Grayson Capps - If You Knew My Mind

10th Anniversary Edition

Double LP set - first time ever on vinyl!

Includes three previously unreleased tracks, new photos, complete lyrics and an essay by Grayson Capps

Album download included

"Grayson Capps plays rusted-out, countrified swamp-blues, whittled down to the dirt floor. His weathered drawl recalls Delbert McClinton, while his subject matter channels Tom Waits' fixation on junkyard lowlifes. Like an off-color barroom prophet, Capps exposes the peculiar, rotten and praiseworthy in the human heart." — No Depression

"It takes less than 30 seconds for the debut album from this New Orleans-based singer/songwriter to pull you in...languid, a little grimy and dangerous...a stirring first effort, it conveys the sense, sounds, and dark allure of New Orleans." — AllMusic

"Whether he's rocking hard or whispering over a single note of slide, Capps' songwriting skill is dependably incisive; his character-based narratives are guaranteed to make you ache and exult." — New Orleans Times Picayune

Grayson Capps' debut solo album If You Knew My Mind turns 10 in 2015. In light of the milestone, Royal Potato Family is honoring the now classic recording with a special 10th anniversary reissue edition. The set will feature three previously unreleased bonus tracks, including Grayson's stunning version of the roots standard "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning." It also includes an essay written by Grayson addressing the period in his life when he recorded the album along with as yet unpublished photos. Produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer Trina Shoemaker (Brandi Carlile, Indigo Girls), she was reenlisted to oversee the re-mastering process for the album's first ever release on vinyl in a double-LP configuration.

If You Knew My Mind was initially issued in conjunction with the major motion picture "A Love Song For Bobby Long" starring Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta. The film was titled after Grayson's song of the same name and was adapted from an unpublished novel written by his father Everett Capps. Throughout the album, Grayson recounts his time living in an abandoned house on the outskirts of New Orleans ("Get Back Up"), playing for change on Royal Street (""Washboard Lisa") and the birth of his daughter ("If You Knew My Mind"), while songs like "I See You," "Mercy" and "Buckshot" remain staples of his live repertoire to this day.

Grayson's songwriting draws direct inspiration from the celebrated American southern literary tradition, often writing about the South and the idiosyncrasies of its people, landscapes and tempos. His lyrics, imparted with a profound poetic wisdom, take form as steamy, front porch blues and road-wise Americana. Music critic Bret Love wrote, "Like a whiskey-soaked, back alley poet sired by Tom Waits and Robert Johnson, Capps' stripped-down sound is rooted in the dark side of the Delta." While comparisons like this help paint a picture, Capps clearly has his own singular iconoclastic vision. Ten years later, his legacy has only grown as he's currently regarded as one of the South's most consistently compelling songwriters and performers.

 

Side 1

1. Get Back Up

2. If You Knew My Mind

3. Slidell

4. I Can’t Hear You

Side 2

5. A Love Song For Bobby Long

6. Graveyard

7. Mercy

8. Lorraine’s Song

Side 3

9. Washboard Lisa

10. Buckshot

11. How’s I To Know

12. I See You

Side 4

13. Keep Your Lamp Trimmed & Burning

14. Banjo Player

15. Washboard Lisa (Truckfarm)

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