by Anastasia Chipelski
He’s followed the railroads back and forth across the US and held forth at the Sidewalk Cafe as part of New York’s storied anti-folk scene, but Shakey Graves is returning to Winnipeg to collect something he couldn’t find anywhere else: his best friend’s soul.
Alejandro Rose-Garcia, who performs as Shakey Graves, hails from Austin, Texas. The city has held him dear enough that it proclaimed an official “Shakey Graves Day” in 2012. Rose-Garcia took it as a kind of birthday: “I figured if I got a day, I might as well use it as a birthday [..] so I got all my friends and we went and played laser tag.” Though it was technically a one-day proclamation, Rose-Garcia has since taken the opportunity to “really make it rain as much as I can,” throwing a big show featuring local Austin bands, paying them out handsomely, and also releasing all of his own music for free online for a brief period.
Rose-Garcia has built a name and a reputation for himself as a dynamic performer, holding the stage with just his guitar and a kick-suitcase at his heels. In the pre-dawn of his career, he took his “rambling guy with a guitar act” to New York, seeking out the poor songwriter experience. He fell in with the anti-folk crowd in Alphabet City, with the Sidewalk Cafe as their nexus.
“We were just kind of a big messed up family that paid attention to what each other were doing. And I was lucky enough to be there for a small blip on the map, and it was really formative. It taught me to kind of put my money where my mouth was,” recalls Rose-Garcia. “The concept of if you ask me to play you a song I can do it, I really learned how to do that there, cause people would ask me and I’d be like ‘yeah yeah, I can play you a song’ and then I’d mess it all up.”
Nowadays, you’re not likely to see Rose-Garcia shaking or messing up on stage, and he’s moving along from the archetypal rambling man act to develop his skills as a collaborator. “When I’m playing with other people and I have to lead, I get a little nervous,” he confessed.
The honour of leading was bestowed on him at last summer’s Winnipeg Folk Festival, where he hosted a workshop also featuring Shinyribs, Sharon Van Etten, Hiss Golden Messenger, Daniel Bachman and Reuben and the Dark. This collaborative workshop style was very new to Rose-Garcia. “The workshops always crack me up,” he reports. “Stateside, I haven’t played any festivals that do that. The first time I went out I was like ‘What the fuck is going on? What is this, like, what is happening to me right now?’”
He also fondly remembers the Folk Fest as the place where he watched the final games of the World Cup, huddled in the woods with “a bunch of random Canadians” hooting and hollering over the match being shown on a little iPad. Some of his fellow football fans started a wee gambling party, and while Rose-Garcia was happy to stick to “throwing coin money around,” one of his tourmates decided to up the ante.
That weekend, their Canadian booking agent had been making a game of gambling for people’s souls, which he then took to the Trading Post in the campground to barter for goods. Rose-Garcia’s best friend (and tour manager), Wesley, had his eyes set on the booking agent’s soul and made a dangerous wager, placing his own soul on Argentina.
“Of course we’re all like, ‘That was a horrible idea! Haven’t you ever watched the Simpsons? It’s like the worst idea ever.’ Don’t gamble your soul.” recounts Rose-Garcia. That night, Wesley lost his soul in a most authoritative manner: “They sent over official paperwork and everything.”
Wesley, soulless, continues to accompany Rose-Garcia along on tour, but a return stop scheduled for Winnipeg in November brought an unexpected opportunity. When the soul-gambling Canadian booking agent told Garcia that it looked like the Winnipeg show was going to sell out, and asked if he would play a second, Rose-Garcia made him a proposition: “I’m not going to play another show UNLESS we get Wesley’s soul back to play the second night in Winnipeg,” he countered. There was one stipulation, though. If the first night didn’t sell out, the deal was off.
“So by Winnipeg supporting the music, I got my best friend’s soul back AND I get to play two nights,” says Rose-Garcia, triumphantly. “They’re sending over the contract as we speak.”
Besides the victory of Wesley’s soul, Rose-Garcia will also be celebrating the release of his latest album, And the War Came, featuring many stunning vocal collaborations with Esme Patterson. Rayland Baxter will be touring alongside Shakey Graves, and there’s a chance he may join in for a few songs.
Those holding tickets for the Nov 24 or Nov 25 shows at the Park Theatre are in for a real treat. If you’re ticketless, well, there may be this one Canadian booking agent lurking about, looking to collect a certain soulful something from you (though Shakey Graves would advise against that).
I can attest to that soul gamble taking place, having been in the same tent to watch the World Cup final. I’m glad Wesley got his soul back! Now if I could only find a ticket to one of those sold out shows…