True Believers In Jon Dee Graham
In 1979 Jon Dee Graham joined the Austin punk band The Skunks, replacing original guitarist Eddie Munoz, who had left to join The Plimsouls. In no time, the band was touring with the Clash and the Ramones. In 1979, Graham eventually abandoned the Skunks, taking up with Texas-based blues diva and vintage R&B singer Lou Ann Barton. Graham’s stint with Barton heightened his profile as a guitarist to be reckoned with. In the early ’80s, Graham was the leader of the new wave units Five Spot and the Lift where he wrote a majority of the material for both groups.
In 1984, Graham joined the True Believers, the seminal roots-rock band founded by Alejandro Escovedo and his brother Javier, and although the group quickly emerged as a major critical favorite they were dropped by EMI in the wake of their self-titled 1986 debut which was recorded in less than a week for less than $10,000, and was produced by Jim Dickinson. The band disbanded in 1987.
Graham headed to Los Angeles, befriending John Doe in time to contribute to the former X guitarist’s first solo album, Meet John Doe. Graham also found work with Exene Cervenka, Patty Smyth and Michelle Shocked, among others.
In the mid-’90s, with family issues weighing heavily on his mind, Jon Dee Graham relocated to Europe to play with Texas blues-rocker Calvin Russell. A year later, Graham was back in Austin, frustrated and ready to abandon music altogether. He got a job working construction and settled down with his son in a small house in the south end of town.
Graham found himself back in the familiar role of sideman, backing singer/songwriter Kelly Willis.
Graham began collaborating with Texas music vet Mike Hardwick, who’s played with Willis and Jerry Jeff Walker. Their free-and-easy partnership led to 1997’s ‘Escape from Monster Island’, which was recorded and mixed in six days, and co-produced by Graham, Hardwick and engineer Andy Taub at the historic Hit Shack in Austin, Texas.
Well, I broke a hundred-dollar bill,
For two tickets on the bus into the hills,
My boy, he stood up in his seat,
He said, “I have never seen Christmas lights like that.”
‘Escape From Monster Island’ is Jon Dee Graham’s first solo album. It is about loss and redemption. It is stunning. Graham’s considerable songwriting talents are finally represented on record. The album was dedicated to Jon Dee’s five-year-old son Roy, and most of the songs are about his son.
JON DEE GRAHAM / vocals, acoustic & electric guitars
MIKE HARDWICK / acoustic, electric & dobro guitars, ghost steel
GEORGE REIFF / bass, vocals
MICHAEL RAMOS / piano, B-3 organ
K. McCARTY / vocals
The album cover art is a grainy black-and-white photo of Jon Dee Graham’s tattoo: a solid ink reproduction of Roy’s handprint circled by a spiked, sunlike symbol that covers a portion of his upper back and shoulder blade. In the picture, Roy’s forearm is resting atop his father’s naked back, inches away from the tattoo.
The back cover has images of singer and son, and Jon Dee’s grandfather working in the dirt on his Panhandle cotton farm.
I was fortunate to have seen Jon Dee Graham perform at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on October 8, 2006 with Peter Case. It was a Sunday night and our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, and so there was only two dozen people or so in attendance. Instead of performing on stage, Jon Dee and Peter brought their music to the floor where they sat on their stools, circled by their adoring fans. I had seen Peter Case twice the previous March at South by Southwest music festival in Austin.