Shakey Graves Finishes His Two Night Stay At the El Rey Theater

By Rosemary Vega on November 20, 2014@rosevega

NOVEMBER 11- After playing music festivals like Austin City Limits and Stagecoach earlier this year, one-man-band Shakey Graves landed in Los Angeles to play two nights at the historic El Rey Theater.

Shakey Graves, whose real name is Alejandro Rose-Garcia, is an Austin based singer-songwriter (and actor) who proved to be a name worth remembering with a colorful and dynamic set. The final show of his two-night stay in Southern California had audience members so entranced, even those new to folk were dancing around and singing along the words.

Opening the show were Esme Patterson and Rayland Baxter. Both provided a great beginning for a night of folk. Rayland, who sometimes played alone and sometimes accompanied, showed off his smooth vocals with ease in songs like “Olivia” and “Bad Things.” Both songs’ simplicity allowed for the tragically beautiful sadness to come through in the lyrics.

And when Shakey finally made it to the stage, things really took off. From the beginning of his set, Shakey Graves showed off his versatility in everything from lyrics, harmony, musicianship, and tempo. Shakey’s ability to go from soft and subtle, to hard and strong in a matter of seconds made it impossible to look anywhere else than at him. His raspy phrasing also made it easy to stay enamored by his stage presence. “Word of Mouth” was especially intriguing, keeping us on our toes with a melody that almost gave the feeling of being followed. In the middle of the song Shakey took a sip of his beer and said, “Cheers LA.”

“Perfect Parts” exemplified Shakey’s flare for the dramatics. The song, which on a first run through can be simply about heartbreak, took us on a roller coaster of ups and downs with the music. Shakey showed his ability to keep us on the edge of our seats (metaphorically speaking as the El Rey Theater doesn’t have seats), with the way he slows down his music, just to quickly pick back up, faster and harder than before.

Shakey, like Rayland, played solo throughout the set, but was accompanied on stage at various points with various musicians. While Shakey’s ups and downs kept intrigue, the set list itself was varied as well. Shakey played songs from his debut “Roll The Bones,” his recently released follow up “And the War Came,” and even mixed in songs that are missing from both. Joining him on stage towards the end was Esme Patterson, who added the perfect blend of harmonies and spunk. The duo sang two songs, including “Dearly Departed,” which had the crowd singing and dancing all the way to their cars.