Tracy Grammer (wrap-up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by Tracy Grammer to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore):



* Tracy was our 50th concert in the ten years we've been hosting concerts in our home.

* It was an unusually warm afternoon, so we held the concert in the backyard. Normally that's only in summer and with a larger band and a lot more foliage.

* Tracy was in town as the Wednesday night music guest for those attending classes at Esalen.

* Next week she'll play one of our favorite venues, the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley.

* In the after-show podcast, Tracy played "Crocodile Man" (Dave Carter), her newest song, "Hole," and "The Mountain" (Dave Carter).

* Juliet and I found Tracy through the late Dave Carter, whom Tracy performed with from 1996 until his untimely death in 2002.

* Juliet and I met in 2003 using Match.com. I sent her the lyrics to Dave Carter's "Gentle Arms of Eden" when Juliet had mentioned she like Kate Wolf. She remembers growing up seeing Kate, even once in her kitchen when Kate visited Juliet's mom. Now my daughter will tell the same story about seeing Tracy!

* Dave Carter's music has been a huge influence in our lives. I first saw Dave and Tracy in 1998 at the New Folk songwriting competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. They opened with "When I Go" and followed with my all-time favorite Dave Carter song, "The River Where She Sleeps."

* The same day Tracy performed we learned Texas lost one of its legendary singer/songwriters in Steve Fromholz, which we found out from Robert Earl Keen. Fromholtz was one of the three judges in 1998 at that Kerrville New Folk songwriting competition, which include Betty Elders and frequent visitor to our house, Keith Greeninger.

* Tracy told a very funny story about playing in Hiroshima, Japan, that included not recognizing her biggest fans and some of the best players and singers in the country. Yes, she's big in Japan.

* Our chickens even made into Tracy's Instragram feed. For the record, that's Caramel (l) and Hawkeye.

* Tracy has been on our wish list since we started in 2003, along with Dave Carter. As long as Dave is still booked, we'll keep them there. It'll be worth the wait.