Jon Dee Graham
Austin, Texas, United States
Music
Press
“The most complete album of his solo career.” “These aren’t disposable Ryan Adams pop-star songs scribbled on wet napkins at the spur of a drunken moment. Like Hemingway once said of Nelson Algren, ‘This is a man writing.’ ” - Houston Press
“The most complete album of his solo career.” “These aren’t disposable Ryan Adams pop-star songs scribbled on wet napkins at the spur of a drunken moment. Like Hemingway once said of Nelson Algren, ‘This is a man writing.’ ” - Houston Press
The opening act was a revelation!
"My name is Jon Dee Graham and I'm from Austin, Texas, and it shows," a mature fellow in battered hat and wrinkled clothes said by way of introduction.
He then went on to charm the near-capacity audience with a short set of well-crafted, Southern-tinged songs sung in a gravelly voice. He said he'd driven 2,800 miles in six days but didn't mind because he got to play "for smart people who listen," as Hiatt's opening act.
"I'd be happy to open for him for the rest of my life," he said.
Graham sang songs about trains, religion, love, marriage and a fun, rocking, uplifting tune called "Big Sweet Life," which he said had been picked for an upcoming Disney film.
"Imagine that," he said, with what seemed like genuine awe and wonder.
Hopefully, that exposure will make Graham as well known as he deserves to be.
~ Patrick MacDonald - The Seattle Times
The opening act was a revelation!
"My name is Jon Dee Graham and I'm from Austin, Texas, and it shows," a mature fellow in battered hat and wrinkled clothes said by way of introduction.
He then went on to charm the near-capacity audience with a short set of well-crafted, Southern-tinged songs sung in a gravelly voice. He said he'd driven 2,800 miles in six days but didn't mind because he got to play "for smart people who listen," as Hiatt's opening act.
"I'd be happy to open for him for the rest of my life," he said.
Graham sang songs about trains, religion, love, marriage and a fun, rocking, uplifting tune called "Big Sweet Life," which he said had been picked for an upcoming Disney film.
"Imagine that," he said, with what seemed like genuine awe and wonder.
Hopefully, that exposure will make Graham as well known as he deserves to be.
~ Patrick MacDonald - The Seattle Times
El Macombo, Toronto ON, October 4, 2005
True Believer and folk fascist Jon Dee Graham, looking quite gentile in his well-tailored suit before pummelling the audience with his eye-opening, real-life portraits carried on the strength of his gritty vocals and intricate, powerfully-delivered guitar work.
~ Eric Thom - Exclaim!
El Macombo, Toronto ON, October 4, 2005
True Believer and folk fascist Jon Dee Graham, looking quite gentile in his well-tailored suit before pummelling the audience with his eye-opening, real-life portraits carried on the strength of his gritty vocals and intricate, powerfully-delivered guitar work.
~ Eric Thom - Exclaim!
“Six years into his solo career, ex-True Believer Jon Dee Graham is batting 1.000 - each of his three albums have been extraordinary exercises in songwriting and passion. As the smartest small crowd in Austin can attest, Graham's Wednesday night Continental Club residency routinely pulls off the immediacy of those already fiery releases.”
~ Andy Langer - Austin Chronicle
“Six years into his solo career, ex-True Believer Jon Dee Graham is batting 1.000 - each of his three albums have been extraordinary exercises in songwriting and passion. As the smartest small crowd in Austin can attest, Graham's Wednesday night Continental Club residency routinely pulls off the immediacy of those already fiery releases.”
~ Andy Langer - Austin Chronicle
With 'The Great Battle,' Jon Dee Graham's combination of solid musicianship, salt-of-the-earth songwriting and gravelly-voiced delivery scored with critics. 'This year's gonna be the best year ever ... just wait and see," Jon Dee Graham sings on the title track of "The Great Battle," then concedes, "For about 45 minutes, then watch it sink into the sea." Here are part of your 45 minutes, Mr. Graham: Our panel of critics, music directors and insiders who voted in the eighth annual Austin Music Pundit Awards has declared "The Great Battle," a hardened, unflinching, yet ultimately sweet exploration of the human condition, the best Austin album of 2004. Produced by Charlie Sexton and engineered by Jared Tuten at the Top Hat and Wire studios in South Austin, "Battle" is so consistently good that the AMP crew voted individually for four of its tracks as the best Austin song. A perennial critics' fave, the gravel-throated guitar ace has consistently placed high in AMP voting, but with "The Great Battle" Graham put it together like never before.
~ Michael Corcoran - Austin American-Statesman
With 'The Great Battle,' Jon Dee Graham's combination of solid musicianship, salt-of-the-earth songwriting and gravelly-voiced delivery scored with critics. 'This year's gonna be the best year ever ... just wait and see," Jon Dee Graham sings on the title track of "The Great Battle," then concedes, "For about 45 minutes, then watch it sink into the sea." Here are part of your 45 minutes, Mr. Graham: Our panel of critics, music directors and insiders who voted in the eighth annual Austin Music Pundit Awards has declared "The Great Battle," a hardened, unflinching, yet ultimately sweet exploration of the human condition, the best Austin album of 2004. Produced by Charlie Sexton and engineered by Jared Tuten at the Top Hat and Wire studios in South Austin, "Battle" is so consistently good that the AMP crew voted individually for four of its tracks as the best Austin song. A perennial critics' fave, the gravel-throated guitar ace has consistently placed high in AMP voting, but with "The Great Battle" Graham put it together like never before.
~ Michael Corcoran - Austin American-Statesman
In the Top 5 of the 50 Best CD's released in 2004 according to No Depression magazine. A mature piece of work by an intellegent songwriter. This one will get under your skin and stay there.
- Lone Star Music
In the Top 5 of the 50 Best CD's released in 2004 according to No Depression magazine. A mature piece of work by an intellegent songwriter. This one will get under your skin and stay there.
- Lone Star Music
Discography
FULL - 2006 (Freedom)
Big Sweet Life: The Songs of Jon Dee Graham - 2005 (Freedom)
First Bear On The Moon - 2005 (Freedom)
The Great Battle - 2004 (New West)
Hooray For The Moon - 2002 (New West)
Summerland - 1999 (New West)
Escape From Monster Island - 1997 (Freedom)
More Discography Guitar, Producer, Vocals:
1986 Blue City Ry Cooder Guitar
1986 True Believers True Believers Guitar, Guitar (Steel), Vocals
1990 Meet John Doe John Doe Guitar
1990 Running Sacred Exene Cervenka Guitar (Electric)
1992 Edge of the Valley Terry Garland Guitar (Acoustic), Bass, Guitar, Arranger, Guitar (Electric), Guitar (Steel), Tambourine, Lap Steel Guitar
1992 Forever Simon Bonney Dobro, Lap Steel Guitar, Bottleneck Guitar
1993 13 Ribs Susan Voelz Bass, Guitar, Vocals (bckgr)
1993 Hasta La Victoria! The Silos
1994 Adequate Desire Michael Hall Lap Steel Guitar
1994 Hard Road The True Believers Guitar, Guitar (Steel), Vocals
1994 Susan Across the Ocean The Silos Lap Steel Guitar
1995 Can O' Worms Dan Stuart Guitar, Vocals, Lap Steel Guitar
1997 Anchorless Kacy Crowley Guitar (Electric)
1997 Dream of the Dog Calvin Russell Guitar, Arranger, Producer, Lap Steel Guitar
1997 Escape from Monster Island Jon Dee Graham Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Producer
1997 Glad I'm a Girl Various Artists Bass, Guitar, Vocals (bckgr)
1997 Too Much Is Not Enough Too Much TV Slide Guitar
1997 Way Things Are Polk, Barton and Towhead Lap Steel Guitar
1998 Anchorless [Bonus Track] Kacy Crowley Guitar (Electric)
1998 Crooked Mile Trish Murphy Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Multi Instruments, Lap Steel Guitar, Guitar (Baritone)
1998 Gogitchyershinebox The Gourds Guitar
1998 Plebeians The Plebeians Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar
1998 Stadium Blitzer The Gourds Lap Steel Guitar
1998 This Is My Life Calvin Russell Guitar
1998 Uprooted: The Best of Roots Country Singer/Songwriter Various Artists Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Lap Steel Guitar
1998 We All Fall Down Gerald Bair Guitar (Electric)
1999 Summerland Jon Dee Graham Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Organ (Hammond), Vocals, Producer
1999 What I Deserve Kelly Willis Guitar (Electric), Lap Steel Guitar
2000 And All The Colors... Ian Moore Lap Steel Guitar
2000 Bolsa de Agua The Gourds Lap Steel Guitar
2000 Lunette Jim Roll Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar
2000 Young Guitar Slingers: Texas Blues Evolution Various Artists Lap Steel Guitar
2001 Earthquake Shake Skunks Guitar
2001 Midnight Pumpkin Toni Price Lap Steel Guitar
2001 Slinky Presents Superclub DJ's Guy Ornadel Producer
2002 Buttermilk & Rifles Kevin Russell's Junker Lap Steel Guitar
2002 Electric Jack Ingram Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
2002 Everybody Loves a Winner Jeff Klein Guitar (Electric), Choir, Chorus
2002 From Hell to Breakfast: A Taste of Sugar Hill's Te Various Artists Lap Steel Guitar
2002 Hooray for the Moon Jon Dee Graham Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Lap Steel Guitar
2003 Growl Ray Wylie Hubbard Vocals, Lap Steel Guitar
2003 Patricia Vonne [Bandolera] Patricia Vonne Lap Steel Guitar
2004 Boogie Man Omar & The Howlers Guitar
2004 Great Battle Jon Dee Graham Guitar (Acoustic), Arranger, Guitar (Electric), Vocals
2004 Land of Milk and Honey Eliza Gilkyson Guitar (Electric), Harmony Vocals
2004 Moodswing Kacy Crowley Guitar, Producer, Mixing, Mando-Guitar
2004 Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escoved Various Artists Guitar, Vocals
2004 Resentments The Resentments Guitar (Acoustic), Dobro, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Organ (Pump), Lap Steel Guitar, Group Member
2005 Guitars & Castanets Patricia Vonne Lap Steel Guitar
2006 Big Star Small World Various Artists Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar
2006 Boxing Mirror Alejandro Escovedo Guitar
2006 Full Jon Dee Graham Musician
2006 Tales from the Tavern, Vol. 1
Photos
Bio
Jon Dee Graham �
New record being released Sept. 2009
FULL - Freedom Records
Release Date: April 18, 2006
Voted �Musician of the Year� at the Austin Music Awards at the 2006 South By Southwest Music Conference
2009 Hall of Fame-True Believers
2000 Best Singer Songwriter
2000 Hall of Fame-JDG
Singer, songwriter and guitarist John Dee Graham is a native Texan with a deep, eclectic musical history. The writer Don Henry Ford Jr. describes Jon Dee Graham as �unvarnished, raw and gritty.� He can sing soft introspective songs or he can blow you out of your seat with pounding rock and roll. April, 2006 marks Graham�s return to independence with the CD release of Full on Freedom Records, Graham�s 5th solo release. He was voted �Musician of the Year� at the Austin Music Awards during the 2006 South By Southwest Music Conference.
Critics have high praise for Graham: Richard Skanse of Rolling Stone describes Graham as being �ferocious with primal roar as human as he grapples everyman�s struggle.�
�A master songwriter and guitarist, Graham creates tales of truth and hope.� - Austin Chronicle
�[Graham�s] gravelly voice continues to age like a fine wine, his songwriting reigns supreme, his music is a standard hoisted in the name of maturity without compromise.� � High Bias
�[Jon Dee has] channels into John Updike territory and, in the process, delivered the most complete album of his solo career.� � Houston Press
Jon Dee Graham is a combination of solid musicianship, salt-of-the-earth songwriting with a gravelly-voiced delivery.�- Michael Corcoran, Austin American Statesman.
Full was produced by Mike Stewart (Poi Dog Pondering) and features Andrew DuPlantis (Son Volt) on bass, Michael Hardwick (Eliza Gilkyson) on guitars and John Chipman on drums. Many critics, such as Andy Langer (Esquire, News 8 Austin), are already praising Full, calling it Graham�s best record yet.
Jon Dee Graham was born in Levelland, Texas, the second son of a high plains cotton farmer. When he was six years old, his family relocated to the town of Quemado, near the Mexican-Texas border, where he lived until he was 17, when he moved to Austin after his father went to the lonesome valley.
Graham toured with The Skunks and the guitar army The True Believers in the �80s and has gone on touring, writing, recording, and producing with artists such as John Hiatt, The Gourds, Patti Smyth, Darden Smith, Simon Bonney, Ryan Hedgecock of Lone Justice, Michelle Shocked, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Kelly Willis, Trish Murphy, Kacy Crowley, Calvin Russell, Lou Ann Barton and Dan Stuart of Blue on Red, among others.
After living for almost a decade in Los Angeles with his ex-wife Sally Norvell (Congo Norvell) and his son Roy, Graham moved back to Austin in 1997. He is now married to a college professor in Austin, with whom he has another son, Willie, who recently was diagnosed with the rare bone disease Legg-Perthes.
Some people hide what they are and the things they have done from the world. Jon Dee Graham isn�t one of those. No, he opens his heart, mind and soul for all daring to peer inside. What you see won�t be the prettiest picture in the world, but it�ll be the truth.
Jon Dee bears scars�the scars of a warrior caught in a world gone mad�the scars of a man that took a deep drink of life on the rough side of town and survived. He�s made of stern stuff. At his core lives a pure heart and a clean spirit. You�ll find few in the world of music with greater empathy for the people.
In 2005, Graham found himself back on tour with ex-band member of The True Believers, Alejandro Escovedo, opening acoustically and playing electrically with Al, supporting Graham�s EP, First Bear on the Moon. He ended 2005 touring solo acoustically in Europe and recording with John Cale for Escovedo�s upcoming release.
Graham has settled into his own solo career as well as a brilliant side project as a member of Austin's beloved The Resentments, featuring Graham, Stephen Bruton, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Bruce Hughes, and John Chipman. Cracked, raspy, passionate and endearing, Graham's voice is his most recognizable trademark.
The music of Jon Dee Graham has been highlighted in the feature film, Ladder 49, and the television series, Veronica Mars.
Blue Rose label released Full in Europe on May 5. Graham will be spent 2006 touring and supporting Full in the United States and Europe.
Toured Europe with James McMurty in February 2009
Freedom Records: P.O. Box 4084, Austin, TX 78765 / (512) 560-8826
Web Site: www.freedomrecords.com
Distributed By: City Hall, 101 Glacier Point, Suite C, San Rafael, CA 94901
Publicity Contact:
Cary Baker
conqueroo
11271 Ventura Blvd. #522
Studio City, CA 91604
telephone: (323) 656-1600
cary@conqueroo.com
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