Mainstream success in the music industry is about two things: who you know, or your ability to land in the right place at the right time.
Nashville bluegrass act The Grascals nailed both angles.
“Usually a band would take 10 years to get this far,” says vocalist and guitarist Terry Eldredge. In a mere four years, the Grascals garnered the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year and Song of the Year awards (2005) and the award for IMBA Entertainers of the Year (2006 and 2007). Both their self-titled debut album and sophomore effort, Long List of Heartaches, were Grammy-nominated.
Not too shabby.
“Of course Miss Dolly Parton helped,” Eldredge says. “She’s such a sweetheart of a lady.” The Grascals’ other guitarist, Jamie Johnson, has a 12-year professional partnership with the country diva, which led to Parton hand-picking the bluegrass outfit to perform with her in 2005.
And what’s even more helpful than a nod from Parton’s blond head? Satellite radio, which means “there’s so many people that hear us on it who normally wouldn’t,” according to Eldredge — plus a certain oft-referenced George Clooney vehicle. “What really helped [contemporary bluegrass] was the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” Eldredge says. “It really opened up people’s minds.”
Speaking of vehicles, the impressively resourceful Grascals have come up with a countrified way to keep theirs on the road. The group’s members, who all claim to love campy N.C.-based retro sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, recently joined forces with food producer Mayberry’s Finest. The specialty foods label offers more than 30 canned and packaged delicacies based on the creations of Griffith kitchen maven Aunt Bee.
“They’ve even got canned gravy,” Eldredge says — and he should know: The Grascals sell the food at their shows. “We were looking for a sponsor for the tour bus because it’s so expensive to travel. Jamie had heard about this new product — he’s a go-getter. He thought, ‘Man, that would be a good combination.’ So he went down there and hounded them.”
In the end it was Griffith himself who okayed the sponsorship, in exchange for a Grascals-penned commercial jingle.
Not too proud to sing for their supper, the band maintains a decidedly folksy approach. According to Eldredge, they’ll play “everything from the concert hall to out in the middle of a field on a flatbed truck.” Festivals are a must. But that doesn’t mean that, with this summer’s release of their third album, Keep On Walkin’, they’d be at all adverse to actually taking home a Grammy this time. “You always want the next album to be better than your last,” Eldredge says. “This one is probably our best one yet.”
The Grascals play the Rock n’ Kiss Stage at Coxe Ave. 4-5:30 p.m. on Sunday.
