An Austin, Texas, musician and actor with a history that runs through Los Angeles, Shakey Graves (Alejandro Rose-Garcia) does an admirable job writing dynamic Americana that avoids cliché. He’s amassed a discography of four full-lengths, a fistful of EPs, and a pair of compilations since gaining attention that netted him the unusual position of official busker for a Mumford & Sons tour 14 years ago.
As a young actor, music is his second go-around to fame, having taken on roles in films like Spy Kids (2003) and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), as well as a few episodes of TV shows like “Friday Night Lights” and “Dallas.”
While Shakey Graves’ music previously came with a full backing band, his current tour carries him back to his roots as a solo artist. Armed with a few guitars, effect pedals, a foot pedal-activated tambourine, and an altered kick-drum suitcase, he reimagines fully fleshed-out tracks that feel less skeletal in this iteration than they do intimate.
Adept at pumping out an alternative fingering style that rides up the bass notes—interchanged with a straight picking downstroke and offset by taking less traditional avenues like running distortion on an otherwise acoustic guitar—his playing supports the mellowed, light rasp of his voice. A lot of what he does inspires singing from his fans, especially on bigger numbers like the 2014 hit “Dearly Departed.” But audiences who know him are up to the task of participating throughout his sets: even the tempo-shifting, detuned blues of the title track from his debut album, Roll the Bones (2011), prompts crowds to supply beat clapping, echoing the rhythm Graves produces with his feet.
Another singer-songwriter with a cute stage name, Clover County (real name A.G. Schiano) is the Athens, Georgia-based musician opening the show. A college-age vocalist and guitarist who can be heard with a pedal steel player, her sound exposes a pop music addiction filtered through traditional country.
