BEST BET: JON DEE GRAHAM
By Barry
Gilbert
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 24, 2006
House concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, 2007 in Clayton, Mo. Sold out. More information at www.woodhouseconcerts.com.
Any "Veronica Mars" fans out there? If you heard a Tom Waits-y sounding voice during last season's first episode, and wondered who was crooning over Veronica and Logan's love scene, wonder no more: It was scruffy middle-age singer-songwriter (and Twangfest 9 star) Jon Dee Graham performing "The Change," from his 2004 CD, "The Great Battle." How did Graham get mixed in with the oh-so-edgy and oh-so-hip bands used on the show's great soundtrack? Well, he's got punk cred from his days in Los Angeles with the Skunks in the early '80s, and he's got roots cred from his days with Alejandro Escovedo in the True Believers. And based on a show in his Austin, Texas, hometown last month, he's got cred with both the pierced and the paunchy. With his fifth solo CD, "Full," Graham captures the sound of his live show in all of its raw, honest, guitar-drenched glory. And that sound will be up front in Rick and Nancy Wood's family room Friday night. Mercy.