Bonnie Dobson (born November 13, 1940,

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Canada)"Bonnie Dobson"
AllMusic Biography by Richie Unterberger is a Canadian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

songwriter, singer, and guitarist, most known in the 1960s for composing the songs "I'm Your Woman" and "

Morning Dew "Morning Dew," also known as "(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew," is a contemporary folk song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bonnie Dobson. The lyrics relate a fictional conversation in a post-nuclear holocaust world. Originally recorded live as a ...

". The latter, augmented (with a controversial co-writing credit) by

Tim Rose Timothy Alan Patrick Rose (September 23, 1940 – September 24, 2002) (unofficial website by long-term correspondent of Rose's) was an American singer and songwriter who spent much of his life in London, England, and had more success in E ...

, became a melancholy

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

standard, covered by

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Fred Neil Fred Neil (March 16, 1936 – July 7, 2001) was an American folk singer-songwriter active in the 1960s and early 1970s. He did not achieve commercial success as a performer and is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material&n ...

Ralph McTell Ralph McTell (born Ralph May, 3 December 1944) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s. McTell is best known for his song " Streets of London" (19 ...

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Nazareth Nazareth ( ; ar, النَّاصِرَة, ''an-Nāṣira''; he, נָצְרַת, ''Nāṣəraṯ''; arc, ܢܨܪܬ, ''Naṣrath'') is the largest city in the Northern District of Israel. Nazareth is known as "the Arab capital of Israel". In ...

, the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

, the

Jeff Beck Group The Jeff Beck Group was a British rock band formed in London in January 1967 by former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck. Their innovative approach to heavy-sounding blues, rhythm and blues and rock was a major influence on popular music. First ...

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following the ...

, the Pozo-Seco Singers,

The 31st of February The 31st of February was a rock and roll band formed by Jacksonville, Florida natives Scott Boyer, David Brown, and Butch Trucks. All three were alumni of Englewood High School in Jacksonville, though they did not come together musically until Br ...

(including

Gregg Allman Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman Br ...

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, and

Butch Trucks Claude Hudson "Butch" Trucks (May 11, 1947 – January 24, 2017) was an American drummer. He was best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Trucks was born ...

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and

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments; perc ...

, among many others.

Early life

Dobson was born in Toronto.Dick Weissman.
Which Side Are You On?: An Inside History of the Folk Music Revival in America
'. A&C Black; January 1, 2006. . p. 100–. Her father was a union organizer and opera lover. Her early music influences included

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

and

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs fro ...

Career

Dobson became part of the active folk-revival scene in Toronto, performing in local coffee houses and at the

Mariposa Folk Festival Mariposa Folk Festival is a Canadian music festival founded in 1961 in Orillia, Ontario. It was held in Orillia for three years before being banned because of disturbances by festival-goers. After being held in various places in Ontario for a f ...

. She later moved to the United States where she performed in coffee houses across the country" Bonnie Dobson Interview"
''Rhythms'', by Iain Patience, June 10, 2016 and recorded several albums, including 1962's ''Bonnie Dobson at Folk City'', which contained her well-known song "

".Jason Schneider.
Whispering Pines: The Northern Roots of American Music... from Hank Snow to the Band
'. ECW Press; December 15, 2010. . p. 1–. Dobson has consistently questioned Tim Rose's right to a co-writing credit for "Morning Dew" (stating that Rose first heard it as sung by

) (1964 album ''Tear Down The Walls'', crediting Dobson). After returning to Toronto in 1967 she continued to perform locally in coffee houses as well programs on the CBC. She married, and in 1969 moved to London, England, where she took up university studies and later became an administrator of the Philosophy Department at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public university, public research university, located in Bloomsbury, London, England, and a constituent college, member institution of the federal Universit ...

, part of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. After retiring in the 1980s, Dobson returned to perform in 2007 in London with Jarvis Cocker; she released a new album in 2013 with the Hornbeam label and that year launched a number of concert dates. She performed with

Combined Services Entertainment BFBS Live Events (formerly Combined Services Entertainment (CSE) until 2 March 2020) is the live entertainment arm of the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) (and prior to March 2020 the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC), a regist ...

, and was one of the last performers at RAF Salalah Oman.

Discography

*1961: ''Bonnie Dobson Sings 'She's Like a Swallow' and Other Folk Songs'' (Prestige International 13021; Prestige/Folklore Records 14015

963 Year 963 (Roman numerals, CMLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * March 15 – Emperor Romanos II dies at age 25, probably o ...

*1962: ''Dear Companion'' (Prestige International 13031; Prestige/Folklore Records 14007

*1962: ''Bonnie Dobson at Folk City'' ive(Prestige International 13057; Prestige/Folklore Records 14018

(featuring "

") *1964: ''Hootenanny with Bonnie Dobson'' (Prestige Folklore 14018) *1964: ''Bonnie Dobson Sings a Merry-Go-Round of Children's Songs'' (Prestige International 13064) *1964: ''For the Love of Him'' (Mercury MG-20987/SR-60987) *1969: ''Bonnie Dobson'' (RCA Victor LSP-4219) (I Got Stung #82 CanPop / #7 CanCon - August 1969) *1970: ''Good Morning Rain'' (RCA Victor LSP-4277) (Good Morning Rain - recommended CanCon May 1970) *1972: ''Bonnie Dobson'' (Argo KRecords ZFB 79) (featuring "

Land of the Silver Birch "Land of the Silver Birch" is a traditional Canadian folk song that dates from the 1920s. The lyrics are sometimes erroneously attributed to Pauline Johnson, perhaps in confusion with her well-known poem, "The Song My Paddle Sings". It is sometime ...

") *1976: ''Morning Dew'' (Polydor KRecords 2383 400) *2014: ''Take Me for a Walk in the Morning Dew'' (Hornbeam KRecords HBR 0003)

References

External links

CanConRox entry
* *
Bonnie Dobson's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Bonnie 1940 births Living people Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian women singer-songwriters Canadian folk guitarists Canadian folk singer-songwriters Canadian women folk guitarists Musicians from Toronto

Early life

Career

Discography

See also

References

External links