9 Questions to Newport: Shakey Graves
The name ‘Shakey Graves’ first came across my ear a few years ago when I was visiting a pal in Austin, TX. Both of us had done the “guy with a guitar” thing in the past and always struggled with how to captivate an audience. My pal told me that this guy was different, he just had “it”…he could silence even the rowdiest Austin bar crowd with his croon and rhythm. Needless to say, I checked him out and was hooked. Fast forward a few years, I’m playing The Loar guitars and sure enough, Alejandro Rose-Garcia is sponsored by them soon after. Haunting, frighteningly moving, and intense live shows are what define this guy. I know that the bill is stacked this year at the Folk Festival, but his is a set you should be putting on the top of your list.
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1) For the fine folks who may not be as familiar with your work, how would you sum up your sound in a short phrase?
SG: An aggressive, finger-picked take on traditional troubadour tunes, story songs and fine coarse Texan crooning.
2) What projects are you currently working on or have you recently released?
SG: I’m finishing up work on my sophomore album which will come out sometime this fall.
3) Newport Folk is celebrated for its collaborations, community and bringing folks together for a weekend where they may not see each other otherwise. How do you feel about that preservation of unity and family sentiment in the folk music community? How does it play into your own music and where you come from? Is there a “scene” or community that you feel especially attached to?
SG: I have always perceived folk music as something reverently stolen and personally revived. It’s a like a large game of telephone with roots which can all be traced and everyone in participation adds or omits a part of its original form.
The songs of my idols and their influence get filtered through my regional observations and environment and becomes my corner of the musical quilt. So I am thrilled to be walking into Newport for the first time feeling like a proud representative of my local scene, and I’m even more excited to see what everyone else is bringing to the table. Collaborative experiences like Newport remind me that I strive to live and die a constant student.
4) Favorite OR least favorite/most embarrassing moment on stage from your career? Amazing experience playing to a solid out crowd or tripping off stage and falling into the crowd…something that will stick with you as the greatest or something that was the horror show of a lifetime.
SG: At my first show in Miami a really drunk woman appeared two songs in to my set and started demanding “Free Bird”. I laughed and took it in stride but she became more and more irate. Eventually I explained that I couldn’t play it if I tried, mainly because I don’t know the damned words to Free Bird and I told her to stop.
She snapped and jumped on stage and ended up covering my mouth and demanding free bird saying things like “you want me to stop!?! YOU STOP! FREE BIRD!”
This went on for what felt like an hour and a half while the audience just stared in shock. I eventually used bear tactics and played dead, she went back to the forest, and I politely played one more song, walked off stage and threw my guitar in the ocean.
5) If you could collaborate with anyone (dead or alive) musically, who would it be?
SG: Lisa Hannigan
6) 1 record that shaped you when you first started playing and 1 record or artists that you are now/are listening to now that you think folks really need to hear about?
SG: When I first started playing I became fascinated with Elliott Smiths self titled album, and One Foot In The Grave by Beck.
Both have a home-made quality and share a songwriting approach that easily falls under the umbrella of Folk Music. At the same time they spiral off into punk influences, trashy country music and delta blues, the albums come across with ferocious personality and you really get an impression of the artist and performer behind the songs.
7) So, why is creating music important to you? Why do you hit the stage night after night, pull out the old song notebook every day, or whatever else you do to let loose your creativity?
SG: Music is something I feel like I create compulsively, it scratches an itch that otherwise can’t be reached. It truly caters to that deep human need to be understood, and expressing them through performance is one of the most elating and harrowing experiences available.
Sitting down and whipping combinations of syllables and notes that affects the everyday life of another human is downright alchemical, deeply satisfying. Singing at the top of your lungs and making sounds out of a piece of wood is fun as hell, be it in an empty room or a full house.
8) Aside from music, do you have any other pastimes? What would you want people to know about you aside from your musical endeavors?
SG: I have become a serious bowler over the last two years and now carry my ball shoes with me on tour. Taking breaks from the road and lurking the lanes across this nation has been a dream date.
Ive also dragged a 35mm camera around since I was about 19, draw
superheroes pretty well, and am hell on roller skates.
9) Anything else you want to plug or we should know?
SG: I get to play fucking NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL THIS YEAR. Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
