By Mary Whitfill
Staff Writer
Tonight will be the Clayton Graham Fike CD release party celebrating the release of his first album, Brooks and Brandywine at the downtown Dallas House of Blues.
Fike will be performing with Maren Morris, and Tim Platt. The doors open at 7:00 and the show will begin at 8:00 with Fike scheduled to be on stage at 10:00. Performing side-by-side with Fike will be Tiffany Cassius, Vivaće! choreographer, who performs with him on the 2nd track on his album, The Best Part.
Tonight will be Fike’s first performance at the House of Blues.
“I’m really excited about the performance downtown,” Fike said.
He and his band spend last night practicing at First Baptist Church of Coppell, working on their technical problems and discovering at what sound level each member should be playing for best sound performance.
Directions and ticket sales can be found here for tonight’s show. Tickets will be $12-14 at the door. Also available will be Brooks and Brandywine, also available on iTunes, and Clayton Graham Fike t-shirts.
REVIEW:
I was very impressed by Clayton Graham Fike’s first solo performance last night. He kept the crowd rocking and preformed very professionally, with exceptional stage presence for such a young artist.
He began the night by singing the traditional, acoustic performance of “You are my Sunshine” by Oliver Hood and transition seamlessly into his version, “Sunshine”, the first track on Brooks and Brandywine. He after played the third track “Brooks and Brandywine”, then was joined shortly by Tiffany Cassius for a performance of “The Best Part.”
He continues the set, playing songs from the album and covers by his favorite artists, including an Eric Hutchinson cover, featuring a saxophone player on stage.
Another thing I was presently surprised by was his opening act, Maren Morris and Tim Platt. Armed with two guitars and a beautiful singing voice, the duo took the stage and kept the audience entertained while waiting for Fike. Their sound was reminiscent of the acoustic duo, The Weepies.
Although Fike is moving away from the DFW area, I would be sure to keep an eye out for him to be headlining his own shows shortly, releasing a new CD and starting an American tour. My hopes are high for this promising new artist.
