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Grateful Dead: American Beauty: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
by Doug Collette
If it's true the Grateful Dead epitomize the counter culture of the Sixties, it's also true the iconic group embraced the following decade on its very own terms, at least at the outset of the period. Workingman's Dead (Warner Bros., 1970) represents an authoritative and confident statement of artistic purpose, while its companion piece, American Beauty (Warner Bros., 1970), is an even more staunch and exquisite declaration of style, one based on folk and country roots almost diametrically opposed to ...
Continue ReadingTommy "GCP" Emanuel & David "Dawg" Grisman: Pickin'
by Matt Hooke
Listening to Pickin' begs why it took so long for guitarist Tommy Emmanuel and mandolinist David Grisman to collaborate. The album is not a mere showcase for the duo's considerable technical abilities but is a showcase for Grisman's phenomenal songwriting. Grisman wrote every song on the album except the standard “Sweet Georgia Brown," and the Australian drinking song “Waltzing Matilda." The album has Grisman's “Dawg Music" style, a unique mix of bluegrass, jazz, and folk, flowing through its veins. Emmanuel, ...
Continue ReadingDavid Grisman Sextet at Chautauqua Auditorium
by Geoff Anderson
David Grisman Sextet Chautauqua Auditorium Boulder, Colorado August 12, 2016 Wag More, Bark Less. That's a popular bumper sticker, but it could also be a theme, a motto, a catch phrase or even the guiding philosophy for the David Grisman Sextet whenever it unleashes its very own “Dawg Music." Friday night at the Chautauqua auditorium in Boulder, there was no barking. And if the musicians had been lucky enough to have tails, the wagging would ...
Continue ReadingDel & Dawg at the Ryman Auditorium
by William Levine
Del & Dawg Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN June 30, 2016 When the old-school country DJ Eddie Stubbs introduced the concert's starring duo, he acknowledged the lack of a suitable category, especially for David Grisman's career, which from the beginning grew well beyond classic bluegrass mandolin and steadily embraced jazz, rock, and folk styles. “Americana" is a rather bland, excessively broad marketing term, and “acoustic contemporary," besides sounding badly dated these days, seems ...
Continue ReadingDavid Grisman & Denny Zeitlin: New River
by David Adler
This set features two eclectic Californians, mandolinist David Grisman and pianist Denny Zeitlin, in a lively and unusual duo setting. The contrast between mandolin and piano couldn’t be greater, of course. Zeitlin’s orchestral playing, with its expansive timbral range and resonating low end, does most of the heavy lifting. Grisman’s instrument has its inherent limitations — tiny neck, circumscribed harmonic capacity, somewhat tinny sound. But Grisman is a master at wringing the unexpected from those eight strings. Not only does ...
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