Jon Dee Graham (born on 28 February 1959; died 27 March 2026) was an American musician, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas. In 2006 he was named the Austin Musician of the Year during the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference. He was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame three times: as a solo artist in 2000, again in 2008 as a member of The Skunks, and again in 2009 as a member of the True Believers.
Graham featured in the True
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Jon Dee Graham (born on 28 February 1959; died 27 March 2026) was an American musician, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas. In 2006 he was named the Austin Musician of the Year during the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference. He was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame three times: as a solo artist in 2000, again in 2008 as a member of The Skunks, and again in 2009 as a member of the True Believers.
Graham featured in the True Believers with Alejandro Escovedo before going solo and releasing a number of highly-acclaimed albums in the late 1990s and 2000s. His more recent studio albums include Full and The Great Battle and they highlight Graham's personal and heartfelt writing style, distinctive and gruff (well lived in) vocals and punch guitar style.
Graham released ten solo albums, including: Escape from Monster Island (1997, Freedom Records); Summerland (1999, New West Records); Hooray for the Moon (2002, New West Records); The Great Battle (2004, New West Records); Full (2006, Freedom Records); Swept Away (Film Soundtrack) (2008, Freedom Records) It's Not As Bad As It Looks (2010, Freedom Records), Garage Sale (2012, Freedom Records), Do Not Forget (2015, Freedom Records), and Knoxville Skyline (2016, South Central).
In 2005, the Austin music community banded together in an effort to raise money for his son's treatment for a chronic disease. The resulting benefit concert at Austin's Continental Club became a CD/DVD release called Big Sweet Life: The Songs of Jon Dee Graham. Musicians like Alejandro Escovedo, Bob Schneider, David Garza, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ian McLagan, and Steve Poltz contributed by covering Graham's tunes. An additional benefit concert, held the same night at the Saxon Pub, featured performances by Roky Erickson and the Skunks. Graham commuted the short distance between clubs to participate in both shows.
In 2012, Susan Cowsill, Freedy Johnston, and Graham, working together as The Hobart Brothers and Lil' Sis Hobart, released a collaborative album on Freedom Records entitled At Least We Have Each Other.
Dreamer: A Tribute to Kent Finlay, released in early 2016 on Austin-based Eight 30 Records, features Graham's version of Finlay's "Taken Better Care of Myself".
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…shrink me down again
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