Gillian Grassie – Singer Songwriter Harpist

XPN 12 Days of Christmas Songs

// December 9th, 2011 // No Comments » // Cool Stuff, Music

I’m delighted to have taken part in 88.5 WXPN’s annual 12 Days of Christmas festivities this year and accepted the challenge to write and record an original holiday song for the station. My contribution is a little ditty called “When The Nights Get Long,” and you can listen to it on the radio tomorrow (Friday, December 9th, 2011) in the 9 o’clock and 1 o’clock hours. It’s also going to be available online as a FREE Download all day on www.xpn.org!

I really can’t explain why it’s taken me this long to take a stab at penning a holiday song, but it was easily one of the most fun days I’ve ever spent in the studio. It feels like I waited my *entire* life to put sleigh bells on a record… Many thanks to Helen Leicht for the invitation to participate and to Tim Sonnefeld for squeezing in some last minute studio magic at MilkBoy Recording in Ardmore, PA.

WHEN THE NIGHTS GET LONG

Everybody wants somebody
when the nights get long, the heat turns on
I’m no exception to the rest
with clumsy mittened hands and the best intentions

When Frost, he comes a-painting
all the window panes in tiny slippered feet
oh, he’s a joyful artist like a four year-old
he paints in shapes and whorls
or maybe lacy sutures to mend all the broken hearts

Everybody wants somebody
when the nights get long, the heat turns on
and I’ve been waiting oh so patiently for something right
for sugar and spice and all things very, very nice

the cold it makes us bolder
I’ll just lean on your shoulder since I’m shivering
oh, won’t you please pull me nearer
and we’ll dance to thaw our toes
a snowflake’s on your nose
I guess I better kiss it quick

I don’t have a wishlist
I got too much stuff as it is
don’t worry about packages
because you’re bundled like a present
your scarf’s tied like a bow

Everybody wants somebody
when the nights get long
when the heat turns on
I’m glad you’re with me

Serpentine spinning on more US airwaves

// March 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Cool Stuff, News

Totally thrilled to learn that the number of stations spinning Serpentine in the US has doubled since December. Many of these triple A stations, including Public Radio East, have moved the album into heavy rotation because of your requests – thanks!

I’ll try to hit as many of these cities as I can on my Fall tour, but if there’s a specific venue or town you’d like me to visit, shoot me an e-mail at info@gilliangrassie.com. And remember, you can always book me for a concert right in your own living room – anyone can do it! I love playing house concerts.

You can now catch songs from Serpentine playing on the following stations:

AOL Radio National
KXCI Tucson AZ
KOZT Ft. Bragg CA
KWMR Pt. Reyes Station CA
KCMV Breckinridge CO
KDNK Carbondale CO
KBUT Crested Butte CO
KSUT Ignacio CO
KVNF Paonia CO
WFIT Melbourne FL
KKCR Hanalei HI
KDEC Decorah IA
WFHB Bloomington IN
WWHR Bowling Green KY
WFPK Louisville KY
WMKY Moorehead KY
KSLU Hammond LA
WTMD Baltimore MD
Maine Public Broadcasting Bangor ME
WERU E. Orland ME
KAXE Grand Rapids MN
WSGE Charlotte NC
Public Radio East New Bern NC
WNTI Hackettstown NJ
WBJB Monmouth NJ
WFDU Teaneck NJ
Indie SF Santa Fe NM
WEXT Albany NY
WEHM Long Island NY
WDST Woodstock NY
WOUB Athens OH
WCBE Columbus OH
WYSO Yellow Springs OH
KRVM Eugene OR
WDIY Bethlehem PA
WXPN Philadelphia PA
WVIA Scranton PA
WETS Johnson City TN
KFAN Fredericksburg TX
KPFT Houston TX add
KUT Austin TX
KWCR Ogden UT
KRCL Salt Lake City UT
WNRN Charlotesville VA
WRRW Williamsburg VA
Wyoming Public Laramie WY

Serpentine getting spins across the United States!

// December 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Cool Stuff, Music, News, Press

Thanks so much to the following AAA stations for giving Serpentine airtime:

KXCI Tucson AZ
KCMV Breckenridge CO
KDNK Carbondale CO
KVNF Paonia CO
WFIT Melbourne FL
KKCR Hanalei HI
KDEC Decorah IA
WFPK Louisville KY
WMKY Moorehead KY
WTMD Baltimore MD
MPBN Bangor ME
WERU E. Orland ME
WNTI Hackettstown NJ
Indie SF Santa Fe NM
WEXT Albany NY
WDST Woodstock NY
WCBE Columbus OH
WXPN Philadelphia PA (these guys have been backing me for years…Thanks XPN!)
WVIA Scranton PA
WETS Johnson City TN
KFAN Fredericksburg TX
KPFT Houston TX
WNRN Charlottesville VA
WRRW Williamsburg VA

Most of these are public radio stations, which means they operate at least in part via member support. Consider making a (typically tax-deductible) donation to help keep your local station up and running and bringing you independent music.

Thanks and happy holidays! (next up: a blog about Mumbai, finally…)

-Gillian

XPN Fest ’09 highlights

// August 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Music, Performances

It happened a while ago, I know, but I was so thrilled to be a part of this year’s XPoNential Music Festival that I just wanted to post a quick, belated note about the experience. In my defense, I played the festival Sunday, packed like mad on Monday, and hopped on a plane for France Tuesday morning. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind ever since then getting settled abroad, but before I tell you my stories of Paris and Lorient and Normandy, I wanted to share some of my personal highlights from the Festival.

audience view of the Marina Stage

First off, the band sounded just fantastic and I was so proud to be sharing the stage with such fine musicians. Ross Bellenoit, Matt Scarano, Ryan Kuhns and I have been working together as a quartet for nearly a year now and I was very sorry to have to leave my Idling Ferraris behind, but very proud of how far we’ve come as a group. I sorely miss their support and creativity when I play over here, but am excited to come back with a bunch of new songs to throw at them when I get back!

There was some exceptional, above-and-beyond fan lovin’ that took place at the festival. Francesca and Erika had me do sharpie body-art (see photo documentation). Special thanks also goes out to Adam, Dorothy, and Elliot – the cool kids from Lancaster who chatted a while and made me feel like a million bucks.

Erika getting inked!

I was just delighted that my longtime harp teacher and dear friend, Janet Witman, was able to make my last State-side performance, and was tickled later to see someone tweeted about the shout-out moment.

There are some more pictures up on my flickr account if you’re interested, and Bekah Larson also wrote a very nice review of the performance for the XPN All About the Music Blog, which you should check out here.

Thanks to everyone who came out and tuned in to share this very special afternoon with me!

Set List: July 26th, Wiggins Park, Camden Waterfront, NJ
Pulse
Silken String
Summer
The Canonization of Margot Price
No Answer
The Mark
August

Frencesca

Top 10 Desert Island Songs… from Paris

// August 24th, 2009 // No Comments » // Cool Stuff, Music

Well! I’ve been traveling around quite a bit during the past few weeks in Brittany and Normandy without much internet access, which doesn’t entirely excuse me from not posting updates sooner. And, I’m afraid, you may have to wait just a day more for a proper blog update. BUT, I promise that I have plenty of new stories and pictures and potentially even songs for you.

Before we get into all of my adventures in France, however, I’d like to post the Top Ten list I’ve put together for the XPN 885 Desert Island Songs countdown. You can vote for your own top ten list on the XPN website until September 11th and then tune in from September 29th – October 9th to hear the station listeners’ top 885 songs, in sequence, without commercials.

I know that the numbered ordering actually does matter for these things, but I can’t say that you should put much weight on my order.

Gillian’s Top Ten Desert Island Songs

1. Urge for Going – Joni Mitchell
My father used to sing this song to me as a lullaby, which probably contributed to my initial assumption as a child that Joni Mitchell was a man. The record was set straight a few years later when I wandered up into the attic and found my parents’ Court and Spark vinyl – a pretty earth-shaking discovery that firmly solidified my love affair with songwriting. Joni is hands-down the single most important artist in my collection and it takes some concentrated restraint not to fill this entire list with songs like Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire, Court and Spark, Cactus Tree, Trouble Child, People’s Parties, Blue, and A Case of You.

2. The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us! – Sufjan Stevens
I was really torn between this song and John Wayne Gacy, Jr. – which I also consider a sort of tour de force of songwriting – but ultimately sided with the one that doesn’t involve serial killers.

3. Everything is Free – Gillian Welch
I’ve been listening to this song a lot recently; it hangs around. “I could get a straight job / I’ve done it before / never minded working hard / it’s who I’m working for / everything is free now / that’s what they say / everything I ever done / gotta give it away / someone hit the big score / but I figured it out / and I’m gonna do it anyway / even if it doesn’t pay”

4. What a Little Moonlight Can Do – Billie Holiday
Ah, Billie… When I was younger Jazz seemed something akin to wine, in the sense that I was absolutely sure it was this fantastic thing that was probably going to take a little time to understand and appreciate. I kept listening and grew into Jazz about the same time I started actually liking the vintages my uncle pulled up from the cellar at Christmas. Billie Holiday was one of the first artists who really opened up the genre for me. Nobody does deep-set grief like Billie, but her rendition of this happier song always makes me dance, and there had to be at least one song on my desert island good for dancing.

5. Meadowlake Street – Ryan Adams
My friend Stu gave me Gold sometime last winter and I quickly ran to the record store to pick up Cold Roses and Heartbreaker. I’m in love with many of his songs, but this verse is the cincher for me: “I feel like a dream that’s not worth having / like a nervous joke, ain’t nobody laughing / like somebody with nothing ‘cause they don’t know what they want / and tiny like the sand in the cracks of the driftwood / washed up on the shore of an ocean of you / boats out on the horizon / made out of the maple tree where we used to lie down on Meadowlake street / counting the stars, you and I.” I mean, really.

6. Première Arabesque – Claude Debussy
There was a time in my life when I thought I was going to go to conservatory and become either an opera singer or an orchestral harpist or both. Things didn’t quite work out that way, but there’s still a corner of my heart that only classical type of music can reach. I haven’t played pedal harp in a long time, but Marcel Grandjany’s arrangement of this piece was my favorite.

7. Shebeg & Shemore – Turlough O’Carolan
Sometimes I feel a bit of a traitor for taking the Celtic harp so far away from our beginnings, but the truth is I really do love Celtic music. Turlough O’Carolan was this incredibly prolific Irish harpist of the 17th Century, who picked up the instrument after being blinded by smallpox at the age of 18. He’s credited with over 300 gorgeous melodies. For years, my dad brought a recorder with him wherever we went, and this melody became the backdrop of many mornings on the rocky Maine coastline and evenings around campfires. I pretty confident I spelled it wrong here.

8. No One’s Crying – Patty Griffin
I love Patty Griffin for many reasons, not the least which is that this song of hers almost single-handedly got me through both my parents’ divorce and my own first major break-up.

9. O Canada Girls – Dar Williams
The ideas and imagery in this song are just so lush and abundant. I especially like the bit about secrets written on hornet-nest paper blowing across the border. Bryn Mawr, you’ll have to forgive me for not putting “As Cool As I Am,” much though I cherish the memories of dancing around the May Hole covered in flower petals and rain. “If I did not dream, who would you be? / and if you did not dream, who would I be?”

10. Take it From Me – The Weepies
Writing happy love songs is absurdly hard, and The Weepies do it absurdly well. This is one of my favorites.

So close to being on this list that they may as well have been: Kathleen Edwards, Damien Rice, James Taylor, Indigo Girls, Handel’s Ombra Mai Fu, Joshua Marcus, Portishead, James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s.

Pictures and stories and proper updates coming soon!!!

XPoNential Music Festival 2009

// June 25th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // News, Performances

My last performance before I head abroad for my grand Watson adventure will be at the XPoNential Music Festival on Sunday, July 26th. I’ll have my full band with me and the festival’s line-up includes Aimee Mann, Guster, Yeasayer, Peter Bjorn and John, The Annuals, The Low Anthem, Matt Duke, Shemekia Copeland, Sharon Little, The Hold Steady, John Gorka, and many, many more. You can see the complete line-up and buy tickets (single day or weekend passes) online. The performance will also be broadcast live on XPN’s radio frequencies and on www.xpn.org.

In an effort to become more technologically tuned-in, I’ve also finally joined the Twitter bandwagon. If you’d like to follow me, just go to www.twitter.com/gilliangrassie.

Live on XPN’s Folk Show with host Gene Shay TONIGHT!

// March 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Performances, Press

Gene Shay will be featuring me again on the XPN Folk Show! Tune
in from 8 PM – 11 PM TONIGHT to hear a live, in-studio performance and
interview to discuss my Watson fellowship.  The full band will be joining me on air – that’s Ross Bellenoit (guitar), Ryan Kuhns (upright bass), and Matt Scarano (drums)!

XPN is available on the following radio frequencies and worldwide at www.xpn.org:

* WXPN 88.5 FM in the greater Philadelphia/South Jersey area
* 104.9 FM in the Lehigh Valley
* 90.5 FM Worton/Baltimore
* 88.7 FM Lancaster/York
* 99.7 FM Harrisburg
* WXPN is also available worldwide via streaming audio.