Dave McGraw and Crow Wing

Dave McGraw and Crow Wing’s rambling, folksy, old-style country sounds like the desert. It’s that stripped-down, no-frills approach that Arizonans cling to, even more than the big, glitzy sound that dominates the FM country airwaves. This aesthetic is often likened to the landscape that occupies southern Arizona, filled with jagged mountains, hard-packed bedrock, saguaros, and busted-up pickup trucks along dirt roads. This band, however, finds inspiration in the high desert. Dave McGraw met most of his band in a small cabin in northern Arizona before moving to the Colorado Plateau, stating that his “songwriting has always been firmly rooted in his sense of place.” This characterization is fitting for the Flagstaff-based performers. McGraw’s voice is soft, sweet, and airy and somehow reminiscent of cool mesa breezes rather than hot dusty ones. While McGraw and Crow Wing’s only record as a group came out nearly a year and a half ago, they are currently touring the western half of the United States, hitting up not only larger cities, but ones that are oft ignored, like Missoula, Montana; Moscow, Idaho; and Cottage Grove, Oregon. It’s these small towns that can likely best relate to the sentiments described, and it’s nice to have a simple reminder of the way country once was at a time when it’s hard to remember how Hank done it.