Punk icon Greg Graffin goes acoustic solo route

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Stepping away from his usual sweat-soaked spotlight as the frontman of veteran punk rockers Bad Religion, Greg Graffin played the low-key folk singer Saturday night at McCabe's.

The small instrument-lined back room of the historic Santa Monica guitar shop was the perfect venue for the intimate music found on Graffin's latest solo album "Cold as the Clay" (Anti-), a rootsy collection of old-time American tunes and some like-minded original songs.

Wearing his glasses, he looked less the punk icon and more the singing college professor -- aptly, considering he has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology. He strummed and plucked at acoustic guitar and played harmonica accompanied by two of the record's musicians, David Bragger on mandolin, fiddle and banjo and Chris Berry on banjo and acoustic guitar.

The overall feel was prairie front porch or, as Graffin put it, like being in his living room. His usually urgent voice was gentle and he was almost soft-spoken compared to his rabble-rousing Bad Religion persona.

The set included the 18th-century sawmill ballad "Little Sadie," the spiritual "Talk About Suffering," and the tale of dangling hope for a better life, "California Cotton Fields." He also pulled out "The Fault Line" from his 1997 semi-solo album "American Lesion," giving the confessional a brooding treatment.

Among the most fully-realized originals were the nearly-epic ballad of the regretful South "Rebel's Goodbye" and "Highway," which was not so much a musician's road reflection as a look at aging, with a key line about "the highway of denial."

Bad Religion fans hoping for some acoustic versions of the band's songs were treated to scaled-down renditions that included "Suffer" and "Sorrow," clearly illustrating the direct line from folksy sketches on acoustic guitar to full-blown punk rock rants.

Skipping the typical leave-and-return encore, Graffin wrapped up with two more from his group's catalog: He turned to the scathing "God Song," which caustically rewrites William Blake and Hubert Parry's "Jerusalem" for America, and closed with the affirmation of hope "Live Again," which Bad Religion has never played live, but should consider adding immediately to its own incendiary shows.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

• Email Story
• IM Story
• Discuss
• Printable View

RECOMMEND THIS STORY

Recommend It:

Not at All Somewhat Moderately Highly Very Highly

Average (Not Rated)

» Recommended Stories