The music Ralph Graham sings in his silken baritone -- from Bocelli to the Beatles and Santana to Sinatra -- doesn't fit any particular genre.

Whether Graham sings Italian country, romantic soul, familiar cover songs or the music he writes, he makes the melody his own and connects with his audience. With Graham's comfortable yet passionate style, his interpretation is filled with emotion.

"When I sing I try to express what I feel -- the emotion of it all," said Graham of Ashland. "I take people where I go. Songs have to be emotional."

Andrea Nickerson, a fan who has been following Graham for several years, finds his style easy, smooth. "It has a nice tone and comes out of him like air," said Nickerson recently at Ken's Steak House in Framingham where Graham regularly appears.

Graham, whose voice evokes interest and intrigue, appears at The Rat Pack Cafe tonight at 7. His show is being billed as the "Ralph Graham Spring Dinner Concert."

Graham will predominately sing songs he wrote from his three albums, including his new CD, not yet named, as well as favorites from other artists.

Although canned music usually accompanies Graham, the talented Mark Rasmussen from Newport, R.I., will accompany Graham tonight on piano for part of the show.

The songs Graham writes are often about relationships.

"Good or bad, they always have a happy or positive ending so people can come away with a positive feeling about the song," said Graham. "They're not crying sad tears, but happy tears. Many times people don't know what moved them. It just moved them."

And sometimes Graham writes about naught as he did in "Song About Nothing." "With all the things going on in the world, the 'Song About Nothing,' is just a peaceful sunny song," said Graham. "There's no politics, no sad or depressing things. Just a song that came out of trying to figure something to write about but said everything in it."

Graham cleverly penned the lyrics that scatter and touch on a lot of topics. He takes no side, but makes a strong statement about how we put too much emphasis on what's not really important and not enough on what is.

"The only important thing," said Graham about his song, "is being happy living life and having some appreciation for what you have, rather than what you don't have."

Graham knows what's important to him. He wrote his first song when he was 6 years old. He's recorded for RCA, opened for Gladys Knight, Richard Pryor and Rich Little and also has an international following.

Although his career had been interrupted for 15 years after a family crisis, his passion for music is not deterred. The choice Graham made about raising his children, Chris, Adam and Mark, after his former wife died, tells something about the man who sings with emotion and pulls the audience into his emotional web.

When Graham sings Andrea Bocelli's "The Prayer," he feels it, although he does not understand Italian.

"It's not the lyrics that tear me apart, but the music and the emotion and where it goes," said the artist. "Musicians listen with a different ear. They hear things the average person doesn't."

And that's the only sound anyone hears when Graham speaks to the audience with his voice. The Ralph Graham Spring Dinner Concert at The Rat Pack Cafe, 50 Worcester Road, Framingham is tonight at 7. To order tickets for the three-course meal and concert for $39.50 per person (beverages, tax and tip not included), call the Rat Pack Cafe at 508-628-1842. Limited tickets are available and will be sold only prior to the concert.