Stripped Down Americana

British-American national, Alternative Country singer, Gram Phillips, who mostly performs as Tupelo Lime, loves to sing what he calls “stripped down Americana.” Gram got his musical exposure hanging out in the San Francisco punk music scene in the 70s and 80s, listening to groups like Flipper, MDC, and Negative Trend. But it was two years in the Trinity mountain region of California that led him to discover the acoustic musical blends of country, folk and blues. “It was real, real, acoustic music, being made by real people – and I fell in love all over again,” Gram recalled.

That experience encouraged Gram to go for a “wander,” as he called it, which he did, all around Europe, the Middle East, and Central America. He gathered sounds, and art, and inspiration that would lead him to create his own blend of acoustic music.

“I’m not one of these guys that picked up the guitar at the age of three and thought, ‘wow, this is what I want to do,” Gram reflected. “I have an English father and an American mother. As soon as I graduated high school and was able, I headed over to the United States. It was really that whole community of do-it-yourself artists that inspired me to pursue my own career.”

“I spent a long time traveling and listening to music, trying to really understand what was out there, and how I wanted to create it, and figuring out what it was that I wanted to do. I came late to the idea of being a professional musician, but I spent a long time in that apprenticeship process,” Gram said.

“Then this Alt. Country movement came along, and for me, that was the moment of revelation, or redemption. That was the time when I said, ‘Okay, this is how you express yourself,’ and then at that point I decided to make music a career.”

Gram has been releasing his latest music as singles, including the recent, “The Orange Rain.” Three Chords Country Music blog wrote, “The Orange Rain is gritty and haunting, a song that gets under your skin in a very good way.”

Check out Gram’s page here. And listen to the expanded Profiles interview here.