Jon Dee Graham Releases New Album 'ONLY DEAD FOR A LITTLE WHILE'

 5th generation Texan and Austin, TX legend Jon Dee Graham has released Only Dead For a Little While, out on New West subsidiary Strolling Bones Records. Inspired by his real life "death" after a Chicago show in 2019, it's the album an artist makes when he has nothing left to prove, nothing to lose, nothing to hide. The 5th generation Texan's artistry and accomplishments are well-known throughout his home state and the music community beyond, as a seminal figure in Texas punk and Americana (The Skunks and True Believers), as a singer-songwriter whose range extends from a whisper to a howl, and as an explosive performer whose 27-year Wednesday night residency at Austin's Continental Club is still a sure bet. As a guitarist, he's been tapped by Alejandro Escovedo (True Believers!), John Hiatt, The Knitters, John Doe, James McMurtry, Eliza Gilkyson, Lone Justice, Patty Griffin and many more.

Referencing his song "See You By the Fire," inspired by a dream where he meets up around a peaceful campfire with friends who have passed, he says, "One of my feelings coming out of the death experience was, ‘That wasn't much.' I'm willing to accept there's nothing after death as much as a fire in the woods.”

American Songwriter calls the album"earthy, uncompromising" and Texas Music writes, "Graham's signature electric guitar attack and baritone growl are in full force, conjuring up both the existential threat and the undeniable thrill of facing mortality head-on rather than hiding from it."

There's a certain darkness, bittersweet, whenever you stare mortality in the face — especially when that face is the one you see in the mirror. But there's also the richness of being alive and in love and open to it all. And that's where the magic lies.

With Only Dead For a Little While, Graham has given us a full-force triumph that reflects the seismic challenges we've been through — the pandemic for all of us, financial and medical and psychological issues for some of us, and a return from the dead for it least one of us — and reassures that everything will somehow work out.

 

JON DEE TOUR DATES *

 

* Wednesday Night Residency at Austin's Continental Club

SAT, Nov 25 Fitzgeralds - Berwyn IL

SUN, Nov 26 Kiki's House of Righteous Music - Madison WI

THU, Dec 7 The Post - Fort Worth TX

SAT Dec 9 The Blue Door - Oklahoma City

SAT Feb 3 Bugle Boy - La Grange TX 

 

Photo Credit: Darin Back

 

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