Shakey Graves Archives - Utah Concert Review

August 23, 2024August 23, 2024

Shakey Graves

Shakey Graves • Atta Boy • August 19, 2024 • Red Butte Garden Amphitheater

Reviewed and Photographed by Austin Dayton

A sold-out crowd packed their way into Red Butte Garden this last Monday, August 19^th, to spend their evening singing and dancing with folk-rock, singer-songwriter, Shakey Graves. The Salt Lake City crowd was treated to a high-energy yet personal show by the Austin city-based performer. One could not have asked for a better evening as all the stars seemed to align, the days of storming had just cleared up and set the stage for one of the best shows of the summer.

August 9, 2021

Shakey Graves August 4, 2021 Sandy Amphitheater

Shakey Graves, Sandy Amphitheater, August 4, 2021

Depending on which song you’re listening to, you could call it country with a bluesy, folksy twist. You could call it alt-rock with a country cadence. Gothic bluegrass? Americana? It doesn’t matter. Shakey Graves isn’t bound by, or dependent on, genre. Like a true artist, he pulls technique from anywhere that suits him. The result is unique, catchy, and refreshing.

August 20, 2019

Shakey Graves August 13, 2019, Red Butte Garden

By: Tiffany Mull

This World Needs More Appalachian Murder Ballads

Southern Gothic is one of my favorite literary genres. I’d argue that certain musicians fit into this genre as well, Shakey Graves among them. Never mind his playfully macabre alias, the themes of his songs touch on death and decay, murder, alcoholism, drug abuse, execution by electric chair, and the way ex-lovers haunt one another. All this, though, is presented with good humor and a (wholesomely) wicked Texas grin, side-by-side with themes of shirking the predictable life and embracing the shiftless, devil-may-care habits of a tramp. Shakey’s musical style is tricky to pin down. Clearly influenced by bluegrass, hobo folk, blues, rock, and country, it might be safest to simply say, “Americana.”