Born and raised in Brewton, Alabama, Grayson Capps made his first appearance on the national music scene at 21 years oldwith his band,
The House Levellers, touring across the United States and garnering a sizable amount of critical acclaim. After the band's sudden demise,
he moved to an abandoned house on South Front Street in the outskirts of New Orleans, stealing electricity, busking for money andhoning his
craft as a songwriter. He soon formed a new band, Stavin' Chain, and had another go at the golden ring upon landing a distribution deal
through Polygram Records and touring with the likes of Jeff Buckley, The Wallflowers and Koko Taylor. Once again, fate had other plans than
fame and fortune for Grayson. In 1997, around the same time of Stavin' Chain, he was asked to appear in the Shainee Gabeldocumentary,
Anthem. He formed an immediate friendshipwith the young director, which led him to suggest adapting for film his father Everett Capps'
unpublished novel, Off Magazine Street, for her follow up project. The result was the major motion picture, A LoveSong For Bobby Long,
starring Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta. Grayson made a cameo in the film and had four songs on the album's subsequent
soundtrack. Shortly thereafter, Grayson Capps recorded his debut album, which was produced by Trina Shoemaker,whose resume includes
Queens of the Stone Age, Whiskeytown and Sheryl Crow. On itsstrength, Grayson was signed to HYENA Records sight unseen. Entitled, If You
Knew My Mind, the album is a staggeringly soulful collection of songs that are inhabited by a down, but never out, cast of dreamers, drifters,
heartbreakers and visionaries like Washboard Lisa, Bobby Long, Sweet Eliza, Sadie and often, Grayson Capps, himself. The opening cut,
"Get Back Up," rises like a hallucinatory vision seen down a stretch of highway. A ragged guitar is matched by gruff harmonica. Capps drawls:
"Yesterday was a very fine day indeed, I got up out of bed went outside and brushed my teeth, Put ondirty clothes and go back to work, I got to make the money to give the money away at the rich man'sstore." On "Slidell," a southern road song with gothic underpinnings, Capps reveals sadness with graceand a chorus that seeks redemption. The earthbound soul of "I Can't Hear You" follows next with sly junkyard slide guitarriffs and a set of stinging one liners like: "what is your money honey?/what is yourGod?/what in this world are you living for?" On "Mercy," Capps exorcises a worried man's blues, pleading for salvation in a frantic rage.