Q&A with David Grier

Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with flat picking guitar guru David Grier about finally releasing an album he recorded in 1998 and why he's excited about performing with his new bluegrass-centered All Stars group.

Casey Phillips: You're the studio. What are you guys working on now?

David Grier: guys is just me and my buddy Brent Truitt. He produced my last record, and he has recorded a bunch of my records. He and I are good buddies. We were good buddies before we went in the studio.

He and I are working on this record I recorded in 1998 that I never put out and I'm getting ready to put out. (Laughs.) That's what I've been up to. It's an old-time record, which is a big departure from what I did on my last recording. (That record) was more produced. I played electric guitars and there's drums and pedal steel, and it was all my tunes. This one is mostly old time tunes. I arranged them and changed them around, but it's really the polar opposite.

CP: Why did you decide to revisit that project after so long?

DG: It was there. (Laughs.) I had paid for it, up to that point, and it wasn't earning any money just sitting in the vault. I listened to it again and though, "Man, this is pretty good." We worked on it to make it better, and now, we're doing the final little edits and mixes, and we'll master if probably Wednesday. I think the title is going to be "Fly on the Wall."

CP: Why that name?

DG: Just because you hear something and you think, "I wish I had been a fly on the wall to see that happen. I wish I had seen that go down," or "I wonder what they're like in the studio. I would have liked to have been there." Through the years, you hear that, so I thought, "Well, why not?"

CP: So is the editing process a little more transparent on the album? Will fans get a little bit of that insider perspective of what you're like in the studio?

DG: Yeah, somewhat. There's some talking and clowning around before some of the tunes and after some of the tunes. It's not a whole lot of talking, but there's some. It lets them in on a little flavor.

CP: Does old-time mean you're revisiting songs like "Angelina Baker" and "The Red-haired Boy?" Those kinds of tunes?

DG: No, I've recorded those before earlier. This is even further back. In fact, I didn't even know any of these tunes when we recorded them. That was cool. It was the fiddle player, James's repertoire. I just picked the tunes I felt like doing. I arranged them, and then, we recorded them. It was really cool. Really spontaneous and fun.

CP: Kind of a jam session atmosphere?

DG: A little bit. More structured than that, but yeah, it's got that looseness. It's not super structured, just some.

CP: You are such a prolific recorder. Do you have any other recording irons in the fire?

DG: I don't. I have a bunch of ideas. This is the one I'm working on, so it's got my full attention. I've got nothing else yet.

CP: When would you like to see it out?

DG: When I'm done. (Laughs.) The thing is, it's my record label, and I'm not much for deadlines. The last thing I want to do is put a deadline on myself, so whenever it's done and I've got the artwork, it will come out. It's been since 1998, so obviously, there's no rush.

CP: You were the first performer to play at Barking Legs Theater, where you're playing on Friday. What is it like to get a chance to come back to the place you broke in?

DG: Well, it's cool. I get along with the folks who run it, and the crowds are nice, and everybody is cool. What's not to like? You go down and play, and people give you applause every three or four minutes. It's a great job. Some people work for years and don't get a kind word, and here I am getting applause every three or four minutes. It's wonderful.

CP: You come from a background steeped in bluegrass with your father playing with Bill Monroe and your influence from Clarence and Roland White, yet your own music has ranged far and wide, stylistically.

DG: Yeah, it's bluegrass, but it's all music, and there's a connection between all that music, if you look hard enough or if you make it. Why say, "I'm only this" or "I'm only that?" Nobody is just one thing, whether they're a musician or an artist. I mean, if you paint with regular paint, you still sketch with a pencil, so are you a painter or are you a sketcher? (Laughs.) I don't know. I can't put in words very succinctly right now; I've only had one cup of coffee.

CP: So what drives you to test other musical waters with Psychograss and a wide-ranging solo career?

DG: I'm not in a bluegrass band, so while I love it and that's my roots, it's not what I really get to do with the majority of my time. I've had to fill my time otherwise. I've had a lot of other influences. I got a Telecaster when I was a teenager, so I started learning to play the electric guitar, and I was in a country rock band when I was 20 something - 21 maybe.

All these influences come together. I hear things differently, and I learn new chords and ways of playing the melody, and it all comes out one way or another. If it's good, that's what I judge it on. If I think it's good, well, then it's good. If it's not, then I don't play it for anybody. (Laughs.)

Why stop writing a tune if you start writing it and it sounds like a jazz tune? Would you stop just because it's not bluegrass and you see yourself as a bluegrass guitar player? Well, I wouldn't, if it's good.

Even if it's not, I try to finish it because I might discover something in the second half of the tune I didn't know how to do. That's what I do. I'm just looking for two notes that go together that I haven't found before.

That's what's going to be really cool about Chattanooga with this group because it's going to be purely bluegrass. We're not doing any original tunes. I've written over 50 of my own tunes, and we're not doing any of those or tunes by anybody else in the band. We're doing standards and songs that everybody will know.

We've got great singers, too. Stephen Mougin is a wonderful singer. Shad Cobb is an amazing singer. Those guys are great musicians, great players, but also great singers. We've got Jimmy Stewart, who is a great singer himself; he plays Dobro and played with Brooks and Dunn for years and years. Missy Raines is our bass player, and she has won a boatload of awards as bass player of the year. Then, there's me.

It's going to be good - nice and easy. Everybody is cool. We're getting together tomorrow for a little rehearsal to make sure we all remember what a G-chord looks like, and then we'll be down there.

We're doing a show right before it down towards Macon at the Juliette Opry. We've got those two dates.

We're all busy, so this is a rare thing to get all of us together to do a show, which is exciting for us, too, because it's something different that doesn't take a lot of effort. (Laughs.) We're musicians, so we're lazy, but it's going to be good.

We did one show about a month ago, and it was great. That's what made me think about doing these other things. Everyone was available and agreeable.

CP: Was that show a month ago the first time you've played together with this particular group of players?

DG: Yes. That was in a little place Granville, Tenn., at a general store. They have a radio show there.

CP: When you were putting this group together, why did you choose the players who are now in the lineup?

DG: Well, because they're great. I chose Stephen because I was looking for singing. I play instrumental music all the time - that's what I do - but I wanted something different. I had an opportunity, so I got on the phone. I tried to find people I could get along with and whose music I appreciate. This is the group that came out of it.

Upcoming Events