Country Night at the Grad, All By Myself

I took a solo trip to  last week to enjoy a couple of drinks and a bit of country music.

It was a somewhat odd trip, mostly because I went out by myself, but also because it was a full-on country show. Having spent my childhood listening to punk rock, country isn’t exactly in my live-show wheelhouse. I might have been the only guy in the Grad without cowboy boots, honestly.

I kind of wished I had some.

In my home, I grew up on George Jones and Conway Twitty from my dad's stereo. I’ve gone on to listen to plenty of country-esque myself, but not to the point that I seek out live shows and attend them solo on Wednesday nights.

The band I saw at the Grad was a northern California band called Whiskey Dawn. My interest in seeing them stemmed from a recent trip I took to Nashville with my cousins, who play in a southern California country band called Kanan Road. They had been invited to play at The Bluebird Café, a prestigious songwriting venue in Nashville.

With that gig as the anchor, we turned the trip into a family vacation, retracing our family roots in Jackson, Tennessee and exploring the city of Nashville. It was awesome. I made this video upon returning.

I also made a point to start listening to a bit more country. 

I featured the  on Davis Patch last week after listening to them for a few days. I really enjoyed the songs and saw a lot of parallels with my cousins' band. Both have actually embraced the genre description, "California Country," and are currently debating permanent relocation to Nashville, which is a necessary step in pursuit of their respective dreams. 

Whiskey Dawn's manager actually told me at the show that the band has pretty much made that decision and will head that way shortly. Exciting for them.

I liked the band because they have a grittiness that I feel is necessary in country music, where songs and artists are far too often polished to perfection.  

That bores me, which is probably why the genre tends to turn me off. 

This band was loose and rowdy. They played original songs, but they also took requests that were hollered from the crowd, such as Wagon Wheel, the Devil Went Down to Georgia and more. 

Anyway, check them out for yourself in the attached videos. To follow Whiskey Dawn, check them out on Facebook.

Also check out Davis Patch on Facebook.