What would you get if you crossed Garth Brooks with Tom
\nWaits?<\/p>\n
Yup, I’m not sure, either. But I think that Jon Dee Graham might
\nbe the closest thing we have to an answer, as his most recent album<\/p>\n
Summerland<\/i> proves. It’s an interesting mix of the beauty of
\ncountry music with a rawer, “from the street” sound to Graham’s
\nvocals. Scared? Don’t be; the mixture is wonderfully
\nrefreshing.<\/p>\n
With a solid backing group and a parade of guests (including
\nvocalist Kacy Crowley), Graham lays down 12 tracks of wonderfully
\ncrafted tunes that is sure to send the country world into a state
\nof confusion. Mixed in with the traditional pedal steel guitar is
\nthe grit of L.A. alternative music – and for that, the scene may
\nnever be the same again… thank God.<\/p>\n
From the outset of tracks like “A Place In The Shade” and “Big
\nSweet Life,” you can tell that Graham isn’t the typical “Okie from
\nMuskogee”. His own unique voice and style of attacking the music
\nbrings about a freshness to the genre that hasn’t been heard in a
\nlong time. Songs like “Half The Time,” “Butterfly Wing” and “God’s
\nPerfect Love” all reflect this new style at its most effective.<\/p>\n
Don’t be surprised if you don’t like it on the first listen;
\nwhile I loved
\nSummerland<\/i> from the first listen, I’ll freely admit this is
\na sound and style that one has to get used to. I loaned this disc
\nto a friend of mine who is big into country music. One hour later,
\nshe handed it back to me and said, “Eew.” I guess if you’re a fan
\nof the more traditional style of country (meaning pre-Garth), you
\nmight have a harder time adapting to this disc.<\/p>\n
The only weakness I can find on
\nSummerland<\/i> is that Graham isn’t always able to keep my
\nattention focused on the music. Sure, this is a pretty album, but
\nby the time songs like “Threads” and “Lucky Moon” kick in, I found
\nmyself becoming easily distracted, and the songs faded into just
\nbackground music too quickly. Still, if my life needed background
\nmusic, this is as good any.<\/p>\n
\nSummerland<\/i> is a disc from an artist whose time has not yet
\ncome – only because Graham is so far ahead of his time. If he has
\nthe stamina to keep pressing on with this unique style of
\nalternative country, I have no doubt that he’ll soon be revered as
\na superstar instead of a potential rebel ready to upset the apple
\ncart. My advice: go ahead and give it a push.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7442],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-39079","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jon-dee-graham","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39079"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}