Graham Wilkinson Music

Graham Wilkinson plays The Golden Goose on Friday, October 30, starting at 6 PM. It's a roots-folk-rock set, and it's free.

Wilkinson's a Texas native, born in Denison in 1980 to a Methodist minister and a speech pathologist. He picked up the guitar at 16, went to Hendrix College in Arkansas, and after graduating in 2002 spent time on the Greek islands of Mykonos and Paros before volunteering as an English teacher on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei. Back in Texas, he led a punk rock outfit and an old-time/bluegrass quintet before forming the Underground Township, the band whose sound informs his album YEARBOOK. That record got play on Austin stations KUT and KGSR and featured Alejandro Escovedo, Hayes Carll, and Lloyd Maines.

A good part of the songwriting comes from a personal place: his older brother and best friend, Aaron Robert Wilkinson, died in New York City and became a major influence on his writing. Aaron was part of the lower East Side anti-folk scene and ran with Regina Spektor, Kimya Dawson, Adam Green, and The Strokes, who dedicated their album Room on Fire to him. That connection to the NYC anti-folk world sits alongside the bluegrass and punk Wilkinson worked through here in Texas, and you can hear those different threads pulling together in his songs.

The show is at The Golden Goose, 2034 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704, on Friday, October 30, starting at 6 PM. Admission is free.