The Grahams

A New York-bred, Nashville-based country-rock duo consisting of musical and marital partners Alyssa and Doug Graham, the Grahams broke out in 2013 when their debut album, Riverman's Daughter, became a favorite on Americana radio. Their music is deeply inspired by the couple’s journeys across various historic American roads and waterways, which became the subject of albums like Glory Bound (2016) and Kids Like Us (2019) as well as their documentary film Rattle the Hocks. Childhood friends, high school sweethearts, and eventually husband and wife, the Grahams had been collaborating in various musical styles for years before recording their Americana-inspired 2013 debut, Riverman's Daughter. Prior to the Grahams project, Alyssa had established a successful solo career in the mid-2000s as a pop and jazz singer with two well-received albums under her belt. Wanting to make a shift toward original material, she and Doug took a road trip down the historic Great River Road, which parallels the Mississippi River. The journey provided plenty of artistic fuel and resulted in Riverman's Daughter, a mix of country, folk, bluegrass, and rock. Citing inspirations like Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, they followed their debut with the ambitious Glory Bound in 2016. Trading America’s famous waterways for its railways, the Grahams took a series of train trips, eventually hooking up with producer Wes Sharon to produce both the album and its accompanying film documentary, Rattle the Hocks. Continuing to use travel as their music, Alyssa and Doug took further inspiration from a motorcycle tour of historic Route 66, which helped them land on the retro-pop and rock feel of their 2020 album Kids Like Us. ~ Timothy Monger