Every now and again someone quite special comes up from the Club scene that stands out in both terms of repertoire, personality and performance. Stan Graham is one such person. He can be counted among that rare breed of songwriters with an innate ability to capture real emotion. His songs reflect life’s immense variety, with memorable words and melodies. With four internationally successful and highly acclaimed albums of self penned songs to his name, he stands out from the usual run of songwriters.
Stan’s reputation has grown rapidly these last few years as with an increasing number of well known singers cover his songs. His reputation amongst his peers in the songwriting world has long been established and now, with songs like Whitby Harbour, Alice and Sarajevo, taking their place as classics up and down the country, more and more clubs and festivals are discovering him as a leading songwriter and accomplished performer. On stage he has a friendly, relaxed presence which, combined with a rich, mellow voice and tasteful guitar work, which allows the lyrics to shine through. His audience warms to the personal nature of his songs and appreciates their enduring quality. Indeed, Stan’s straightforward honest style is highly effective - at times reminiscent of Tom Paxton and Ralph McTell. Stan has just returned from a very successful two month tour of Australia with Vin Garbutt, where he played too much acclaim at many of the major festivals, including the National Festival in Canberra and numerous Folk Clubs across the country. Today his songs can be heard across the British Isles and Continental Europe as well as in Australia and the Americas. ‘Covers’ have been made by many other folk music luminaries including Vin Garbutt, George Hamilton IV and Martyn Wyndham-Read.
These days you may also find Stan on the airwaves hosting folk music slots on local radio stations including BBC Radio York. Stan is a past winner of the Keith Marsden Songwriting Competition and also a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 ‘Search For A Song’ competition. Stan’s song “The Olive and The Vine” was voted in 2010 as “One Of The Folk Songs Of The Decade” by the federation of Folk Radio Presenters in Australia and The USA.
