Take Me For A Walk In The Morning Dew
The Life And Times Of Bonnie Dobson
And the Story Of Her Iconic Song
John Einarson with Bonnie Dobson

Published September 10th, 2026 (UK)
ISBN 9781916829343
256pp / 6 x 8.5 in (150 x 215mm)
£16.95 UK / $24.95 US / $32.95 CAN

A key figure in the folk music boom of the late 1950s, Canadian-born singer/songwriter Bonnie Dobson composed ‘Morning Dew’ as a solo acoustic performer in 1961. Along the way, her iconic song has been recorded by everyone from Robert Plant to the Grateful Dead, Rod Stewart to Nazareth. But when American singer Tim Rose covered the song in 1967, he boldly added his name to the songwriting credit. For decades, Rose collected royalties and claimed the song as his. Dobson spent decades battling to regain what was rightfully her song alone.

Take Me For A Walk In The Morning Dew tells the fascinating story of a naïve young folksinger from Toronto who grew up poor in a fractured family living in government housing. Gifted with a soaring soprano voice and a passion for traditional folk music, Dobson began her career in North America, where she released a half-dozen albums and appeared at all the major folk music venues, including Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village, rubbing shoulders there with an unsigned Bob Dylan. She later moved to Britain to follow her heart and soon found herself being tapped to perform with the BBC.

Now an octogenarian, Dobson continues to write and record new music. Her 2025 album Dreams, recorded with the rootsy British group The Hanging Stars, was hailed far and wide, while her live performances continue to dazzle.


‘Bonnie Dobson has really never gotten her due. She should be remembered as one of the first female Canadian singer/songwriters. Before Joni Mitchell and others, there was Bonnie Dobson.’ Kevin Courrier, CBC Radio

‘I have been a Bonnie Dobson fan ever since I first heard her back in the sixties. A fine (if sometimes mysteriously overlooked) singer and songwriter with a fascinating story that’s well worth checking out.’ Robin Denselow, writer and broadcaster

‘We were playing at the Royal Festival Hall, and I managed to introduce the idea of Bonnie coming on to perform. It was like her great return. She walked out onstage, and everybody kind of gasped. Here was this legendary figure from the folk movement. Suddenly she was back.’ Robert Plant


John Einarson is an award-winning author of more than twenty books, including critically acclaimed biographies of Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, Randy Bachman, Arthur Lee and Love, The Byrds’ Gene Clark, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Ian & Sylvia, and John Kay of Steppenwolf. His most recent book, From Born To Be Wild To Dazed And Confused: Rock Music’s Revolution In 1968, examines the shift to a harder rock sound. John is the recipient of the 2009 ARSC (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research and has received multiple awards for his research documenting Canadian music history. He has written for Mojo, Uncut, Goldmine, Discoveries, Record Collector, and Classic Rock and is a regular contributor to the Winnipeg Free Press and the CBC. He resides in Winnipeg, Canada, with his wife and family.

Singer/songwriter Bonnie Dobson began her career as a nineteen-year-old performing at coffeehouses throughout the United States. Best known for her harrowing, post-apocalyptic composition ‘Morning Dew’, she has recorded more than a dozen albums over a sixty-year career in North America and Europe. Highly regarded for her gorgeous soprano voice and impeccable choice of traditional folk songs, she transitioned into a talented songwriter on later albums featuring her own songs. A resident of the UK since 1970, she continues to record and perform, and remains well regarded by the folk music communities on both continents.