The Grahams
Sept 28, 2013
Arnold’s Bar and Grill
210 E 8th St, Cincinnati, OH
9pm, Free
Alyssa and Doug have played together in a variety of musical endeavors, and have performed at downtown New York City clubs such as Joe’s Pub, The Living Room and Rockwood Music Hall, as well as nationally and internationally from California to Paris, London, Tokyo, and beyond. They have collaborated on two Alyssa Graham albums, winning considerable critical acclaim. The New York Times has praised her “sumptuous and flexible croon.” American Songwriter called her Lock, Stock & Soul (2012) an “immaculately constructed set” and named her Writer of The Week. Marie Claire magazine showcased her as an “Artist You Need To Hear.”
More than anything else in The Grahams’ body of work to date, Riverman’s Daughter is a unified, fully realized concept album. Alyssa and Doug wrote the 12 songs (and one bonus track) that comprise the work-and many others-as they progressed along the Great River Road that parallels the Mississippi. They stopped in various juke joints, exchanging stories and playing music with the locals. At the end of their journey, they holed up in a houseboat in rural Louisiana where the Mississippi spills into the Atchafalaya swamp, and periodically invited friends and musicians on board to help them hone the material.
The songs that made the album range from ’70s country rock (“Carrying The Torch”) to spirited folk (“The Piney River”) and barn dance playfulness (“Revival Time”). As recording began, The Grahams found a kindred spirit in Malcolm Burn, who suggested they record live to tape, without headphones or isolation-a choice that transposes to the album the naturalness and immediacy that characterized the writing. They recorded in Nashville with mostly simple acoustic accompaniment by Burn (bass, piano, guitar, backing vocals), Bryan Owings (drums, percussion), Phil Madeira (guitar, dobro, lap steel, mando guitar), Colin Linden (banjo, dobro, electric guitar), Steve Fishell (pedal steel, dobro) and Chris Carmichael (strings). The Grammy-nominated North Mississippi Allstars’ Luther and Cody Dickinson (guitars and drums, respectively) play on several tracks.
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