Stefan Grossman - Biography
By J Poet
Stefan Grossman, a student of the Reverend Gary Davis, is one of America’s best acoustic blues and folk guitar players. He is also a folklorist, song collector and educator. A prime mover in the early Greenwich Village folk and blues scene, Grossman eventually abandoned performing and concentrated on recording and teaching guitar. He has one of the most successful lines of guitar videos and DVDs in the world, with his own channel on YouTube. Since 2006 he’s been playing sporadic gigs, but most of his energy goes into his teaching and website guitarvideos.com.
Grossman, a Brooklyn native, started playing guitar at the age of nine. He took classical lessons for three years and learned to read music, but eventually he lost interest in the instrument. In 1960, like many other teenagers, he fell under the influence of the folk revival. He picked up the guitar and played along to records by Elizabeth Cotten, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins and Woody Guthrie and started lessons again, with the Rev. Gary Davis. The two became friends and Grossman began recording his ten hour marathon lessons with Davis. He also transcribed his lessons with his own tablature to capture the idiosyncrasies of Davis’s bluesy ragtime syncopations. He also delved into the music of Big Bill Broonzy, Brownie McGhee and Lightnin’ Hopkins and started collecting 78 rpm blues records. He met other collectors, including John Fahey, Ed Denson, and Nick Perls and started taking trips to the southern US to look for, record and learn from players like Mississippi John Hurt, Son House, Skip James, and Mississippi Fred McDowell.
In 1964 Grossman he started the Even Dozen Jug Band with Steve Katz (Blood, Sweat and Tears), John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful), Joshua Rifkin (PBQ Bach, The Baroque Beatles Book, arranger for Judy Collins) and Maria Muldaur. They made one album, The Even Dozen Jug Band (1964 Elektra), before breaking up. He played with The Fugs for a short time, then in 1965, made two of the first guitar instruction albums. How To Play Blues Guitar (2005 Shanachie) had contributions from Son House and John Renbourn. Even if you’re not learning guitar, the album is a fine listen and has been in print since its release. How To Play Blues Guitar (1966 Elektra) made with the help of a 14 year old Rory Block on second guitar, is also a good listen.
In 1968 Grossman cut Crosscurrents (1968 Cotillion/Atlantic), a psychedelic blues album with soon to be Blues Project leader Danny Kalb, before moving to London. He started performing and recording solo acoustic guitar albums for British labels. He released Aunt Molly's Murray Farm (1969 Sonet UK) Gramercy Park Sheik (1969 Fontana UK), Yazoo Basin Boogie (1970 Transatlantic UK, 1974 Kicking Mule US), and The Ragtime Cowboy Jew (1970 Transatlantic UK) before traveling on to Italy, where he lived for almost a decade.
Unable to find much label interest in his solo recordings and instructional records, he founded Kicking Mule Records in 1972. With Ed Denson, manager of Country Joe and the Fish and John Fahey’s Takoma label, taking care of the business stateside, he released albums by guitarists like Happy Traum, Peter Finger and Sam Mitchell. His Kicking Mule albums include
Yazoo Basin Boogie (1970 Kicking Mule, 2005 Shanachie) Hot Dogs (1972 Kicking Mule), Memphis Jellyroll (1972 Kicking Mule, 1991 Shanachie), Fingerpicking Guitar Techniques (1974 Kicking Mule), Bottleneck Serenade (1975 Kicking Mule, 1998 Fantasy), Stefan Grossman and John Renbourn (1977 Kicking Mule), Under the Volcano with John Renbourn (1979 Kicking Mule), Thunder on the Run (1980 Kicking Mule). Anthology (1980 Kicking Mule) collects 16 tracks from his early Kicking Mule albums.
He also made several albums for other labels including My Creole Belle (1976 Transatlantic), The Guitar of Stefan Grossman (1977 Transatlantic), Shining Shadows (1983 Shanachie, 1992 Shanachie), Stefan Grossman and John Renbourn Live (1985 Shanachie), Three Kingdoms (1987 Shanachie) another collaboration with Renbourn, and Love, Devils & The Blues (1987 Shanachie, 1992 Shanachie).
In the late 80s Grossman returned to the US; various physical problems kept him from touring, but his guitar albums, videos, and later DVDs kept him busy. His Guitar Workshop instructors included Chet Atkins, John Renbourn, Larry Coryell, and other super pickers. He recorded infrequently, but did manage to deliver Guitar Landscapes (1989 Shanachie), Northern Skies, Southern Blues (1997 Shanachie), and Shake That Thing: Fingerpicking Country Blues (1998 Shanachie).
Stefan Grossman began playing in public, on a limited basis, in 2006, the year he launched a new label SGGW (Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop). Recent albums include Bermuda Triangle Exit (2006 SGGW) with Tokyo Uchida and Friends Forever (2007 SGGW) duets with Rory Block, Larry Coryell, John Renbourn and other pals. Good overviews include the 44 track Those Pleasant Days: Best of the Transatlantic Years (2005 Castle) and Keeper of the Vine - The Best of John Renbourn and Stefan Grossman (1999 Shanachie).
