Dave Rawlings Machine

David Rawlings has built a reputation as a guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer chiefly through his enduring creative alliance with Gillian Welch, a partnership that has yielded multiple folk and neo-traditional albums earning widespread critical praise. He has also taken on production duties and joined forces in the studio with Old Crow Medicine Show, Ryan Adams, Robyn Hitchcock, and Conor Oberst. In 2009 he stepped forward under the Dave Rawlings Machine banner to issue his first solo statement, Friend of a Friend, on Welch’s Acony Records. Although the project remained rooted in the same artistic bond, Rawlings placed his own compositions and singing at center stage, drawing support from musicians associated with Old Crow Medicine Show, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and additional contributors. The record adhered to the same acoustic neo-traditional approach that defines his work with Welch, highlighting his distinctive high lonesome tenor and the singular tone of his 1935 Epiphone arch-top guitar. Following further shared endeavors, among them Welch and Rawlings’ fifth joint album, Dave Rawlings Machine resurfaced in 2015 with the follow-up Nashville Obsolete.