Graham Wilkinson

Graham Wilkinson and the Underground Township cobble together an eclectic mix of reggae, country, soul, honky-tonk and hip-hop.

The result is the former Wichitan's band, now out of Austin, plays a catchy brand of danceable American roots music with a real groove.

The sound began to form after Wilkinson moved to Austin a couple of years ago with his band Ffui, a more rhythm-and-blues based rock band. But Ffui, and its more traditional tunes, didn't hold together. He went through a few people before the vibe clicked.

Wilkinson said it's pretty hard to compare his band's music to anyone else. But the vocalist, guitarist, harp player and sometimes trumpet player said it's safe to say the music will be original and fun. "It's definitely something you can dance to," he said.

He said the band is versatile enough to put an album out of honky-tonk country, a record of reggae stuff and a CD of hip-hop things, he said. "It's a pretty nice blend."

The Underground Township quartet features Patrick Hertzfeld on drums (also from Ffui and a member of the Ben Atkins Band), Wayne Dalchau on bass and Mateo Ellis on keyboards.

"Get ready for Mateo," Wilkinson said. "He is funny as hell. He might just bust out a Tenacious D song, you never know."

The band formed after Ffui broke up, and another incarnation dissolved because the fiddler and percussionist left to have a child.

Wilkinson met Dalchau and Ellis at Whole Earth Provision Company, a series of stores the three work at in Austin. The group came together after Wilkinson's management company set up a series of shows that called for him to play with a full band.

"I got together with Patrick, called up those two guys and we sat around playing music. It's been going like that since."

The band already plays fairly regularly in Austin, Denton, Texas, Dallas and Fort Worth. The group played at the Iron Horse Pub late last year opening up for Hayes Carll.

"Our music is really American roots music," Wilkinson said. "It draws on all the different things that are going on in American music."

In addition to playing with the Underground Township, Wilkinson also performs solo shows, having opened several times for Carll, a friend of his from college, and also Alejandro Escovedo.

Wilkinson said that Austin has been a great change of pace for inspiring his music and getting it heard. "Still, it's tough like anywhere else. It's like Hollywood, it's all about who you know," he said.

His music and his band are making good strides, and they are feeling it. "It's just patience, and that's what all of us have," Wilkinson said. "We are all so motivated that in less than a year, we have an album done. And we're already working on the next one."

"It's real cool, man."

Copyright 2006, Times Record News. All Rights Reserved.
- Richard Carter/For the Times Record News

I saw Graham Wilkinson last November, opening up for Alejandro Escovedo at the Cactus Cafe.

He killed.

Absolutely killed. Tore it up. Here's an excerpt from what I wrote last year:
He has an amazing, personal quality on stage, with an utterly distinct, raspy kind of singing voice that is instantly magnetic. The reason I mention him is that he has a huge amount of talent and writes sensational songs, and it won't be long before everyone is talking about him.
It was hard to describe what kind of music he played--sometimes it sounded like reggae, sometimes it sounded like blues, sometimes it sounded like all kinds of other genres--but it was always terrific.

I saw that his new band, Graham Wilkinson and the Underground Township, was playing in Austin on Saturday at a restaurant/brew pub called North by Northwest. I thought they'd be good.

I had no idea.

I'm the audience about five minutes before the set is supposed to start. Hell, I am the audience. There are a few other people on the corner of the deck, but they're not paying any attention.

A couple sits down right before they start, tripling the number of people who came to listen to music.

At this point, I wouldn't blame these guys at all if they just slept through the set. It's at least ninety-five degrees on the deck, it's a miserable crowd--I mean, how many people can get motivated in that kind of situation?

So they start playing, and the first song or two are a little flat, which only stands out because Graham seems to really have energy crackling through his music. Even a little flat, they're better than ninety percent of what I listen to, and they're playing in front of essentially three people, so I'm still really enjoying myself.

Then they start gathering energy with each song. Shitty crowd, hot as hell, doesn't matter--they're like a steam train, stoking the boiler, and within about fifteen minutes they are absolutely tearing it up. The energy is just pouring off them. It's electric. It's overwhelming.

And so, for the second time in less than a year, I'm sitting less than twenty feet away from Graham Wilkinson and he is absolutely killing.

The band? They're killing, too. There's an organ (keyboards, actually--Mateo Ellis), bass (Wayne Dalchau), and drums (Patrick Herzfeld). And they're all tearing it up. Every single song. In front of what turned out to be thirty people.

These guys deserve some damned attention.

So here's where I ask for a small favor: please go listen to this band online. I know that you guys could singlehandedly, in one day, exceed the total number of plays the three songs on their Myspace music page have received up to now combined.

Oh Yeah or 1108, which are the top songs on the page, are excellent introductions.

Here's a link to their Myspace.com music page:
Graham Wilkinson & the Underground Township.

If you like those songs and want to hear more, there's an excellent 30-minute streaming audio segment where they recently appeared on a local radio station (KUT, which is a legendary public radio station down here). Just go to this page and they're near the top of the archives.

Oh, and I bought six copies of their live CD while I was at the show. One copy's for me, but the other five are for you. Here's the contest question (and it's easily answered by going to the Myspace page I just linked to): name three of the band's musical influences.

Be one of the first five to answer correctly, and I'll send you a CD.
- Dubious Quality Blogspot

Last month, it was a hundred degrees on the deck at North by Northwest. Last night, the entire town was convulsed by the Ohio. St.-Texas game. There were only about a dozen people in the audience (including Gloria and Eli 5.1).

Didn't matter.

These guys don't give a shit if they're playing in front of three people or three thousand. They absolutely tear it up every single time.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check last month's post here. Graham Wilkinson & the Underground Township are an Austin band, and they're phenomenal. They're already famous--people just don't know it yet.

When we had the contest last month, all five CD's were gone in less than ten minutes (including one that went to Estonia). So I thought I would have another contest for all of you who didn't win last time. We have five more CD's to give away.

If you'd like to win a CD of the band, here's how it's going to work. Sometime either today or Tuesday, between the hours of 9 a.m.-5 p.m. (CST), I'll post the contest questions. And this time, I'm going to give people who listen to their music the best chance of winning. I'm going to post three questions about the songs currently playing on their Myspace Music page.

Sure, you can find lyrics to some of their songs on the Web. But there are some new songs in the Myspace rotation, and I may also ask questions about the music in the songs--not just the lyrics. So if you actually listen to the songs, you'll have a much better chance of winning.

And here's a twist: those four songs on the Myspace Music page get rotated. Over the course of the two days that the contest can happen, one or two songs will probably rotate out. So if you listen to the songs right now, you'll still need to check the page periodically to see if anything new gets rotated into the mix.

The second twist: in addition to the five CD's, which will be awarded to the five fastest correct responses, there will be drawing for all the people (including the first five) who responded correctly within three hours of the contest question being posted. The winner of that drawing wins the game of their choice from EBGames.

Yes, that includes Guitar Hero, if that's what you want.

Here's a small clue: one of the contest questions will probably be about "Oh Yeah," which is just a freaking great song.

Okay, here's the link to the Myspace Music page: Graham Wilkinson & the Underground Township. - Dubious Quality Blogspot