Artist: Jon Dee Graham
Column from web archive November 5, 2008
Chicago, by way of Austin
If anyone knows the way from Austin to Chicago, it’s Alejandro Escovedo. The Texas veteran’s recent gig at Park West extended his amazing streak of playing more different venues in the Windy City than even most artists who live here have played. Since he first reached these shores with Rank And File in the early [...]
The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #63 May-June 2006
Jon Dee Graham – The hard balance of real life renders Jon Dee Graham’s body of work all the more impressive
Truth is, I have been writing this same story for ten years or more. It has been about Tom House and Mike Ireland, Chris Knight and Mary Gauthier and, even, Gillian Welch and Steve Earle. Especially Billy Joe Shaver. This is the story about not stopping. It is the story about voices which must be [...]
Miked - Live Reviews from Issue #57 May-June 2005
Alejandro Escovedo / Jon Dee Graham – Fitzgerald’s (Berwyn, IL) / Mark Olson & Gary Louris – Maintenance Shop (Ames, IA)
Rarely do club shows seem to have as much at stake as a pair that braved the February freeze of the midwest. For Alejandro Escovedo, the highly-anticipated, sold-out performance at Chicago’s suburban FitzGerald’s marked a return to the road after a couple years of convalescence. Over the course of his recovery following his April 2003 [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Jon Dee Graham – The Great Battle
In “Big Sweet Life”, the gratitude-infused romp that galvanizes his 1999 album Summerland, Jon Dee Graham erases the line that separates dreams from real life. Instead of waiting for things to happen that never do (something he admits he’s done before), the Austin roots-rocker, ex-punk and former True Believer fashions his dreams out of what’s [...]
The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #37 Jan-Feb 2002
Jon Dee Graham – Ain’t Life Grand
The most lasting impression of Jon Dee Graham is his laugh. His is not a lighthearted chuckle, but a full-bellied bellow, a roar of approval and amusement unleashed with an infectious enthusiasm that leaves no doubt about the way he approaches the world. Graham has seen his share of dark days, to be sure — [...]
Town and Country - Shorter Artist Feature from Issue #20 March-April 1999
Jon Dee Graham – Beyond believing
On the cusp of his 40th birthday, anticipating the release of his second solo album, Jon Dee Graham took stock of the various stages of his musical life, the rock ‘n’ roll illusions that he has outgrown. He is no longer the punk rocker he was with Austin’s Skunks, the guitar firebrand who teamed with [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #11 Sept-Oct 1997
Jon Dee Graham – Escape from Monster Island
On the surface, the solo debut by Jon Dee Graham is certain to conjure comparisons with early Springsteen and later Tom Waits — if one can imagine either of those urban artists transported to the border culture of the Tex-Mex cantina. Beneath the surface, however, is where the richness of Graham’s music lies, within songs [...]
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