À PROPOS DE GRAHAM BROWN
Chanteur/Auteur-compositeur/Guitariste
Le 14e album de Graham Brown, *Outside Within*, est une explosion de sensations : 12 titres de rock brut et électrique qui détonnent comme un road trip nocturne, fenêtres baissées. Le guitariste vancouvérois fait équipe avec son groupe de longue date – Rob Blackburn à la guitare/claviers, John Werner à la basse, Mark Gruft à la batterie – et s'impose en live lors d'un après-midi torride aux Hipposonic Studios. Après le détour acoustique introspectif de *Solo* (2023), Brown revient, ampli à fond, pour des chansons qui équilibrent le cœur et l'audace, avec un clin d'œil à Tom Petty et Neil Young.
Des titres marquants comme « Courage Comes », un rock tendu inspiré par le courage de Terry Fox, témoignent du talent de Brown pour écrire des morceaux qui restent en mémoire. Écrit le matin même de la session et enregistré en deux prises, il possède un solo fougueux qui vous fera hocher la tête. Des morceaux comme le grave « Graveyard Trees » et le « Tell The World », empreint de pedal steel, restent authentiques et explorent ce que signifie rester fidèle à soi-même sans se perdre dans le rétroviseur. La voix et les accords atypiques de Brown portent la voix d'un homme qui a vécu ces histoires.
Depuis ses débuts cow-punk avec Jr. Gone Wild dans les années 80, Brown a joué dans des lieux mythiques comme le Cavern Club et le Roxy, et *Outside Within* prouve qu'il a toujours cette étincelle. Avec 400 chansons à son actif, il est toujours fidèle à lui-même. « Je continue à peaufiner mon art », dit-il, et cela se ressent dans l'énergie communicative et dynamique du groupe. Cet album marque un retour audacieux pour le Graham Brown Band, prêt à enflammer les scènes du monde entier. *Outside Within* est authentique : branchez-vous et laissez-vous porter.
À PROPOS DE GRAHAM BROWN
GRAHAM BROWN BAND
Get ready for a night of pedal steel heavy country-smoked cow-punk!
Graham Brown doesn’t do labels. His style is a mix of rock-n-roll, country, roots, and everything in between. Graham began his professional career over 30 years ago as a band member of Jr. Gone Wild and has since honed his craft, marked by hundreds of songs and thousands of miles.
Graham is a songwriter first. As he puts it, “I create songs because it’s in my DNA – it’s a release – an understanding of the world around me.”
Vancouver-based Brown and his band makes, guitarist/keyboardist Rob Blackburn, Bassist John Werner, and drummer Mark Gruft are keeping their remarkably consistent winning streak intact with their latest effort ‘Spirit And Soul’, 11 nre original songs that once gain carry on the high energy, melodic, no-frills spirit of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Uncle Tupelo.
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GRAHAM BROWN BAND - HAUNTED
https://cashboxcanada.ca/features-music/btw-white-cowbell-oklahoma-arkells-graham-brown-band-shred-kelly-cristina-vane
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I’m told Graham Brown is that most rare of species – a bona fide roots-rock guitar hero. Since he was first heard in 1984 playing with Canada’s alt-country pioneers Jr. Gone Wild, Brown’s rich and graceful style has evolved alongside his songwriting. Still, he remains under the radar for much of the Canadian listening audience. This new album, given the current appetite for Canadiana, could change all that.
The latest phase of that evolution can be heard on Spirit And Soul, available now on all digital platforms, Bandcamp and from grahambrownsongs.com. The video for the first single, "Haunted," premieres today at Americana UK.
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Vancouver-based Brown and his bandmates, guitarist/keyboardist Rob Blackburn, bassist John Werner, and drummer Mark Gruft are keeping their remarkably consistent winning streak intact with Spirit And Soul, 11 new original songs that once again carry on the high energy, melodic, the no-frills spirit of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Uncle Tupelo.
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Ironically, Spirit And Soul captures the Graham Brown Band in top live form just before pandemic lockdown restrictions were implemented in March 2020. The album was cut in a single day at Edmontone Studios in Edmonton, Alberta before the band’s gig in town that night, although any “live-off-the-floor” raggedness is nearly impossible to detect. That wouldn’t have been a bad thing, given the context of the album but the band is so tight there are no cracks for things to fall through.
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They have been proving that for at least the last decade since the release of the 2011 album Hiwatt, playing hundreds of shows around the world, including such hallowed venues as The Cavern Club in Liverpool, The Marquee in London, and both The Roxy and The Troubadour in Los Angeles. As the band patiently awaits the opportunity to get back on the road, the time off has reinforced a lot of the messages contained on Spirit And Soul in terms of finding resilience through love.
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Songs such as “Don’t Be Afraid,” “Through Your Darkness” and “To The End,” each offer a message of hope that Brown did not foresee being so essential over a year after writing them. That's also true of "Naturally," written in tribute to Tom Petty on the day he died.
“I guess a lot of these songs are about a search for truth,” he says. “It may be dark and inconvenient at times, but it’s all part of learning from the past without becoming stuck there. We all have to keep moving forward.” With Spirit And Soul, the Graham Brown Band is doing precisely that, on the strength of their finest collection of songs to date.
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