Dawn Landes (born December 5, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is originally from around
Louisville, Kentucky but spent many years living and performing in
Brooklyn,
New York. As a recording artist she has released five full-length albums: dawn's music (2005), Fireproof (2008), Sweetheart Rodeo (2010), Bluebird (2014) and Meet Me At The River (2018) as well as five EPs: Straight Lines (2006), Two Three Four (2006), Mal Habillée (2012), Covers EP (2014) and Desert Songs (2015).[1] In support of her releases, Landes has toured extensively in the US, Europe and around the world, often sharing the stage with artists such as
Ray Lamontagne,
Feist,
Andrew Bird,
José González,
The Weakerthans,
Midlake,
Suzanne Vega, and
Sufjan Stevens.[4]
As an instrumentalist, she has toured as part of New York City
American roots music band
Hem. and
Sufjan Stevens' touring band (2015–2016). A producer and engineer, she worked at Stratosphere Sound in
New York City and at
Philip Glass' own personal recording studio. In 2007 Landes helped found
Saltlands Studio in Brooklyn, NY. She has collaborated with contemporaries like
Justin Townes Earle,
Will Oldham and
Josh Ritter in the studio.[5] Her songs have been featured in popular films and TV shows, including The Good Wife, Bored to Death, Skins, House, Gossip Girl and United States of Tara. She composed original scores for two feature films Blackbird and Familiar Strangers and wrote the end credit song for Savage Grace starring
Julianne Moore.[6] Landes has appeared with The American Songbook Series, Boston Pops,
TED and in 2012 with the
NYC Ballet at the Lincoln Center for the
Benjamin Millepied ballet "Two Hearts" singing a ballad entitled "The Brown Girl" as part of composer
Nico Muhly's score.[7]
In June 2012, she released Mal Habillée, a collection of original
French songs in the style of
Ye-Ye. It features guest vocals by
Matthew Caws (
Nada Surf) and
Tunde Adebimpe (
TV on the Radio) and an interactive ebook with illustrations by the artist
Danica Novgorodoff to accompany the text.[8] In February 2014, she released Bluebird which features guest appearances by
Norah Jones and others Bluebird won the 2015 14th Annual Independent Music Awards for '"Folk/Singer-Songwriter Album of the Year".
On October 2, 2020, Landes released her latest album, ROW, featuring the music from the upcoming musical of the same name, written with book-writer Daniel Goldstein, under commission from New York Voices. The album project began with a
Ted Talk Landes presented in 2015 on the musical's subject, transatlantic rower, Tori Murden McClure.[9] The album features
Will Oldham,
Rachel Grimes, and
Ben Sollee. The show was originally set to premiere in the summer of 2020 at the
Williamstown Theatre Festival but was postponed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.[10] The
Williamstown Theatre Festival announced a partnership with
Audible to release all seven of the productions originally expected to be performed during the 2020 festival.[10]
Landes also performs as a member of all-girl trio
The Bandana Splits.[11] Landes was once married to musician
Josh Ritter, with whom she also toured.[12] She now lives in
Chapel Hill, North Carolina and is married to composer Creighton Irons, with whom she has two children, Callan and Wright.[13]
Two of her songs, "Kissing Song" and "You Alone", are featured in the 2005 film Winter Passing. "Kissing Song" was played during the ending credit.[6]
She also contributed a song (Lullaby for Tony) for the closing credits of the 2007 film Savage Grace.[6]
The song "Straight Lines" was used in an episode of the Showtime series United States of Tara. It was also used in a commercial for the Chrysler Town and Country.[14]
"Straight Lines" was also used in a television advertisement for
Transport for London in the UK.[15]