Never givin’ up with foremost country troubadour Danny Dawson

A white Stetson and red velvet jacket-clad Danny Dawson cradles his Fender Telecaster Sunburst electric guitar, manufactured in the good ole USA, on November 11, 2017, backstage at the Alapaha Station Celebration. “I call her ‘The Drifter’ because of all the places we’ve been together,” South Georgia’s best kept secret confesses in an exclusive interview dropped below. Photography by Jeremy Roberts

“Son, no matter what, never give up on your dreams.” Georgia Traditional Artist of the Year winner and member of the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Advisory Board Danny Dawson deftly combines outlaw and traditional country. The former Georgia Heartbeat frontman’s influences consist of George Jones, Conway Twitty, Johnny Cash, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Tanya Tucker, Tracy Lawrence, and Charley Pride. Dawson is proud to call Pearson home and has barnstormed across the country opening for multiple acts including Waylon Jennings and Ronnie Milsap. Cut in Music City USA, No Turning Back [2019] is Dawson’s second album of all original material.

Below the “Why Can’t I Have You” songwriter patiently answers a barrage of questions covering his hardscrabble roots alongside 18 siblings on a farm in Manor and serendipitous courtship with future wife Martha Haskins. And in a brush with the big leagues, an RCA record deal was agonizingly thwarted by an inexperienced manager who shared lineage with a ’70s country superstar. The exclusive interview is off to the races now.

Country troubadours and a mahogany finish Dean acoustic guitar are built to last in this August 28, 2016, still of Danny Dawson at Burnell Gaskins’ farm in Willacoochee, Georgia. “This guitar was given to my oldest son Baxter Jackson as a birthday present,” confirms crowd-pleasing entertainer Danny Dawson. Photography by Wenda Gaile Bailey / Bailey’s Berrien Photos

The Danny Dawson Interview