24 Sept 13 - The Grahams

Hey, blogspot readers,  come take a slow, adventurous ride down the river with SouthSide.

Tonight, this reviewer enjoyed listening to the tales of life, love, heartache and more wonderfully presented by the husband-wife troubadour duo known as The Grahams. This storytelling pair, traveling across America, brought their characters from their latest release Riverman's Daughter to Chicago for a special one-night only performance. They were part of a lineup which also featured performances by Zigterbra and Woodrow Hart & The Haymaker at Logan Square's Township.

This wasn't your ordinary, folk singer's performance tonight, blogspot readers. This was rather an intimate set in which story's from the river weren't the only stories being told to a select few in attendance. The Grahams also shared a brief backstory or two about the songs and/or about themselves to make us feel less of an audience but more like family. What caught this reviewer's immediate attention was The Grahams' harmonizing vocals that brought each tale to life throughout their headlining set, blogspot readers. Alyssa Graham had this unique vocal style that combined the compassionate storytelling voice like Judy Collins and the heartfelt soul like Linda Ronstadt while Doug Graham had this deep yet soft soulful sound like Kenny Rogers. Yet, when together singing songs such as Carrying The Touch and A Good Man, you could instantly feel the words bursting to life not only from the characters of Riverman's Daughter but from the way they passionately shared their love for the songs. They made the characters seem so real in your head ...and they are - from the people this musician duo have met up and down the Mississippi River. 

For example, listen to the country tune You Made Me Love You to which hones in a bit of Hank Williams, Sr. but this was the moment when not only Alyssa's voice shined but also when she expressed her love towards Doug. The song tenderly spotlighted how much this married duo loved each other through the many years of good and bad times, blgospot readers ...weathering all types of storms together. Or listen to A Good Man - another moment where you can clearly see the love sparkling in her eyes whenever she glanced at Doug while singing this upbeat contemporary Americana song. Yet there's also a dark side to the river and love like the haunting song about a woman named Annabelle and the river that dragged her man down to his death or love can be remembrance of someone special like in the song dedicated in the memory of Momma Graham. Besides love, blogspot readers, there was joy expressed within The Grahams' music too. Feel the uplifting spirit of an evangelical tent revival during the song Revival where the audience experienced that toe-tappin' upbeat rhythm and sound. It was a rousing song which was meant to feel some sort of celebration of life and being alive. Or feel the bustling big city life during another toe-tappin' rockabilly song If You're In New York. Both offered a swinging jamboree-style sound that could you dance to, blogspot readers, as the images of New York vividly pop into your head from the lyrics. 

SouthSide highly recommends blogspot readers checking out The Grahams while they're currently on tour as well as snagging a copy of Riverman's Daughter for their collection in where there's a CD booklet that's included. Read snippets of what inspired the duo to write the songs as well as view the photos of them on the river to heighten your river experience. You can hear the song You Made Me Love You on Grand Ole Opry Station and A Good Man on Americana radio across the US.

For more information, visit http://www.thegrahamsmusic.net.

Until next time, support your local scene.