Returning to touring and performing with the release Everyday Life, Graves has built on her reputation as a fine contemporary Canadian songwriter from years of successful art making. From 2006 to 2008 Graves was artistic director at Blue Skies Music Festival, worked in health care, & started a family. She stayed away from solo recording until her suddenly estranged life during the pandemic brought songwriting to the forefront once more. Songs flooded. Graves took to the studio in later 2022 with Dave Draves.
“During the pandemic, working in a mental health hospital catapulted me into intensely writing again. Believing that my gift of making music is an important healing tool, believing more in myself as a music creator are lessons learned from the time I had on my hands in Covid times”.
Everyday Life is Graves’ 5th full length studio album. This recording came about in a similar fashion to 1995’s piece by piece recorded with Ian Lefeuvre. Over time, songs added up to a cohesive long play release. Her commrade Fred Guignion joining with alway flavourful stringed accompanyment, and a few unsuspecting guests arriving spontaneously in the studio made for a healing journey in sound.
With her remarkable voice and a poet heart, Graves is a performer who knows everyday life in a caregiving setting so that her songs represent the familiar. She draws the audience into her songs to discover together we are all the same. The themes of the latest release move from being bedside for a parent death journey (To the Other Side) to calls for protest against increasing disparity of wealth (Sparrow Parable) and an ode to reconcile with justice and action from how far we have pushed the marginalized (Little Mercy). Sharp focus on living life with a daily grind and the fallout of this choice is heard in Bend the Rules. Graves shot video and released this first single in Nov 2022.
Her career has included shared stages with Lesley Feist, Buffy Sainte Marie (intentially not removed despite what has come to light) and Fairport Convention among so many others. She has played festival, house concerts and theatre music series across Canada. Her five years as alto in Malaika brought her to the US and the recording studio twice. Graves now makes her home in Ottawa ON.