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photo by Jason Reiser
Dave Carter
August 13, 1952 - July 19, 2002
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Press Information & Reviews WASHINGTON POST Tracy Grammer At the Birchmere Tracy Grammer last played in Northern Virginia in July with Dave Carter. His death from a heart attack two days later, at age 49, might have been the end of a musical partnership that had made them rising stars of the folk circuit. But as Grammer and friends demonstrated in an emotional performance at the Birchmere on Sunday, the duo lives on. Grammer's mission is to keep Carter's songs alive. Aided by Donny Wright on bass, she revealed some of his unrecorded compositions, including the aching lost-love lament "Winter When He Goes" and the brooding, bayou-tinged "Shadows of Evangeline." She also appeased the crowd with old favorites such as the beatnik-country "Ordinary Town." Headliner Richard Shindell joined Grammer and Wright for several songs, including a stunning reading of "The Mountain" that featured a Sumerian chant (also written by Carter) sung in three-part harmony. Grammer later backed Shindell for much of his set. Carter's songs took on a new life with Grammer's clear, velvety voice. And when Wright sang lead on the nature hymn "Gentle Arms of Eden," the timbre of his voice, so similar to Carter's, raised goose bumps. The set might have been improved only if Grammer had had enough arms to simultaneously wield her violin, her mandolin and her guitar. But it was clear that, even playing solo, this keeper of the Carter flame is never alone onstage. MISSOULA INDEPENDENT Tracy Grammer keeps the troubadour dream alive Tracy Grammer is coming to save you. Armed with a few of the sassier members of the string family, and a voice as nuanced and strong as you could hope for, Grammer delivers the songs of the late Dave Carter with a supernatural force that funnels straight through your ear to the deep, deep center of your heart. With meticulous rhythm and lyrics as familiar as they are puzzling, these songs have an intellectual and emotional edge that most folk music fails to hone. They tell tales spun from an existential cowboy mindset, rife with the beauty of barren landscapes and an awareness of the yet untravelled miles of the soul. The inherent complexity of this music has its grounding in Carter’s lyrics but is carried to fruition by Grammer’s musicianship. Grammer and Carter performed together for over four years, racking up praise and accomplishments across the country. They were the number one most-played act on folk radio in 2001 and 2002, and Carter’s masterful lyricism has won numerous songwriting awards. Comparisons to Dylan and a reverence for the duo’s energizing blend of folk, country, blues and rock are ubiquitous in the reviews of their most recent album, Drum Hat Buddha. Carter, who passed away this past July, grew up in Oklahoma and Texas. His exposure to evangelism, shamanism and academic psychology is apparent in the ecstasy of phrases like “Street poets and vision miners, starry-eyed ambitious/Blew like pilgrim leaves through the sad café.” These are songs for the wayward traveler, the unrequited lover, and all the lonesome, wind-shaken, comforting places we call home. They’re songs about the regular stuff, rendered in the irregular way each of us experiences the world. Devoid of cliché, yet not obscure, the message Carter imparts is at once thought-provoking and blindly love-struck by life. Grammer, who is now on her first solo tour, will be playing the troubadour, bringing the true wisdom of the group’s “postmodern mythic American” musical landscape to the Crystal Theatre. As she says of the tour: “I have no choice but to go on singing, and to go on telling our story, on behalf of my brilliant partner, and on behalf of every dreamer who stumbles, as I did, upon a profound calling.” Born into a musical family, Grammer started her classical study of voice and violin at the age of nine. Despite much early success, her college years marked a departure from music, and it wasn’t until her father introduced her to Curtis Coleman and she was invited to play with him that she reawakened to musical performance. In the following years she became enamored with the process of making and delivering music, discovering “a language like no other; [music] is my channel of authenticity.” But it wasn’t until seeing Dave Carter perform in 1996 that she found her true musical path. Taken with the compassion and intelligence of his music, she soon found herself recording their first album together in her Portland kitchen, using the linoleum floor to its full acoustic advantage. Ever since then the results have been beautiful and honest in the way that only a linoleum floor can be. On her current tour, Grammer will be playing songs from the duo’s three albums (When I Go, 1998; Tanglewood Tree, 2000; and Drum Hat Buddha, 2001), as well as previously unrecorded material. Backed with this unique repertoire, Grammer is sure to shine. In the tune “Disappearing Man,” off Drum Hat Buddha, Grammer opens with a note so clear it makes your stomach drop; you’re on a roller coaster that gives no warning about the depths to which it will fall. In the Pop-ish “236-6132” Grammer’s voice and instrumental accompaniment bring a new integrity to the telephone number song. Undeterred by an indifferent love and bolstered by a certain swaggering confidence, she croons: “If I was afraid to break or bleed/I would find someone much easier to need/But when drifters’ dreams come true and when push comes ’round to shove/236-6132 is the number of my love.” As Carter once said, “If I can bring the magic of the deep
unconscious into the all-too-predictable realm of the daily grind,
well that’s like bringing water into the desert. I need this
to live fully; I suspect we all do.” Not only do we need
it, but we need it in the refreshing light, musically and lyrically,
that the duo has crafted, and will continue to craft through Grammer.
The music of Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer is a spiritual home,
just like their song “Gentle Arms of Eden” describes: “This
is my home, this is my only home/This is the only sacred ground
that I have ever known/And should I stray in the dark night alone/Rock
me goddess in the gentle arms of Eden.” from Jelly -http://www.jellyroll.com/2002/cartergrammer.html Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer Blue collar folk Dan Macintosh, 17 November 2002 A song called "Ordinary Town" kicks off Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer's second album Drum Hat Buddha. But this is one extraordinary album of passionately topical songs, which are anything but your parent's ordinary folk music. "He was a proud young fool in a kick-ass Walmart tie" is the crude lyrical couplet that introduces this tale of small town blues. Carter & Grammer write songs as relevant as the evening news, laid over mostly acoustic music. When Carter takes the vocal lead, their music adopts a blue collar Springsteen attitude. But when Grammer goes all melancholy on "Disappearing Man," she is the long lost American cousin to Linda Thompson. With its cello and violin accompaniment, "Disappearing Man" is cut from the same cloth as The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby." Carter can also be heard turning to his softer side on the spiritually tinged "Gentle Arms Of Eden." "236-6132" may be the best phone number song since "867-5309" (admittedly, that one's not really a great song at all). Carter & Grammer kick up a little bluegrass-like dust on this mandolin-powered love song. "I Go Like The Raven" skips along like a cross between a barn dance and a skiffle jam, and "Highway 80" has Carter playing the auctioneer in the same rapid paced delivery found on "Rock Island Line." Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer sing well, write well and never sound tied to the sometimes antiquated genre of folk music. Nope, this album ain't about ex-hippies crying in their beers while slumped over acoustic guitars. Rather it's a special place on the map where surprise guest musical styles cross paths with folk for an album filled with surprises. performers Dave Carter, vocals, guitar, banjo, harmonium, mandolin, organ; Tracy Grammer, vocals, violin, mandolin, guitar, percussion.; Claire Bard, backing vocals on "Disappearing Man"; Tim Darby, slide resonator guitar; Lorne Entress, drums and percussion; Nancy Ives, cello; Billy Oskay, violin, harmonium; Eric Park, accordion; Donny Wright, electric and acoustic bass production Produced by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, with assistance from Billy Oskay. songs Ordinary Town · Tillman Co. · Disappering Man · The Power and Glory · 236-6132 · 41 Thunderer · Gentle Arms of Eden · I Go Like the Raven · Highway 80 (She's a Mighty Good Road) · Love, the Magician · Merlin's Lament · Gentle Soldier of My Soul
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