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Composed

BMI’s database credits David Grisman with 298 published compositions and arrangements, including:

  • “Cedar Hill”
  • “Dawggy Mountain Breakdown”
  • “Dawg’s Waltz”
  • “EMD”
  • “Grateful Dawg”
  • “Happy Birthday, Bill Monroe”
  • “Old and in the Way” “Opus 57”
  • “Tipsy Gypsy”
  • “Waiting on Vassar”

Early Influences

  • Ralph Rinzler
  • New Lost City Ramblers
  • Bill Monroe
  • Frank Wakefield
  • Jesse McReynolds
  • Bobby Osborne
  • Jethro Burns

From the Archives

"Ralph Rinzler played me tapes of Doc he’d brought back from North Carolina. Ralph went down there to rediscover Clarence Ashley, and Ralph just happened to hear Doc. I met Doc when Ralph brought him north to play. Doc was the first professional musician to ever invite me onto a stage to play with him. I was about 16 years old; it was at Gerde’s Folk City and we did 'In The Pines' and a couple of similar style duet tunes."
Quoted by Dix Bruce in "David Grisman," Bluegrass Unlimited, February 1989.
"I don't really think about what this stuff costs. I figure there are certain releases we have that sell considerably more than others and they'll take up the slack, making the special projects affordable. Basically it's just time—I spend a lot of time with our art director; we're a good team, and I've got a lot of ideas. There's a few things I'd like to see in there, and why not do it? I've been making records since 1963, and I've always strived to do quality things. Usually, the record company is standing in my way, so now that I've got my own record company, there's nothing standing in the way. I figured I’d do it right, or try to do it right. I think people appreciate it."
Quoted by Tim Bond in "David Grisman: Covering All the Bases with Acoustic Disc," Bluegrass Now, July 1997.
“Great singers are born with their instruments; acoustic instrumentalists must choose them. How does one ‘select a voice’? As a novice bluegrass mandolinist in the early ’60s, I began to emulate my musical heroes: Ralph Rinzler, Frank Wakefield, and of course, the great tonal practitioner Bill Monroe. As I soon learned, they all played older Gibson F-5 models. Soon I was on my own path of tonal discovery . . . As I progressed on this journey, I became increasingly enamored with the sounds of these instruments, each with its own subtle differences and potential. At that time, terms like ‘vintage,’ ‘Lloyd Loar,’ and ‘herringbone,’ were not associated with the instruments; they were simply ‘used’ or ‘old’ . . . I loved them, their tone, feel, smell (probably more due to their musty cases), and vibe. I still do.”
From notes to Tone Poems—the Sounds of the Great Vintage Guitars & Mandolins, Acoustic Disc, 1994.
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