Dave Rawlings Machine

David Rawlings
David Rawlings performing in 2014
Background information
Born	North Smithfield, Rhode Island, U.S.
Genres	Bluegrass, Americana, folk, old time, neotraditional country, American Primitivism
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Associated acts	Dave Rawlings Machine, Gillian Welch, Willie Watson
Website	www.daverawlingsmachine.com

David Todd Rawlings is an American guitarist, singer, and record producer. He is known for his partnership with singer and songwriter Gillian Welch.

Rawlings attended the Berklee College of Music and studied with Lauren Passarelli. He produced albums by Gillian Welch, Willie Watson and Old Crow Medicine Show. He leads the Dave Rawlings Machine with Gillian Welch, Willie Watson, Paul Kowert, and Brittany Haas. John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin has been known to play mandolin with the band occasionally. He contributed to the albums Cassadaga by Bright Eyes, Spooked by Robyn Hitchcock, and Heartbreaker by Ryan Adams, with whom he wrote two songs, "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, Is to Be High)" and "Touch, Feel and Lose". His vocal style has often been compared to that of Bob Dylan.

The Dave Rawlings Machine album A Friend of a Friend was released on November 17, 2009. Rawlings recorded the album in Nashville, and produced it himself. Gillian Welch is credited as a co-writer on five of the album's songs as well playing in the band with members of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Bright Eyes. The album features a medley of a Neil Young and Bright Eyes songs, as well as songs Rawlings co-wrote with Ryan Adams and Old Crow Medicine Show.

In 2015 Dave Rawlings Machine released a second album, Nashville Obsolete. The album was named to Rolling Stone's list of the top 40 country albums of 2016. In late 2016 Acony issued Boots No 1: The Official Revival Bootleg, a deluxe version of the 1996 Welch album considered a "modern Americana classic" and the first collaboration for the duo.