Lia Graham Kills Us Softly With Debut Release Small House

Aside from indie idols like Faye Webster and Emma Proulx from Men I Trust, few artists wield a voice soft enough to wrap the listener up like a warm quilt, but Fort Worth singer-songwriter Lia Graham has made herself at home in this intimate niche.

“I've always been a very quiet person, and I've always had people tell me ‘You should sing louder, you should talk louder,’” she says. “I'm over it.”

Graham embraces vulnerability in her music, both in sound and substance. The songs from her debut EP, Small House, are tender enough to have been ripped from a diary and exude a relaxed familiarity, like a conversation between close friends.

“Honestly, I want to put more [of myself] out there,” she says. “I feel like there's always more I can put on the line, which is kind of crazy. I do think these songs are very vulnerable; I wrote them at a time when I was alone and moving to a new city, so I think they are and will always be a part of that journey and something I can look back at.”

The 22-year-old from Texarkana has been creating original songs ever since she received a ukulele for her 8th birthday. She steadily taught herself to play, began writing lyrics and taking guitar lessons shortly after.

“I've always been a writer, whether that was short stories or poetry, but I feel like songwriting is different,” Graham says. “I'm able to express my emotions so much easier than any other form of writing or art.”

After high school, Graham moved to Denton to study for her teaching certification at the University of North Texas. There, she made friends who encouraged her to start producing music. She loved the city for its diverse, artsy culture but started feeling stuck after graduating.

“I was there for three years, and then I hit a wall and decided I needed a change of pace,” she says. “I decided that Fort Worth was going to be the place. I packed up my stuff and moved out here, away from my friends and family. It was a hard change and a hard decision, but I'm on the other side of it, and I'm comfortable with the decision I made. I think it was the right decision in the end.”

Between local gigs and open mics, it didn’t take long for Graham to ingrain herself in Fort Worth’s music scene.

“Whenever I got here in August, I was asked to play at the Fort Worth Songwriting Festival,” Graham says. “That was my first introduction to the Fort Worth music scene. I met a lot of really awesome people that I still talk to and keep up with.”

“From The Ground” was released later that month and introduced Graham’s gentle voice over dry drums, an upbeat acoustic guitar and bright keys. The full Small House EP came out in January with four more tracks to round out a relaxing but brief 20-minute runtime.

“I started writing the songs back in April, so it feels kind of surreal to have them out in the world for people to listen to now,” she says.

“Thoughts” marches forward at a steady pace with a repetitive acoustic riff and warm, gentle keys from Kyle Lawson as Graham hums along and gingerly narrates the end of a relationship. The energy shift going into “Take Five’s” chorus is one of those breathtakingly satisfying musical moments — after a beat of stillness, heavy keys enter over a low bass from Chris Pitts that contrasts nicely with Graham’s higher vocals.

“Take five / Take five minutes / Take five breaths / Take five years,” she sings. “Where is the music? / Where is the moment / That would feel like a movie? / Where is the happy ending? / Could you rewind it?”

Graham gives her most serene vocal performance on “When,” a song about growing pains and moving on. In one of the song’s quieter moments, the clusters of far-off scattered keys and strings peek through the silence to accent Graham’s calm, soothing voice. The record’s closer, “Bug Bites,” is barebones — just Graham and a guitar — which proves to be a killer combo.

“I think “Bug Bites” kind of grew on me more and more,” she says. “It's a song about missing your childhood self and your innocence. After I recorded it at the studio, I went back and listened with [producer] Guillermo [Murillo] and I started crying because I realized that I was achieving these dreams and goals of mine that I had not even known I would get to. As a kid, I was very quiet and I didn't want to share my songs or sing in front of anybody, and for me to step outside of my box and finally do that, it kind of hit me in that moment.”

2025 is already shaping up to be a record year for Graham. With her first EP out of her hands, she’s been diligently working on tracks for future releases. She’s also playing at Songwriters Night at The Cicada on Feb. 20 and opening for Ashes and Arrows at Ferris Wheelers on Mar. 1.

“I'm constantly writing stuff, and I have so many songs,” she says. “So, I don't know which ones will stay and which ones will go. I'm hoping to put out a few singles and maybe another EP [this year].”

But to set the record straight, just because Graham thrives in tranquility doesn’t mean she’s confined to it. There’s a time and place to be loud, after all, and Graham’s is quickly approaching.

“There are so many singers that are successful that have soft, quiet voices and I'm very inspired by them because they know their voice and how to make it sound good,” Graham says. “That being said, I do know I have the capability to be loud and sing loud, it's just a matter of writing those songs that are loud.

“I have a few in the works that could be those,” Graham says smugly, hinting at a future release. “I think my voice just naturally has this soft tone to it.”