The Untold Stories of Dawes' Life in Music

“[A]ll my life music has been my greatest enjoyment.” —Charles Gates Dawes, in a 1924 letter to conductor Nahan Franko

You may have heard that the popular hit “It’s All in the Game” (covered by Nat King Cole, Dinah Shore, and Van Morrison, among others) is based on the “Melody” that Charles Gates Dawes composed in 1911, before he became Vice President and won the Nobel Peace Prize. But as a musician, Dawes was much more than a one-hit wonder. For him, music was not merely a pleasurable avocation, but a defining axis of his life—vital to understanding who he was. In this talk, violinist and independent researcher Sara Su Jones will share previously untold stories of Dawes’s multifaceted musical life, from his music-making and composing to his generous support of—and tough, practical business advice for—musical artists and organizations. Stories of Dawes’s life in music, gleaned from Sara Su’s extensive archival research, will yield fresh insights into this intriguingly multi-talented public figure.