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Jon Dee Graham: Swept Away, A Rock and Roll Documentary

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Austin singer-songwriter-guitarist Jon Dee Graham's music defies easy descriptions. His songwriting and distinctive guitar prowess speak powerfully and directly to the deepest of human emotions. Graham is at once aligned with our darkest, most fearful moments and our bravest, most fearless instincts. Love and hope thread through Graham's songs giving listeners a lifeline they too can follow.

Graham's work is both luminous and built to play loud. His songs are personal, extremely expressive, poetic and passionate. He celebrates both the tender mysteries of love and the feral grace of a loud electric guitar solo, often simultaneously.

National documentary filmmaker Mark Finkelpearl was so moved when he discovered Graham's work that he spent over a year creating a documentary to bring Graham's music to a larger audience. SWEPT AWAY, A ROCK `N' ROLL DOCUMENTARY, was released on DVD in May 2008. Finkelpearl's credits as a filmmaker include work for the Discovery Channel (American Chopper), the Travel Channel (launching the World Poker Tour), TLC, National Geographic Television (the Explorer series) and WQED/Pittsburgh. In addition Finkelpearl is a knowledgeable roots-rock music fan and concert promoter. His immersion in both worlds allowed him to bring an intimate perspective to SWEPT AWAY. Finkelpearl gives audiences a real sense of what it's like to be a working musician these days. He crafts a portrait of Graham that is, fittingly, as much a radiant labor of love as Graham's own music is.

Finkelpearl spent time interviewing Graham and capturing his daily life as a father, family man and singer-songwriter. The stuff of family and home is at the core of the music that comes out of Graham's living.

Finkelpearl also charts Graham's professional career from in-demand sideman to frontman and songwriter, capturing the dignity, grace and humor at the core of this beloved Austin artist. Graham's name has been on the roots-rock/Americana radar for years. He is a veteran of Austin supergroup The True Believers, which also included Alejandro Escovedo, and Graham was also part of other popular Austin groups The Resentments and punk-rock band The Skunks. In 1992, Patty Smyth covered Graham's song, "One Moment to Another" on her album, PATTY SMYTH. Graham was named Musician of the Year in the 2006 Austin Music Awards. Graham's most recent studio release is the acclaimed 2006 recording, FULL.Full In November 2007 came the CD SWEPT AWAY Swept Away, featuring selected songs from the live performances captured for Finkelpearl's film.

Graham began a solo career in the late 1990s that has produced a remarkable series of recordings delving deeply and poetically into the questions of everyday life: work, love, loss, death, raising children and keeping hope alive when the world seems to be working against you. Graham's music, at its core, is illuminated with the notion of choosing hope, choosing joy, choosing to believe, even when the world presents you with mountains of experiences to contradict your choice to be hopeful.

Finkelpearl also tackled the task of capturing the magic of Graham's live performances for the DVD, giving the audience a front-and-center spot as Graham performs. The centerpiece of the live sets is a sizzling recording of Graham at his favorite Austin nightspot, the Continental Club. Additional electrifying and beautifully shot concert footage was captured in several other Austin locations including the Saxon Pub, where Graham's friend James McMurtry wandered in and makes a cameo appearance.

Finkelpearl's documentary captures the power and poetry of Graham's live performances, which truly transport listeners to an altered state of consciousness: vibrating to the frequency created by Graham's love for his music and the love at the heart of his words.

Hard-core fans who are already Graham converts will find the `comment' track recorded by Graham, bassist Andrew Duplantis and filmmaker Finkelpearl an added bonus in the truest sense, capturing Graham at his sweetest and funniest. If you're looking for real music that speaks to the core of real life, this is it.

This documentary demonstrates the true heart and soul of a working class rock n roll musician/songwriter/family man. Jon Dee Graham is a master songwriter and player. This video is essential viewing. Don't visit Austin, Texas without going to a Jon Dee show.

I haven't bought this DVD yet, but I will. So, how can I write a review? Well, I watched the extended clip on YouTube, but more importantly, I watched, enthralled as Jon Dee played to a packed house at the Continental Club during "Mojo's Mayhem" at SXSW. Jon Dee Graham is as authentic, engaging and remarkable an American singer songwriter as any playing today. He writes about people living in life's interstitial space, stuck somewhere between despair and salvation and not sure which way leads to which. His lyrics are honed to a fine point, his guitar blisters and moans, and his voice carries forward the weight and hopes of a millions of Americans who have overflowed on the banks of the mainstream. His songs should be required listening for American literature classes and this DVD promises to be the engaging Cliff Notes to his music and his life.
Jon Dee Graham: Swept Away, A Rock and Roll Documentary

Jon Dee is a great live performer in the way he engages w/his audience. This DVD captures the spirit of that and gives insight into his life.

I went to see Jon Dee open up for Alejandro Escovedo in a small local venue. I had heard of him, but was more there for the headliner. After Jon Dee Graham opened his mouth to sing his beautiful song Faithless, he had my heart forever. His live shows are amazing. For those who are not fortunate enough to live somewhere he plays, they can experience his wonderful music in their own homes with this movie. The filmmaker describes Jon Dee the best when he describes the first time seeing this guy who looked like he could be a hitman for the mob sing the most incredible songs. Jon Dee has written some of the prettiest ballads I have heard, but can also rock out with the best of them. As an interview in the movie indicates, Jon Dee Graham writes music for adults and it is a shame that not everyone has heard of Jon Dee. Thankfully, Mark Finkelpearl has documented it in this film for us all to enjoy.

This is a low budget documentary for sure but what it lacks in production value it more than makes up in heart. First, there's a lot of access. You get to see how a working stiff musician like Jon Dee lives from day to day at home, on the job, and even the commute, with some of the interviews taking place while Jon Dee drives...wherever.
Couple of small gripes: No interviews with Mike Hardwick. I find that hard to believe. When Mike plays with "The Fighting Cocks" it takes the show to a whole 'nother level and I find him a fascinating guy to talk to. Also there could have been more complete performances. Maybe as an added feature on the DVD they could have put some raw footage up of the shows at CC or the Saxon. A companion CD is available, which I also have, but watching JDG prowl the stage is part of the experience of his live show.