Gavin Degraw - Chariot CDs • Vinyl Records • LPs • Music Albums

as the well-written "Overrated," a churning rocker where DeGraw goes straight for the gut. He is unafraid, as he sings, to risk obviousness.

JAMES HUNTER
(RS 929, August 21, 2003)

DeGraw's debut record shows the new school singer-songwriter has much more to offer than the theme song to WB's One Tree Hill. The main purpose of this music may be for alternative teens to have something on when they make-out with each other but there's nothing wrong with that, especially when the arrangements rock as much as these do.

Artists often introduce half-finished songs on tour, but with repeated play the tracks start growing into their own. After performing material from 2003's Chariot (disc one), DeGraw re-recorded a new version of the album (disc two) in a live studio setting, and the songs really shine when they're pared down. Includes a cover of Sam Cooke's "Change Is Gonna Come.