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Rogue's Gallery
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New Reviews
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"Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys" Produced by Hal Willner and Johnny Depp to accompany the movie, "Pirates of The
Caribbean 2"
If the new “Pirates of the Caribbean” film has any associative power, this may
finally be the public moment for Baby Gramps, an eccentric, seemingly very old
(though nobody seems to knows how old) singer and steel-guitar player based in
Seattle, with a voice like Popeye after smoking an entire tin of Prince Albert.
His performances on “Rogue’s Gallery” (Anti), a two-disc set of sea chanteys
produced by Hal Willner, are among the album’s best, and that’s saying a lot:
among the other contributors are Sting, Lou Reed, Lucinda Williams, Bono, a
gravel-voiced Bryan Ferry, a midnight-voiced Nick Cave, a twee Van Dyke Parks
and Bill Frisell with a beautiful guitar track. Chanteys are durable songs, and
this turns out to be a strong album with heart as well as ideas: the conscious
weirdness doesn’t render it inconsequential.
THE NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW, "New Albums From Ray Barretto, M.
Ward and Baby Gramps"
by Ben Ratlif; August 20, 2006
- Review of the
CD, "Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys"
A deep original with a rooting in blues, …a fondness for folk and pop novelties of every description, a fascination
with word games, …and his own throat singing and National steel (guitar) techniques… If you feel like being amazed,
he’s a better bet than most.
~ Robert Christgau, VILLAGE VOICE
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Baby Gramps performed on The Late Show with David Letterman Aug. 28,
2006 backed up by Tony Garnier (Bob Dylan's band leader and bass player),
The Akron Family, and Jason Krekel from “The Mad Tea Party”. He was promoting the "Rogues Gallery; Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys"
CD that was produced by Johnny Depp and Hal Willner in connection with the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. He has two songs on the
CD, the very first song, and the only original. On the CD he is backed up by Bill Frisell, Phillip Morgan from The Cutters, and The
Akron Family. Some of the other performers on the CD are Bono, Sting, Bob Neuwirth, Bryan Ferry, Bill Frisell, Martin Carthy, Richard
Thompson, Nick Cave, Loudon Wainwright III, Rufus Wainwright & Kate McGarrigle, Lucinda Williams, Three Pruned Men, and Lou Reed.
Baby Gramps rehearsing on the Late Show with David Letterman, August 2006
Baby Gramps finger picks an old steel national guitar and sings in a wild, extemporaneous gravel vocal
style with phenomenal vocal rhythmic improves and a guitar technique that borders on early ragtime.
He combines early jazz, blues, ragtime, and good-time novelty music… Most important for Gramps is not
his obvious musical genius, but the ability for having fun; and this is all pure delight… This is one
of the most important recordings of this decade and hopefully the beginning of a series of recordings to
document and expose this most amazing creator, performer, and humorist to ever grace a concert hall or
festival stage…
~ Chris Lunn, VICTORY MUSIC REVIEW
Disclaimer about pictures and material within.
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W
elcome to Baby Gramps.com
If you are looking for Gramps's CDs, Videos, or DVDs, then click here.
A Calendar of up coming shows, events and tours can be found
here. Don't forget to check out the Photo Gallery
here or sign Gramps's guest book here.
Reviews of Gramps can be found on the Reviews page here.
Baby Gramps
is an amazing amalgamation of everything that anybody’s ever heard including Mississippi John Hurt,
Uncle Dave Macon, Charlie Patton, Blind Blake, Captain Beefheart, the Tuvan Throat Singers and Popeye.
Baby Gramps has created a highly developed and completely original musical concoction that is easily the most
intriguing synthesis to come out of the roots revival of the late 20th Century. He plays beautifully “betwixt
the cracks in the piano” a la Ornette Coleman, can scat the blues three notes at once, and has invented his own guitar
technique he calls “scribbling”. Gramps does amazing tricks with timing, timbre, tempo and pitch that no one can
hope to imitate, and reinvents himself nightly, never performing a song the same way twice. Jazz buffs will want to compare the two takes of “Nuthin’”
we’ve included on this disc (Same 'Ol Timelously) with the one you hear next time you see
Gramps live. I call it jazz, because that’s what it is.
~ Glenn Howard, American Musical Heritage Foundation
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