Texas bluesman Shakey Graves says he’s more interested in sculpting his live sound than trying to fit into any specific genre.
Having won the prize for Emerging Artist at last year’s Americana Awards in Nashville, Graves – aka Alejandro Rose-Garcia – is particularly keen to shake off the Americana label.
He tells Rolling Stone Australia: “I would never refer to my music as Americana. It feels like Americana is everything that’s not rap. I wasn’t reared on country music per se, not Top 40 country, but there was always that element of Stevie Ray Vaughn 12-bar blues, plenty of Texas swing, and then a lot of John Prine-y, storytelling stuff.”
As he gears up to play Australia’s Byron Bay Bluesfest next month, Graves is keen to showcase the dynamic side of his playing.
He adds: “I’m just trying to play what I want to hear. It’s not as simple as that, but I’m not trying to overthink it. So those dynamics are something I saw potential for in myself a long time ago, and it’s been an honest goal of mine to try and fuse it together, because that’s what I want out of a show.”
His most recent studio album And The War Came was released in 2014.
