Love Austin Music: Graham Wilkinson

Feelin’ the love! It’s Love Austin Music Month, presented by KUTX in partnership with the City of Austin Music and Entertainment Division and the Austin Music Foundation. It’s a friendly reminder to support Austin musicians, and part of the celebration includes the AMM’s features on upcoming online performances by local artists.

Songwriter Graham Wilkinson has a new LP Cuts So Deep on the way, set for release March 5th, paired with the release of eight new music videos. Five years in the making, the album includes songs Wilkinson had forgotten about during the rush and bustle of touring, only to rediscover them later and give them new life with help from longtime collaborator Patrick Herzfeld. It was kind of like listening to each track with new ears, though each one resonates more powerfully now than ever, in the midst of a pandemic, and the debilitating health issues Wilkinson’s father is experiencing.

“The songs are simple reflections of what life is truly like, fleeting moments of beauty interwoven  between the worry and stress that consumes our thoughts and hold us back from whom we really should be,” Wilkinson says. “Most of our experiences are tangled up in challenges and moments that test our resolve…

“‘Balcony’ (the track on today’s AMM) really sums up so much of where my head is this past year,” he adds. “My father’s Lewy Body Dementia diagnosis and his cognitive decline gave me courage and inspiration to put this album together, and the thought of having to say goodbye is the central theme of that song, which is why I wanted to bookend (the title track) ‘Cuts So Deep’ with it.”

Wilkinson’s album release shows are scheduled for next month – a livestream set on Purple Bee TV on Friday March 5th, and a socially-distanced show at The Far Out Lounge and Stage on Saturday March 6th, but you can see him perform on a livestream at noon (Central) tomorrow, Sunday February 7, on Facebook Live.

-Photo courtesy of the artist.