The Family Grave: Intimate Alt-Folk & Literate Songwriting

The Family Grave is the rare musical secret that feels both unearthed and inevitable—an outsider project spinning intimate, literate songs with the quiet glamour of a forgotten classic.

Led by Jon’s razor‑subtle songwriting and shaped by a rotating cast of gifted collaborators, the band moves effortlessly between lo‑fi confession, alt‑folk warmth, and jazz‑flecked elegance. Each album feels like a beautifully worn love letter: honest, human, and haunting in all the right ways. For listeners who crave storytelling with soul, The Family Grave is a whisper that lingers long after the last note dissolves.

What the Critics Say

“The Family Grave choose a different path: the quiet, devastating power of honest, intelligent songwriting… songs that will stay with you long after the final note fades.” — Echo Rebel Music Magazine
“Obtuse yet warmly warm folky goodness.” — OutsideLeft
No Return “proves that great songwriting is not just about catchy hooks—it’s about baring your soul and sharing your truth.” — Divine Magazine
Happy Songs is “an eclectic collection of refreshingly different, thought‑provoking songs.” — Brighton Source
“Storytelling on this album is something you don’t hear every day.” — YDN Radio

For Listeners Who Love

Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Tim Hardin, Bill Callahan, the Harry Smith Anthologies, and The Beatles.

What was the “lightbulb moment” that made you realize this specific track would work so well with a lively, Cuban-inspired rhythm?

You can hear my original demo version of Daylight as a bonus track on the CD release of the new single. Daylight was originally a short acoustic number about friendship and mental health, but we were playing the demo back in the studio, just my guitar and vocal, and I just said a thought out loud “that could sound really good with a Cuban beat,” and Martyn, my chief accompanist in the band, had a “hold my beer” moment and said, “hold on”, stepped over to the piano, and then started playing this little idea of a riff. We immediately thought it was perfect, and then I decided to lock into that groove and double the length of the song!

Your name, The Family Grave, often evokes a more somber or introspective aesthetic. How does it feel to contrast that brand with the high-energy, vibrant sounds of this new remix?

As you say, the new version of Daylight is very different from anything we’ve done before, but I have always liked being able to move my feet to The Family Grave music, even if it was a more straightforward folk beat. Although musically, the song has a different and more vibrant energy, the heart and soul come from the same place that attracted me to the name The Family Grave in the first place – a positive vibe of love and friendship (family) and a sense of singing songs about important things (the grave, or gravity).

“Daylight” is a popular title in pop music history, used by icons like Taylor Swift and David Kushner. How does your version reclaim that word and give it a signature Family Grave identity?

I only spotted the large number of other songs named Daylight after we’d finished the song, but the themes of friendship and mental health, the emergence into new light, seemed to make the title still feel appropriate. We could have changed it but that never really occurred to me. One of my other songs is called ‘Mr Train Driver’, and although Wikipedia lists 1000 songs about trains (I know because I checked!), there is no other song called ‘Mr Train Driver’ and I was very happy about that!

Cuban influence is very specific in its percussion and groove. Did you work with any specific instruments or collaborators to ensure the remix felt authentic to those roots?

No, not at all. I have a relatively limited musical palate to work with, but I love the creativity of the friends I tempt into the studio, and I think some of the best art comes from testing your creativity within straight lines and boundaries, not from seeking the perfect fit or trying to recreate something you have probably heard before. One of the things I like about The Family Grave is that it is often quite hard to ‘place’ us musically.

You have a new album arriving later this year. Should fans look at the “Daylight” remix as a “sonic teaser” for the energy of the upcoming record, or is this remix a standalone experiment?

At present this mix is very much a standalone, but I love how it has turned out, and I might try some more songs in this direction. The new album is at present very much going back to our roots—and sonically it’s core is a single weekend where Martyn, Peter (my drummer), and I bashed out the new songs, playing very much as a tight indie band. However, I have experimented before, and at the start of 2025 released a remix version of my previous album, ‘The Family Grave Sings Songs About Love,’ which is almost entirely instrumental, although it has more of a jazz than a dance vibe. You can listen to it here: https://thefamilygrave.bandcamp.com/album/the-family-grave-songs-about-love-remixed. The music on that remix album is also completely original, with no sampling of other tracks, and I Iove it when my very English dudes Peter and Martyn get funky!

As an artist-songwriter, how do you know when a song’s journey is “finished”? Is the original version the definitive one, or is the remix the version you always heard in your head?

‘I would say the original is the source, and the remix comes later. My songs sometimes start with a riff or melody and sometimes with a lyrical idea or intention, but the lyrics are always key for me personally and help to define what is most unique about my own personal contribution to The Family Grave. With the remix album, I just fell in love with the musicianship on Songs About Love, and so once the original album was finished, I wanted to do something more with the musical input, and what started out as an idea to recut some of the funkier riffs became something different and bigger.

Looking back at the original version of “Daylight” compared to the tracks you’re writing for the new album now, what is the biggest difference in your perspective as a songwriter?

The original version of Daylight was written some years ago, before I started working in a studio with an engineer and group of musicians, so the format was really the very traditional singer-songwriter style of one man and his guitar. I likened some of my music back then to the old blues singers from the 1930s (one of my early albums under a different name is titled ‘Harry Smith Was My Father’ if you know the Harry Smith compilations), but my front porch was a living room sofa, and my bottle of moonshine was a small bottle of beer! However, I think my confidence as a songwriter has grown over the years, and so the new album was written very fast, but with some definite intention behind the lyrics. With Daylight, I remember it was the original guitar chords that came first, and I just found the words to fit that.

With the “lively” direction of your recent work, how are you planning to translate these complex rhythms into your live performances later this year?

Live performance is a struggle for me. I have always tended to perform solo or occasionally with Martyn accompanying me on keyboard. Whilst we could do a version of Daylight like that, it would not sound like the recording, and if we tried to bring a bigger band together, it might not work as well for some of my other songs. There is also the cost of trying to tour a band these days too, which is pretty prohibitive. However, if the opportunity arose, with sufficient funds, then translating my songs for the stage would be a new challenge I’d relish.

What was the most challenging part of taking a pre-existing song and stripping it down to fit a completely new cultural and rhythmic framework?

To be honest, it didn’t feel like a challenge at the time because it came so easily. It was a moment of inspiration from Martyn that gave the song its big step forward, but once we had that fresh riff the rest fell into place. Peter’s superb drumming just grooves along with the beat. Perhaps the biggest challenge was convincing my engineer Paul that the song would work at twice the original length, but he trusts my ideas and fell into line pretty easily! Oh, and convincing my backing singers to add some extra whoops and yells to give the thing a party feel, which they weren’t entirely convinced about at first, not least I think because there was no predetermined place for the whooping, but they took to my suggestions brilliantly.

Beyond the album release, what is the one goal you want The Family Grave to achieve by the time 2026 comes to a close?

The new album is coming along really well, and I can’t wait to finish it and release it later this year. However, one of the other exciting projects I am working on at present is a collaboration with a Nigerian producer called Dimmeji, who has formed a new band called ‘Lucky Star Band’ to rearrange and perform some of my songs, with more of an African and Folk-Pop vibe. An EP showcasing five tracks was released late last year—titled ‘The Family Grave covers EP’ (which you can hear at https://fanlink.tv/wQF6 and there’s a nice little write-up here: https://brokencolormusic.com/review-lucky-star-band-the-family-grave/). Lucky Star Band are now working on another five songs of mine. We hope to release the full album this year and it is sounding amazing!