Graham Colton is the everyman, the hometown hero and the “boy next door.” Simultaneously existing as both famous musician and average Joe, Graham somehow manages to divide time between a revitalized music career, a newly officiated romance and throngs of adoring fans – and he does it with a complete lack of pretense. After dating Kelly Clarkson, calling Adam Duritz, Howie Day and members of the Gin Blossoms friends and being a teen heartthrob, the fact that he remains genuine – let alone grounded – is a feat in and of itself.

A good ole’ boy from Oklahoma, Graham grew up like every high school guy wants to – as the quarterback. It’s even more impressive in his case because he taught Wes Welker (who now plays for the Patriots) to catch footballs. Musically, what started as a general ambivalence towards grunge eventually evolved into the passion he has now when he heard “Wonderwall” on a class field trip. “All of a sudden acoustic guitar made sense. I don’t have to do pick-y. It was extreme more than words.”

Post grunge was the “Holy shit!” moment for Graham because it made everything make sense. After his first cd – Counting Crow’s “August and Everything After,” a trip to see Bush front row with seven of his friends and skipping his prom to see the Wallflowers in Stillwater, Graham was set on a path that would introduce him to millions of fans everywhere. Until that happened, he was busy soaking up 90’s post grunge like it was a career choice. As a child of 90’s post grunge myself, I thought it’d be only fair to test him.

The game involved successfully naming three hits from the 90’s, but there was a catch. Graham would only get to hear five seconds of each song and I got to choose which five seconds they were. For the record, he was completely unaware this was happening. Since there were prizes though, he agreed to participate. The three songs were Eve 6 “Promise,” Counting Crows “Hanginaround” and Bush “Glycerine.” Not only did he name all of them within three seconds, he proceeded to sing the next few measures just cause. Color us impressed. Now back to super stardom.

Sitting in the green room of Lincoln Hall, he describes his love of the capitol of the Midwest. Just close enough to Oklahoma to hold a special place in his heart (YouTube “Graham Colton Invitation”), he holds Schubas (and Lincoln Hall) in high esteem because he likes venues that have their own fans. Along with being a fan of the city he feels is one of the last vestiges of a real music scene, he’s been known to enjoy Giordano’s pizza from time to time (a friend brought him some earlier). Now back to super stardom.

The first leg of his journey culminated with his track “Best Days” becoming the de-facto anthem for American Idol and being named iTunes single of the week. There was also the late night talk show circuit, tours with John Mayer, Maroon Five, Train, Gavin DeGraw and just about every other important crooner of the last decade. He also toured with Vanessa Carlton and Kelly Clarkson, who he dated. Naturally, we forced him to weigh in on the two ladies.

Before we get there though, we need to inform you that Graham got a decent amount of shit in the comments section on a huge video site about a previous interview where he apparently said “negative things” about her. This is bullshit and as you know, the Internet is filled with trolls. Graham has nothing but nice things to say about both of the ladies we have pit against each other. He knew Kelly better, but they’re both tremendous people. While the super stardom was awesome, they didn’t really have much in common. His time with the wonderful, beautiful Clarkson affected him personally and musically and – in a way – “it was like summer camp.” There you have it Internet; Graham Colton literally is one of the nicest, most genuine people on the planet.

It was around this time that I straight up asked Graham what it felt like to be a teen heartthrob. Based on the chiseled jaw, the GQ stubble, the acoustic love songs, the way he dresses and the fact that you could, quite literally, describe him as a crooner, I defy you not to draw the same conclusion. After chuckling (he doesn’t deny it), he comments that he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as the handsome, cute guy. He doesn’t want to be coined; doesn’t want to be Pacey from Dawson’s Creek. He’s all about striking a balance between Tiger Beat and irrelevance. Which, we later determined, is Senior Citizen’s Digest (“Hey, it worked for John Mayer and Jason Mraz.”). Right when we were about to dismiss the whole heartthrob thing (after a few more comments about Dawson’s Creek of course), the interview gets crashed (I say this in the best way possible) by an adoring teen fan and her mother.

We’ve been talking for about an hour now and even though I feel like I have an accurate perspective about everything that is Graham Colton, this fortuitous event is really the climax to the interview. He could have sent her away, or not signed her cd, or not talked to her mother, but none of that happened. Like a childhood friend you haven’t seen in years, Graham connected with this fan on a level that I don’t think I’ve seen an artist do. There are artists that you can connect to musically, but he connects with people’s humanity too. Apparently he’s been talking to her on Twitter (Yes, he does all his own social networking.) for quite some time and she’s one of his biggest fans. Never once – not ONCE – does Graham ask her to leave. After politely excusing themselves, Graham smirks and I realize the “I told you so” isn’t necessary.

A character the caliber of Graham’s is something normally only seen in fairy tales. He’s been injecting that heroic blend of honesty, integrity and vulnerability into his music since the beginning. He’s doing what he loves and he’s going to be honest about it. He knows what his niche is and he’s going to put his stamp on it. “Don’t be contrived. Put your cards on the table.” Equal parts self-improvement and “Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey,” Graham is just as much American Idol as he is big brother. It may sound sappy, but spend ten minutes with the guy and you’ll feel the same.

DATE: Friday, February 11 2011
PHOTOS BY: Brendan Shanley ( @lostinprint )
WORDS BY: Ben Dahl ( @CobaltInfinity )

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