Americana Music Magazine – Bluegrass, Roots, Folk, Blues, and Old-Time
““It just feels like, it can’t be 20 years.” That’s what founding member, Danny Roberts said to me recently, when we sat down to chat about the 20 year anniversary of the Grascals.
“We’ve had some ups and downs, and a few member changes along the way, but it’s been a great ride this far. I just can’t I look back and think, ‘Wow, this 20 years has gone by so quickly.’ I’m just really looking forward to the next 20,” he laughed.
The beginnings of this band was magical. Danny shared that several of the guys from the original line-up were all hanging out at the Station Inn, in Nashville, back in the day, playing music together, and filling in with other musicians as needed. Jimmy Mattingly, Jamie Johnson, and Terry Eldridge, all eventual founding members, were there every week. “Jamie and Jimmy Mattingly got to talking about, ‘let’s put a band together,’ Danny recalled. “At that time, David Talbot was playing there too, and they wanted him to join. Jimmy and I grew up together, in Kentucky; played music as kids; but we hadn’t got to play together since we were younger,” he recalled.
“So when they started talking about who they wanted to get together, Jimmy said, I’d like to try out Danny, on mandolin. And then it was kind of unanimous. Everybody wanted Terry Smith, because they’d all work together with him. So we put this thing together, and it was just kind of like friends, hanging out, you know, having a good time doing music that we wanted to do.”
The guys went in the studio to work on their first record. They just happened to be in the same studio using the same engineer that Dolly Parton uses to do her records. He played some of their music for her, and she immediately knew she wanted to work with them.
Hello Dolly
“Dolly called Jimmy and said, ‘I want to go out and do a tour. I want to have you guys open the show, and be my band,’ Danny recalled. “That just opened so many doors for us. From that, we toured with her for about two years, opened for her, and then became her band. Then we did two or three different tours with Hank Jr. We’ve gotten to open so many country shows. It was so weird. You know, We’d ask the audience, ‘how many folks here have ever heard bluegrass?’ You know, you’re in arena with 15,000 people, and there’s not 100 people raise their hands. We’d always go out after the show and talk to people, and they would come up and say to us, ‘we don’t like bluegrass, but we like what you are doing.’ It was a great feeling.”
As the band continued to carve a name for themselves in the bluegrass world over the years, band members have come and gone; and as in the case of Jamie Johnson, come back again. “It’s still fun,” Danny told me. “In fact, we feel a renewed since of energy with Jamie back.”
Celebrating 20 With 13
What better timing now, than with the 20 year celebration of the band, that they just released a celebration album, simply titled, 20. (Which is actually album number 13.) Among the songs, is lead-off track, “Tennessee Hound Dog,” and “Georgia Pineywoods,” two Felice and Boudleaux Bryant-penned Osborne Brothers classics — a third remaining founder, singer/bassist Terry Smith is an alumnus of the Brothers’ band, and the group was often joined at early Station Inn appearances by Bobby Osborne — as well as a pair of ballads, “The First Step” and “Jenny,” that feature lush trio vocals throughout. Johnson’s “I Go,” written with Darren Nicholson, and “Pull The Trigger,” written with Shawn Camp, fall into the already-hits category alongside another Nicholson-contributed number, the John Bryan-led “Just Let Me Know.” Ringing new changes on the group’s well-established sound are the instrumental “12th & Pine,” co-authored by mandolinist Roberts and teen phenom Wyatt Ellis, the contemporary flavor of “Reflection” — written by Johnson, sung by Bryan — and a masterful take on Stephen McWhirter’s “Come Jesus Come” that providentially was recorded before the recent cover from gospel sensation CeCe Winans. There’s even a bluesy vocal contribution from new fiddler Jamie Harper, who takes on a “deep catalog,” typically whimsical selection from Country Hall of Famer Roger Miller.
So What’s Next?
“Right now, we’re just touring to support this record; very busy over the next couple of months, and just always excited,” Danny said. “We’re on the Grand Ole Opry again tomorrow night, and then following that, going up to JD Crow fest, after that, off to Sam jam, and then Scruggs festival, and so on. So as far as the future, we’re just going to keep plugging along and doing what we do and just see where it goes. Maybe it will be another 20.”