic guitar stylings and dove head-first into the quirky world of synthpop! A gihugenous thanks to Nick for working hard on this track around the clock without sleep so we could release it in time for their wedding!
I hope you enjoy this fun and hope filled love song. This song will be featured along with several other new songs on the full-length album “White” due out in 2013. Look for some more singles to be released in the coming months to preview more of the new album. Please join with me in wishing Nate and Rayleigh their much deserved Happy Ever After!
Lyrics
Happy Ever After
Purple twinge of twilight fading
Beneath your falling lashes
As you drift off to sleep
May your dreams of happy ever
After, filled with laughter,
Always start and end with me
When we met it wasn’t like
A fairy tale love at first sight
But over time our friendship grew
You saw I was genuine and loving
I found your gentle spirit
And that is how our love first bloomed
Happy ever after
That is all I’m after, after all
I’m so happy ever since we got together
You answered my heart’s call
I know I left you holding
Flower stems with petals falling
Yes he will, no he won’t, oh when will he?
I must beg you for forgiveness
For the doubts that clouded my thinking
It’s clearly you, will you please marry me?
I’m so happy, I’m so happy
I’m so happy, happy endings don’t just happen
In my dreams anymore
I know that we will have our share of good and hard times
Together we can fight off any dragons that might fly by
Though emotions can run hot and cold and dry
I’ll be your knight in shining armor till the end of time
Wedding song written for Nate & Rayleigh Leavitt (05-22-2010)
Copyright © 2010 Dawson Cowals.
0 Turn Your Eyes
Buy Now!
Here are some quick links to various retailers where you can purchase either a downloadable MP3 copy of this album or in some cases a physical CD with lyric booklet.
Buy on iTunes Buy on Amazon Buy on CD Baby
Details
A new arrangement of the classic hymn, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” with a twist of smooth jazz and a dash of Dawson’s signature acoustic guitar style, featuring haunting harmonies and mellow upright bass. I was joined on this song by the brush work of G.T. Albright on drums, soaring harmonies of Nick Garrett-Powell, and outstanding upright bass work of John Lingafelter. This is the first of many “revived” hymns I have been working on and hope to be able to release in a collection someday. This song will also be featured on my next full-length release, “White”, scheduled to be finished in 2013. We hope this song brings you peace and helps you enter in before his throne of grace!
Lyrics
Turn Your Eyes
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Turn your eyes upon Him
And all the things of this earth
They will grow strangely dim
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Turn your eyes upon Him
And all the things of this earth
They will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
Won’t you turn and look full in His wonderful face
His Word shall not fail you—No, He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
For his mercy, turn your eyes upon him, turn your eyes upon Jesus
For salvation, turn your eyes upon him, turn your eyes upon Jesus
For his grace, turn your eyes upon him, turn your eyes upon Jesus
Oh and look, won’t you turn and look full in his wonderful face
Turn and look, won’t you look full in his wonderful face
Based on the traditional hymn. Lyric changes and arrangement by Dawson Cowals.
Copyright © 2004 Dawson Cowals.
0 Looking Up At the Same Star
Buy Now!
Here are some quick links to various retailers where you can purchase either a downloadable MP3 copy of this album or in some cases a physical CD with lyric booklet.
Buy on iTunes Buy on Amazon Buy on CD Baby
Details
A fresh and modern collection of love & wedding songs with catchy melodies and a tight band backing them up. Think Knopfler and Nick Drake fronting the Dave Matthews Band.
This is the second collaboration between myself and producer/musician extraordinaire, Nick Garrett-Powell, and my 12th full-length recording. Taking a new bent and direction from my entirely acoustic previous release, Coffee Shop Songs, this new project explores some creative song stylings; offerings range from acoustic guitar and violin ballads to hard-rock funk, haunting choral vignettes all the way to French language hip-hop. Nick once again showcases his amazing harmonies and diverse arrangements, but really shines in his expressive electric guitar leads borrowing inspiration from the likes of Knopfler and Satriani. Joining msyelf and Nick on this project is the percussion prodigy, Nick James, who manages to capture the many intricate rhythmic and timing changes and really helps rock the project up several notches.
This CD is a special collection of love & wedding songs that I have written over the last 10 years for friends and performed at their weddings. The majority of the album includes recent love songs that I wrote for my own wife, especially “Cord of Three Strands” which I sang as a proposal in the Fall of 2008. The album starts off with an upbeat rock tune about how we met through an online dating service and features a humorous modem dial-up sequence as a solo break. The rock ballad, “Same Star”, continues to further the story of our relationship and give the title for the album through the lyric: “Now we go outside at night / Hand in hand we pass ‘neath the streetlights / So we can look up into the sky / Together look up at the same star.” The highlight on the album is the hip-hop track “Mon étoile filante” which I wrote entirely in French and sings of how my wife is “My shooting star, my jewel from heaven, my gift from God above.”
The album ends with a couple of bonus acoustic versions of some of the earlier songs to highlight my signature pinch-slap, percussive picking technique. The final track is a short reprise of the song “Starting” featuring just my vocals and Nick’s amazing harmonies. All in all this is a great modern collection of love songs that provides many new choices to replace some of the more antiquated tracks normally heard at most weddings.
Highly recommended for fans of Brandon Heath, Bebo Norman, Matt Nathanson, and Joshua Radin.