Americana duo Doug and Alyssa Graham (The Grahams) released their second studio album Glory Bound back in May. On that record is a song called “Gambling Girl”, which as it turns out is a wonderful woman’s response to the classic American traditional “Delia”, on which Alyssa turns the table on the classic story. They’ve just completed a video for the track, one that puts the great Jane Russell in the title role.
“This song, originally titled, ‘Delia’s Back’, is a response to the traditional blues song ‘Delia’, which has two main variants, the country blues variant exemplified by Blind Willie McTell and the straight up country variant exemplified by Johnny Cash,” Alyssa explains. “The story varies in differing versions, but in all of them Delia is killed by her man, who narrates the tale. It seemed unfair to us that Delia didn’t get to tell her side of the story. So, Doug, Bryan & I got to thinking, what if Delia didn’t die? What if she just went underground, and spent decades hiding out, and decided to emerge to tell her story? When bringing to life this storyline in a music video there was only one woman who could embody the legend, beauty and strength of Delia and that was, Outlaw actress Jane Russell. A true Hollywood bombshell and badass. ‘Gambling Girl’, as portrayed by Jane Russell, reminds us that Delia may be gone but her spirit lives on in badass women everywhere!”