HERRIMAN, Utah, March 15, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — You may already have seen or heard acoustic singer Dawson Rice.
In 2023, the Texas native and now Utah resident appeared on “American Idol,” making it through auditions, on the air, and to the Hawaii round before departing. He sang under the stage name Dawson Wayne.
Or you may only have heard him, his dulcet strains coming from your teen’s sound system. Rice performed one of his songs, “All My Heart,” on the 2023 youth album released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His original song was track 11.
Its inclusion on the album was announced just as Rice finished his LDS performance mission in Nauvoo, Illinois.
“Everyone I knew there was performers, and they thought it was super exciting,” Rice told Gephardt Daily.
Lately, you can catch the Brigham Young University student singing and playing acoustic favorites Monday nights at Herriman’s Redemption Bar & Grill, on the main level of the three story venue. The weekly gig allows him to keep a hand in music while he studies, and earn tips from appreciative music fans.
“It has the best acoustics of any venue I’ve ever been to, by a lot,” Rice said of the Herriman hotspot. “I think it’s a lot of hard surfaces that just reflect the sounds. Yeah, I love singing in that space.”
Rice sings as customers order from the varied grill menu and chat with friends or dates. And Rice is OK with sharing the focus.
“I honestly prefer it,” Rice said of the ambient venue noise. “It may sound very backwards, but I actually really don’t love attention that much, even though I’m a performer. So I actually love when I can just do my thing and be background noise for people’s conversations.”
Rice describes his personal songwriting as in transition, but says his style at Redemption is cover songs.
“I don’t even know how to describe my sound, but it’s very like acoustic gospel pop, maybe very like smoky sounds.” At Redemption, “I’ll do pop ballads, but I’ll do up tempo like Ed Sheeran and Jack Johnson, or I’ll go super fast and kind of raspy with Bruno Mars.”
He has written many of his own pieces with a sensitive “sadboy” sound, he said, but at present is trying to transition to more upbeat music and lyrics.
“I’ve put out many sadboy pop songs that are great, but I realized they don’t put any good in the world and that’s what I always intended, so I’m switching to positive/Christian music and I could not be more excited about the music I’ve made so far,” Rice said. “But I want to put a positive message out into the world.
“I’ve gone through different phases,” he said, adding that school, at Brigham Young University, is his main focus at present. He has his eye on a business major to help support his artistic career and to help him support himself and a family when the time is right for those things.
Rice said he was briefly apprehensive about singing at a bar due to being a non-drinker and having impressions of bars formed from watching movies. He was happy to discover that Redemption is not at all smokey, and has some of the nicest people he has met on staff and among the patrons.
“I love the workers,” Rice said. “They’re all so nice, so helpful, and their food is so amazing. Their crab wonton nachos are one of my favorite things I’ve ever eaten in my whole life.”
Rice dreams of recording singles and albums at some point, he said, but those things are expensive, so money will dictate the timeline.
For now, he is more than happy singing for appreciative fans at Redemption, and enjoying the great acoustics, the really nice workers and patrons, and any gratuities that may come his way.
He also likes playing weddings and private parties, and can be contacted through his Instagram page (itsdawsonwayne) by interested parties.
Just don’t get married on a Monday night, between 7 and 9 p.m., because Rice already has a weekly gig and a growing following of fans who show up for him because he shows up for them.
Redemption Bar & Grill, a 21 and older venue, is at 3517 W. Maradona Lane in Herriman. Click here for more information on the venue, menu and schedule of entertainment events.
Redemption Bar & Grill is a proud sponsor of Gephardt Daily and supporter of independent local journalism in Utah.
