Roadside Graves remind me of dusky afternoons spent in bars with wise friends when it’s way too early for whiskey. Lead singer John Gleason writes songs as brainy as they are boozy, with a penchant for putting his finger on exactly the way things feel in the world right now. With “You Won’t be Happy with Me,” the Graves’ six-song follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed full-length “My Son’s Home” (both on Autumn Tone), the focus turns to good old-fashioned love and longing, and once again, the septet from Metuchen, N.J., does not disappoint. “If we didn’t have to worry about money, we’d be alright” Gleason assures his dream girl in “Liv Tyler,” a swirling, epic romp that somehow keeps its pop sensibility for the song’s entire seven minutes.
||| Download: “Liv Tyler”
||| Live: Roadside Graves play the Free for All festival at the Echoplex on Sunday and at the Echo on Tuesday with the Parson Redheads and Cotton Jones.
— By Addy Danti
Photo by Travis Huggett
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Photo not by Tamir Kalifa. Great song though!
Credit has been corrected. Apologies, Travis.