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Weekend Audition: Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer and Dave McGraw & Mandy Fer

Tracy Grammer
/
Red House Records

For your weekend listening, a pair of Folk/Americana pairs...

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer released three albums between the years of 1998 and 2001 before Carter passed on due to a massive heart attack in 2002. The duo was a unique blend of cultures and interests. As Matt Fink wrote:

Carter was raised in rural Texas and Oklahoma, played classical piano and studied Transpersonal Psychology -- encompassing dream, shamanic, and meditation studies. Grammer was raised in southern California in a musical family and started playing violin at age 9. The two met outside one of Carter’s performances in Portland, OR in 1996.

The rest, shall we say, was history.

Imagine my delight when a ‘new’ Carter/Grammer album arrived. Little Blue Egg, is composed of songs for which Carter recorded vocals between 1997 and 2002, and Grammer finished. Aside from the great version of Woody Guthrie's "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key", the songs are all Carter's. It is bittersweet to hear Carter's rendering of "Gypsy Rose", the song Grammer sang so beautifully in her Flower of Avalon album after Carter's untimely death. It is a beautiful project.

Carter & Grammer, "When I Go" recorded in Portland,OR in 2001:
http://youtu.be/Imf2GYV0xNo

Dave McGraw & Mandy Fer (pronounced 'fair') are a delightful Folk/Americana duo whose debut album, Seed of A Pine features heartfelt songs echoing dreamy landscapes and the American West. The lyrics crafted in painterly imagery along with great vocals and splendid harmony. What is not to love?

Title track, "Seed of A Pine"
http://youtu.be/M-NKD71POf8

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Though the majority of my radio experience has been in the commercial sector (from Colorado to Utah to Alaska), my radio was always tuned to the public station... I am an NPR junkie. I was blessed to work with some truly amazing and creative people in radio since my first professional job in the industry during my freshman year in college. That blessing has continued by being part of the family of one of the most incredible radio stations (and staff) in the country - KUNC.