Dawn brings the party with new album

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This article was published 08/09/2015 (3994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

True to its title, Til The Cowboys Come Home marks a return to form for Kimberley Dawn.    

The Métis country artist’s new album is nominated for Best Country CD at the Indigenous Music Awards, which will be handed out on Fri., Sept. 11 at MTS Centre.

Not only is the album Dawn’s first since 2009’s Built That Way, it’s her first since her son Bobby died almost three years ago.

“I didn’t want to do music anymore, I didn’t want to do radio (she was a radio personality on NCI FM) anymore, I didn’t want to do any of it anymore. I just wanted to go back into society quietly and not be in the limelight,” said Dawn, who lives in Riverbend.

“My son, who had Down syndrome, came to me in a dream. When I’d get ready to go to work he used to ‘Oh mom, you’re going to be Kiddley Dawn.’ He said that in the dream.”

Inspired, Dawn hooked up with songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tom Dutiaume, set up shop in Hanger Studio in St. Anne, Man. and worked on Til The Cowboys Come Home.

The album’s title track and lead single is a raucous party anthem about a girl’s night out. Dawn said the song is an attempt to fill a much-needed void in the music industry.

“Female artists have been called ‘tomatoes in the salad,’” said Dawn, referring to a quote from country radio executive Keith Hill, originally published in industry publication Country Aircheck, that only men perform hit country songs.

“Martina McBride and Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood got behind it (calling out the sexist remark) and us small recording artists also got behind it. There really is a struggle in radio and the music industry for women. There are not a lot of female writers or a lot of songs geared toward women.”

The song’s corresponding video features a group of women getting down at the Royal George Hotel in Transcona. The storyline is the husbands and boys have gone fishin’ and it’s time for the girls to party.

“We’re not out to cheat on our husbands or do anything that would harm our families. We’re just out there to have the same amount of fun everybody else does. Even with being career women and mothers, we can still get out and party,” Dawn said.

Speaking of positive vibes, Dawn said Til The Cowboys Come Home was a “breath of fresh air” in her life.

“For every piece of joy that’s been with this album there’s been a tragedy or hurdle, and that’s why it’s been so special,” Dawn said. “It’s taught me humility, humbleness and it’s taught me hard work, that when your life seems to be done, you take a second breath and say ‘I can do this.’”