Tia McGraff Unveils “Two Wolves (Remix)” Inspired by Cherokee Legend, Ahead of New Album, With A Friend
Simcoe, Ontario-based Canadian folk singer-songwriter Tia McGraff, alongside her husband and musical partner Tommy Parham, releases “Two Wolves (Remix)” out now, the lead single from their upcoming album, With a Friend, arriving October 31 on Bandana Records. The song draws its title and its message from the well-known Cherokee legend of a grandfather teaching his grandson about the two wolves that live inside every person, one full of anger, the other full of compassion, and the lesson that whichever wolf wins is simply the one you feed.
McGraff and Parham wrote “Two Wolves” together one afternoon on their sunporch, moved enough by the legend’s message that the song came together almost immediately. Parham, who is of Shoshone and Ute descent, felt a personal pull toward the story’s themes, and the couple recorded the track at home before inviting friends from Six Nations to contribute Mohawk flute, vocables, and hand drum to the finished recording.
Their friends’ performance was so striking that McGraff and Parham let a three-minute song stretch past four minutes to make room for it, rather than cut a single note.
The song opens with the grandson’s question, “Grandfather, Chief of the proud Cherokee, you are much older and wiser than me,” building toward the grandfather’s answer and the line that has become the song’s heart: “You ask which wolf will win? It’s the one that you feed.” Simple as that message is, it has made “Two Wolves” the most requested song in McGraff and Parham’s catalogue, one they have performed on stages around the world, closing every show by inviting the audience to join them in singing the closing vocable chant together.
“Two Wolves” was written by McGraff and Parham and produced by the pair, recorded with hand drum by Dawn Antone, percussion from Kevin Fisher and Jon DeBathe, wood flute and rattle by Sakoieta Widrick, bass guitar by Spady Brannon, acoustic and Telecaster electric guitar by Parham, and additional electric guitars by Pat Buchanan, with vocal chant performed by Antone, Widrick, Jocelyn Antone and Parham. The original track was mixed by Ted Willey and Parham, with this new version remixed and mastered by Kevin Fisher. The song has also found its way into McGraff’s children’s book, ‘Jake the Road Dawg,’ carrying its message to an entirely different generation of listeners.
McGraff is one of Canada’s most decorated contemporary folk artists, a singer-songwriter of Transylvanian and Scot descent with more than ten internationally released albums, co-writing credits alongside Randy Bachman, Dan Hill and Andrew Gold, songs published through Anne Murray’s publishing house, and a recent induction into the Norfolk Music Hall of Fame. She met Parham, a Colorado native who moved to Nashville with a full staff writing deal already in hand, and whose song “Rocks You Can’t Move” became a top ten hit for Lee Greenwood, and the two have been musical and life partners ever since. After Tia’s mother’s health prompted a move back to Lake Erie, Ontario, the couple has continued to tour internationally, playing main stage festivals, intimate concert venues and house concerts across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, earning comparisons to a modern-day Johnny Cash and June Carter along the way.
With “Two Wolves” out now and With a Friend arriving October 31, McGraff and Parham bring the song’s message to audiences across Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia throughout the remainder of the year.
Hi, Tia! Good to meet you! Care to introduce yourself to readers who aren’t familiar with your music?
Greetings from beautiful Simcoe, ON. Thank you for the opportunity to share my songs and story with Canadian Beats. I am a multi-award-winning, indie, Inspirational Folk singer-songwriter. I grew up along the shore of Lake Erie, ON, and began my professional singing career at 19, when I won the Canadian Open Country Singing Contest. I have written and recorded with notables, Randy Bachman, Dan Hill, Andrew Gold, Mark Slaughter, and my favorite co-writer, my husband, tunesmith Tommy Parham from Colorado. Tommy and I met shortly after I had moved to Nashville. His publisher introduced us; we started writing together and broke our rule of “never date your co-writer.” I’m happy to say that some rules are meant to be broken. We’ve been married for twenty years, have toured the world making our music, and are now based in Ontario.
“Two Wolves” has become the most requested song in your catalogue. Why do you think this particular message has connected so deeply with audiences over the years?
Tommy is of Native American descent, and when we were first introduced to the Cherokee Legend about the tale of Two Wolves, he turned to me and said, “That is an important message. I want to write that song.” He thoughtfully composed this haunting, rhythmic melody, and I needed to take the existing story and translate it into song lyrics. The message about the inner struggle each of us faces in making good choices rings true for everyone. We have a beautiful vocable chant at the end of the song that Tommy sings. Our audiences always join in, and it’s a highlight of our concert.
You and Tommy wrote the song very quickly after being moved by the story. Do songs that arrive that fast feel different to you than songs you have to wrestle with for weeks or months?
That’s a great question. Thank you for asking that. I believe that every great song idea has a life of its own, arrives when it wants to be written, but requires us as songwriters to be creatively available to write it into the universe. Recorded and performed, even. I’ve written songs that have only taken half an hour. Some live inside me for a while before I’m ready to write them. Then, there are those that are so far ahead of their time- the message or whatever- that we write and record them, but don’t release them. I’ve just had the amazing experience of digging through my older Nashville demos and discovering jewels that I’d written years ago but never did anything with. But wouldn’t you know it, they fit perfectly with the album I’m working on right now. So we’re dusting them off, re-recording them, and can’t wait to share them with the world.
The central idea — that the wolf you feed is the one that grows stronger — is very simple, but it can apply to almost every part of life. Has the meaning of that line changed for you personally as you’ve gotten older?
Absolutely! That is the remarkable beauty of the Cherokee Legend’s message. The story is told by a grandson talking with his grandfather about the inner struggles he’s having growing up. But aren’t we always learning and growing, facing inner struggles, and making choices between right and wrong? I know I am, every day. I even feel that something as simple as whether to embrace AI is an inner struggle. It’s here, and there’s no denying its efficiency and convenience. But I’m choosing to use it as a tool in my toolkit, not a crutch. Not in my songwriting or recording, or my kids’ books, but we’re carefully using AI to help create our videos and promotional materials. We can not risk losing our sense of humanity and connection with this stuff, though. It’s too easy for people to cut themselves off from emotional commitments. Relationships take work. They’re difficult, complicated, and messy. But that’s what separates us from computers and robots. We bleed. We need. We feel. That’s what songwriting does. It connects the deepest human need within all of us. The need to feel connected. Not alone.
Why did “Two Wolves” feel like the right song to revisit and remix now, especially as the first introduction to With a Friend?
I go back to the message within the story and the song. In this crazy world of choices and constant decisions to be made, we need to hold ourselves accountable to our inner space. With a Friend is an album about relationships, friendships, and the journey. Two Wolves tells that story. It begins with the relationship between one’s own higher self and self-sabotage. We have to be our own best friend to survive and be alive. To be able to trust ourselves, like ourselves, and value our self-worth. I think kids from 1-100 can find comfort and power in that message.
Upcoming Shows:
September 6, Indigo Stoney Creek, Stoney Creek, ON, In Your Dreams Jake book launch
September 12, Chinguacousy Park, Brampton, ON, MADD Annual Candlelight Vigil
September 19, Coles Book Store, Stratford, ON, Adopt a School Event
September 20, Global Pet Foods, Simcoe, ON
September 27, Parkhill Artisan Collective, Parkhill, ON
October 3, Royal Botanical Gardens, Hendrie Park, Burlington, ON, Telling Tales Festival
October 14, Indigo Fredericton, NB
October 15, Shoebox Cantina, New Glasgow, NS
October 16, Murray Family Public Library, Pictou, NS
October 17, Dartmouth Public Library, Dartmouth, NS
October 17, Keshen Goodman Library, Halifax, NS
October 17, Blind Dog House Concerts, Tantallon, NS
October 18, Central Public Library, Halifax, NS
October 24, West Flamboro Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, ON
October 31, Indigo Conestoga Mall, Kitchener, ON
November 5, Holy Trinity Catholic High School, Simcoe, ON, Norfolk Music Hall of Fame
November 15, Brucefield Community United Church, Brucefield, ON
November 22, Delhi United Church, Delhi, ON
December 12, Woodhouse United Church, Simcoe, ON, Annual Christmas Concert
December 13, Ruthven Park, Cayuga, ON
December 20, Niagara Falls Public Library, Niagara Falls, ON