For a guy who’s known for not smiling much, Devin Dawson has noticed his face is acting pretty strange these days. “I’m smiling as much as I ever have in my life,” he tells PEOPLE. But then he has a lot to smile about.
Last month he proposed to his girlfriend of two years, Leah Sykes, and they’re now planning their late October wedding. This month he’ll be center stage for his first full-scale charity effort, a six-stop concert tour in California that will benefit his native state’s firefighters and communities affected by fire. He’s also now sifting through, by his count, 500 (500!) songs he’s co-written for the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut album, Dark Horse. And he’s still reveling in the afterglow of watching a song he wrote, ““God’s Country,” performed by Blake Shelton at the recent ACM Awards.
“It was pretty crazy,” the 30-year-old artist says, recalling the ACM moment. “I was standing right behind Gwen Stefani, and we were all singing out every single word to it. And she came up afterward and gave me a hug and told me, ‘That is one of my favorite songs he’s ever recorded.’ And he came up afterward and said, ‘Thank you.’ I’m like, ‘I’m the one that should be thanking you! Why are you thanking me?’”
Shelton’s new single is the result of a Dawson co-write with singer-songwriter Hardy and songwriter Jordan Schmidt. Hardy is the one who conceived the title, and Dawson says he knows the farm-centric lyrics are a little outside his California groove — but, he adds, he enjoyed leaving his comfort zone.
“It’s cool that Blake did it, and it sounds incredible on him,” he says. “But it’s also cool to be really proud of the song. It’s just one of those songs that landed, and I’m very grateful.”
Now Dawson is trying to figure out which songs will land for him as he plans his second album. Most of all, he wants music that reflects his life’s new “season.” It’s a complete turn-around, he says, from the years that produced Dark Horse and hit single ““All on Me.”.”
“I was single, I was broke, I was not good mentally,” he says, recounting that phase. “I was not healthy physically. Now, three years later, I’m engaged. I’m in love. I feel good. I work out all the time. I’ve experienced a little bit of success. I feel like I’m focused on my next goals and have a little bit of an idea of what I’m doing and what it takes to do it for a long time.”
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Three years ago, Dawson says, his songwriting inspiration came “from being in a hard place and writing to get out of it or writing to express it so that I could move on. Now my inspiration comes more from being in a good place and wanting to share that.”
Still, don’t expect the dark horse to go all Little Mary Sunshine. “I love heartbreak songs,” he says. “I love sad, dark, emotional, vulnerable songs because I need those. I will always need those.”
Before he heads back into the studio, Dawson is set to hit the road for his California Smoke tour, beginning April 24 in San Luis Obispo. The six shows, all in California, will benefit the California Fire Foundation. The idea grew out of Dawson’s desire to give back after last year’s devastating fires.
Wildfires were always a part of life growing up in the state, says Dawson, who’s a native of Orangevale, in northern California, but “last year seemed worse than usual. I just felt a calling to do something more than post on Instagram or donate some money to a charity or the Red Cross.” He also has a personal connection: Both his grandfather and uncle had lengthy careers as California firefighters.
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For fans outside of his native state, Dawson also has one more project worthy of excitement. At the invitation of the Irish folk band Beoga, he recently laid down the lead vocals on one of their songs. Just released, “Matthew’s Daughter” was co-written by Beoga, Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid as a tribute to Sheeran’s wife and her father — and that turned out to have special meaning for Dawson, who has a close bond with his fiancée’s father.
Yes, Dawson confirms, he did go through the formality of asking Sykes’ father for his daughter’s hand (the no-hesitation response: “You got it!”), and the two men have regular phone conversations to talk over life and faith questions; Sykes’ father, Brad Sykes, has long been involved in small-group ministry, with a focus on discipleship, in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida.
Sykes, a pop singer-songwriter in Nashville, has also coaxed Dawson into church worship. “Her family is very, very close to God,” says Dawson, who wasn’t raised in the church. “I am, too — just in different ways — and I’m learning to find out why they are and why I am. It’s been really cool to step into that.”
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Many more life changes, of course, await Dawson as his wedding approaches. After sharing quarters for several years with his twin brother, Jacob, who’s a Nashville record producer, Dawson is about to purchase a first home to start married life. (“I love him to death,” the tidier Dawson says of his twin, “but I can’t live with him any more.”)
What’s Dawson most looking forward to as a married man?
“Man, that’s a heavy question,” he says, pausing for a moment before he answers. “I think just taking that next step, commitment-wise and symbolic-wise. I’m looking forward to living together and all the other things that just come with building a life with somebody. Getting married is something that adds to and solidifies the sureness — just knowing that you’ve got your person.”
The “California Smoke” tour will run from April 24 to May 1; besides San Luis Obispo, Dawson will perform in Bakersfield, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Chico.
@blakeshelton #i
gx
To start an amazing show from the ground up is a big deal!
Thank you to the people behind the scenes who do the real work and make this machine hum. To the amazingly talented vocalists who competed on the show and blew my mind on a daily basis.”
What an amazing ride. Thank you all so much.