Tracy Grammer Set To Blaze Her Own Path in Living Tradition Show

By John Roos

Singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Tracy Grammer has reason to rejoice.

With the exception of her cover of Kate Bush’s “Cloudbusting,” the songs on her breakthrough new release, “Low Tide,” are all originals. It’s a remarkable collection of very personal story-songs with topics ranging from love and loss to hope, resiliency and redemption. It has reaped critical praise like a 4-star rating and this declaration from music writer Melanie Glass in Maverick Magazine: “This (album) should elevate the artist to greater things.”

Indeed. Yet the thing is, the Massachusetts-based Grammer is no overnight success story. She has overcome numerous obstacles—some even self-imposed—to reach this defining stage in her career.

Grammer’s musical identity has long been tied to contemporary folk singer-songwriter Dave Carter as half the Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer duo, a short-lived but highly-successful collaboration that toured and yielded a trifecta of terrific albums: 1998’s “When I Go,” 1999’s “Tanglewood Tree” and 2000’s “Drum Hat Buddha.” In 2002, the duo’s profile was elevated further when they were heralded as the new "voice of modern folk music" and opened for and then played alongside folk legend Joan Baez on her national tour.

Only tragedy struck on July 19, 2002 when the Oxnard-born Carter suffered a fatal heart attack while on tour in Hadley, MA and died at age 49. Grammer, 34 at the time, was devastated by his sudden death.

A couple of years later as part of the healing process, Grammer paid tribute to Carter with “The Verdant Mile,” her songwriting debut featuring these wistful lyrics: “And so I walk this verdant mile of memory with you/the gentle arms of Eden and the mountain get me through.” (Note: “The Verdant Mile” is reprised on “Low Tide.”)

Grammer in 2011 established The Dave Carter Legacy Project, which is dedicated to the preservation, promotion and engagement of Carter’s work for present and future generations. Among the project’s initiatives are creating an interactive online presence and thorough digital archive of all print, photographic and audiovisual materials in the collection. (Go to www.tracygrammer.com/dave-carter-legacy-project.html)

Grammer eloquently sings and plays the acoustic guitar, violin, viola, glockenspiel, tambourine and percussion but with the exception of her “The Verdant Mile” song and now “Low Tide” album, Grammer was an interpreter of songs written mostly by Carter. Four albums by the duo have been released since Carter's untimely death, and Grammer has also released over the years four solo recordings, some of which have included previously unreleased songs written by Carter.

It wasn’t until about five years ago that Grammer knew the time was finally right to emerge from her former partner’s shadow.

“It’s been tricky because I never really got into this business to be a singer-songwriter on my own,” said Grammer by phone recently from a Portland, Oregon tour stop. “But in 2013, I knew I had to move in a different direction. I was in the midst of several personal crises, including a failing engagement, a bunch of people I loved were hooked on drugs, my dad had just passed away, and my booking agency had dropped me. I was feeling pretty miserable and kicked down.”

“The whole engagement experience was a real eye-opener,” she continued. “I’d be out on a date with my fiancé and then I’d go onstage and start talking about this dead guy, so it was really hard for him to feel like he was my number one. So with that failure, I had to look hard at what I was doing. I realized that Dave’s legacy had traction now so I didn’t have to hold on so tightly. I could let go after 10 years and that was a magical moment for me.”

The other pivotal point in Grammer’s artistic leap forward came in 2014 when she joined the Real Women/Real Songs (RWRS) project. The brainchild of songwriter Cary Cooper, RWRS challenged each writer to come up with one song per week, with the expectation that producing a large quantity of material quickly will help them move past their inner editors toward a sustained, and sustainable, writing practice.

For Grammer, the RWRS experience not only provided her with self-confidence but also produced 15 very good songs, including a half-dozen she recorded for “Low Tide,” among them “Daffodil Days,” “Hole,” “Mercy,” and the emotionally raw “Good Life,” the latter dedicated to her father and written from his point of view. Sample lyric: “Let it all go now and wipe it all clean/Ain’t no time for regret in the great in-between/It was a hell of a ride and I wish I had known/You can worry, you can wander, but we’re all just goin’ home.”

“I wrote these things when I had so much crap going in my personal life that it was perfect fodder for the songwriting process,” says Grammer with a sense of both relief and accomplishment. “The writing and recording process scorched me from the inside out . . . . I asked myself, ‘Who am I outside of the Dave and Tracy story, and have I lost precious years?’”

Grammer’s clearly conflicted feelings about the Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer experience run deep. It’s like being part of something very special and unique while trying not to be enslaved by it.

“It has been a blessing and a curse . . . . . a feeling like, 'Who am I without my tragedy?’ - and that’s something I still can’t really answer,” she says. “I admit that I haven’t made things any easier by starting the Dave Carter Legacy Project and making that my centerpiece for far too long. It is a huge honor to have worked with him . . . HUGE. But now, so many years later, I’m trying to figure out who I am by myself.”

As Grammer anticipates this seismic shift, her focus and determination are unwavering. And she can exhale and even smile now because although she may not realize it, not yet anyway, “Low Tide” is her own musical vision and statement. It truly is her voice and rightful claim to independence.

“My story is about the forces that pull you forward and, when you think the ground beneath your feet is gone, you then find out that it’s not,” she suggests. “I wouldn’t be here without the partnership with Dave but it does finally feel different. I’m hungrier now that I’ve got a taste of this creative expansion and personal growth. Time feels more urgent now and I’m wondering what else do I have in me?”

*The Living Tradition Music Series presents Tracy Grammer plus openers Claudia Russell & Bruce Kaplan Saturday at the Downtown Community Center, 250 E. Center St., Anaheim, 7:30 p.m. (714) 997-8590. $18 per person ($15 with Living Tradition membership discount). Children under 18 FREE with paid adult. www.thelivingtradition.org.