Jon Dee Graham is a musician, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas. He was born February 28, 1959 in Levelland, Texas. Graham was named the Austin Musician of the Year during the South by Southwest (SXSW) music conference in 2006. He was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2000, again in 2008 as a member of The Skunks, and again in 2009 as a member of the True Believers.

The Skunks' lineup featured Jesse Sublett on bass and vocals and Bill Blackmon on drums. Founded in 1978, the band invited Graham to be their new guitarist (replacing Eddie Munoz, who departed to join The Plimsouls) in 1979. Graham's guitar can be heard on the band's live CD, "Live: Earthquake Shake, released in 2000.

Graham toured with The Skunks and the guitar army The True Believers in the '80s and has gone on touring, writing, recording, and producing with artists such as John Hiatt, The Gourds, Patti Smyth, Darden Smith, Simon Bonney, Ryan Hedgecock of Lone Justice, Michelle Shocked, John Doe, Exene Cervenka, Kelly Willis, Trish Murphy, Kacy Crowley, Calvin Russell, Lou Ann Barton and Dan Stuart of Green On Red, among others.

GO AHEAD was on tour with
Jon Dee Graham & The Fighting Cocks
between Jan. 28th and Feb. 8th, 2010.

The True Believers, which included Alejandro Escovedo and his brother, Javier Escovedo, are widely considered by critics to be seminal figures in the fusion of literary songwriting and punk rock, a sound often referred to as alt.country.

Jon Dee Graham went on to play with John Doe, Exene Cervenka, James McMurtry, Eliza Gilkyson, Kelly Willis, John Hiatt, Michelle Shocked, Patty Griffin, Calvin Russell, and Lone Justice.

To date, Graham has released five studio albums: Escape from Monster Island (1997, Freedom Records); Summerland (1999, New West Records); Hooray for the Moon (2002, New West Records); The Great Battle (2004, New West Records) and Full (2006, Freedom Records). His record, "The Great Battle," was produced by Charlie Sexton.

His sixth studio album, "It's Not As Bad As It Looks" is due to arrive in January, 2010 on Blue Rose Records.

Graham has settled into his own solo career as well as a brilliant side project as a member of Austin's beloved The Resentments, featuring Graham, Stephen Bruton, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Bruce Hughes, and John Chipman. Cracked, raspy, passionate and endearing, Graham's voice is his most recognizable trademark.

Graham's music generally explores the struggles with being a grown up and the battles that adults fight as they try and raise their children, maintain marriages and jobs, and grapple with the quick passage of time. Despite the heaviness of such themes, Graham's music is also infused with a strong sense of the joys of life and the need to remain optimistic.

Graham's second child, Willie, suffers from a chronic, rare childhood disease called Legg-Perthes.

In 2005, the Austin music community banded together in an effort to raise money for Willie's treatment. The resulting benefit concert at Austin's Continental Club became a CD/DVD release called "Big Sweet Life: The Songs of Jon Dee Graham." Musicians like Alejandro Escovedo, Bob Schneider, David Garza, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ian McLagan, and Steve Poltz all contributed by covering Graham's tunes. Over the years, Graham has been backed by Jim Keltner, Rafael Gayol, Mark Andes, Michael Hardwick, and Andrew Duplantis, who went on to play in Son Volt with Jay Farrar.