Welcome to a lovely evening with us at Bergby Gård on May 2nd, where JD Graham from the USA will be performing live music.
- Date:
- 02 May
- Time:
- 19.00-22.00
- Location:
- Bergby, Bergby Farm
- Age limit:
- 18
- Cost:
- 175 SEK
The singer-songwriter world is overcrowded. There are plenty of men (yes, still mostly men) with acoustic guitars and a bunch of self-penned songs. The problem is that while it's a simple and convenient format, it's also unforgiving. With a loud rock band behind you, you can hide any shortcomings, but alone with a guitar and voice, you can't hide.
J.D. Graham (not to be confused with Jon Dee Graham!) has what it takes. Charisma, voice and, above all, incredibly strong songs that touch the soul. On his third studio-recorded album, “Sergeant of Sorrow,” he emerges as a giant, a worthy heir to heavyweights like Guy Clark and, perhaps above all, Townes van Zandt. Because, just like Townes, J.D. wrestles with his demons. The songs are brutally honest and self-revealing. Often dark, if not to say black, but with elements of hope and reconciliation.
“Sergeant of Sorrow” is produced by Neilson Hubbard and Ryan Culwell and is released on Monday 12 July. In the not-too-distant future, J.D. Graham will be touring Scandinavia.
“I knew I would meet my demons in prison and that one of us would die. I just didn’t know which one of us would walk out of there alive.”
Graham grew up in Yukon, Oklahoma, and when he was prescribed Valium for his anxiety at the age of eleven, it marked the beginning of a 25-year-long, severe drug addiction. While he was fiddling with prescriptions and selling drugs to fund his own addiction, he played guitar in several death metal bands. Around 2010, he shifted from metal to southern rock and started the fairly successful band Sour Diesel Train Wreck. The new musical direction led J.D. to place greater emphasis on songwriting and, above all, lyrics. However, his destructive lifestyle continued, and in 2017, he was involved in a serious car accident that resulted in a five-year prison sentence for J.D.
The first thing Graham did after checking into Arizona State Prison was buy pills for $500, but he was ripped off and the pills never arrived. He was visited by people from the local church who wanted to talk music with him, and it was then that J.D. Graham decided to quit drugs and instead commit himself wholeheartedly to music and Jesus. He started teaching music with inmates and, above all, started writing songs. Many songs.
In 2019, he received permission from the prison to record his debut album, “Razor Wire Sunrise“. The title track was the first song he wrote in his cell. A new version is available on “Sergeant of Sorrow“.
Two years ago, J.D. Graham was released from Arizona State Prison as a free man. The successful music programme he started is still going strong and has a long waiting list.
Since his release, J.D. Graham has dedicated himself to his music full-time. He has toured extensively and in 2023 released his second album “Pound of Rust“, also produced by Neilson Hubbard and Ryan Culwell.
“My brother asked me what the goal was with my music and I told him connection, whether that was talking to someone struggling on a barstool after a show or telling my story through a song to a crowd of people and reaching a stranger’s heart. Human connection is all I want; I think it’s why we are all here.“
