David Grisman
David Grisman (March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist, composer, bandleader, and producer. Raised in Hackensack, New Jersey, he was mentored by folklorist Ralph Rinzler and entered the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, performing with the Even Dozen Jug Band and, later, Red Allen’s Kentuckians. He gained wider fame in the mid-1970s, notably guesting on the Grateful Dead's American Beauty (1970) and co-founding the progressive bluegrass supergroup Old & In The Way with Jerry Garcia, Peter Rowan, and Vassar Clements. In 1975, he formed the influential David Grisman Quintet, releasing a self-titled 1977 debut that served as a blueprint for the "new acoustic" music movement. He forged a distinct genre known as "Dawg music" which blended traditional bluegrass with swing, jazz, and other styles. In 1990, he founded Acoustic Disc, an independent label dedicated to producing and archiving high-fidelity traditional and contemporary acoustic documentation. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2023.
In the newsletter
- No. 27 September 2001