The Roadside Graves are American. Their music is American. Consider this and then consider investigating their music. Because there is no artifice to their music. It has no bells and whistles. It makes you feel good. It is intelligent and full of soul. On my recent trip to the US I picked up their latest release "No One Will Know Where You've Been" and it grows on me with every listen. Their latest album is their third (the first two are hard to find) and their first on Kill Buffalo. The band have now grown to seven and you can feel it in the music. Lashings of guitars, drums, piano, bass, flute and other percussive instruments are great for the ears. Then there are the vocals, centering around the husky, growling voice of John Gleason. He intones beauty in every note as he sings about the broad expanses of his native land. For his songs are tales about the road travelled, people met and loved and are steeped in that American tradition of songwriting first heard with Roger Miller, Townes Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen. The Springsteen comparison is perhaps apt because the band hails from New Jersey also. If you plunge into The Roadside Graves you will slowly fall love in love with their gentle melodies, their country subtleties and warm and generous spirit. In this throw away world this is music to slowly appreciate and let age like a good wine.
MP3: West Coast
Available for purchase from Amazon.