Times News article: GrayMatter Brings the Family to Musical Chairs

GrayMatter Brings the Family to Musical Chairs
Via Times-News



The “Gray” in Graymatter stands for family. “We grew up singing/playing together,” Bev Gray Gude said of her brothers, Barry and Brad. When Bev began dating Dave Gude, as teenagers, “he immediately joined in with the Gray family. We’ve performed in various configurations over the years and it was about four years ago that the four of us finally got together to create the current band.”

Bev took some time out to answer questions about GrayMatter prior to its Musical Chairs performance from 7p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Historic Downtown Depot Amphitheater. The show is part of the Musical Chairs Concert Series. Admission is free, but donations of children’s art supplies for classes at Alamance Arts are appreciated.

• What type of music do you all play? Folk-rock/rock/Americana.

• Originals, covers or both? Our covers are usually “GrayMatterized,” meaning that we’re likely to come up with different arrangements and/or instrumentation and we always layer on harmonies. We’re re-imagining and re-creating the songs of our youth. It’s pretty terrific to look out into the audience and see people singing along with us to their favorites. The audience lifts us up and it’s for them that we keep working to get better at what we do. Our originals are full of those same swirling four-part harmonies and personal storytelling, and because there are four singer-songwriters in our group we have a range of styles, whether it’s tender ballads, folky Americana or driving rock & roll.

• Which bands/musicians inspire you? “Growing up we listened to a lot of early folk singers (Peter, Paul & Mary, Kingston Trio, Dylan) and soaked up their harmonies. Our Dad, Bryan Gray, was also a big influence. He played guitar and piano and after many of our family dinners we’d often gather our instruments, come back to the table and sit around singing and playing together for hours. Then there’s The Beatles, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, James Taylor, Beach Boys; the list goes on & on.

In addition to Bev on 12-string and high-strung guitars, flute, tambourine and bodhran, the band includes Barry Gray on acoustic guitar, Brad Gray on acoustic and electric guitars and sitar guitar and Dave Gude on acoustic guitar, banjo, harmonica and mandolin.

• What sets this band apart from others in and around Alamance County? “I’d say our harmonies, first and foremost. There’s just something about the unique chemistry of tightly-knit family voices. We also play a lot of songs that no one else is playing. Usually after a gig, people will come up to us and say that we’ve played favorites that they haven’t heard in a long time and brought back a lot of memories for them. We find that younger folks really like these songs too and call out for their favorites at our shows. We love introducing those dynamic classics in a fresh, new way to younger audiences who have never heard the songs before. Our audiences are just terrific.”

• Recordings: “We’re researching studios now and hope to get working on a cd of originals before the end of the year. In the meantime, we have both audio and video music online for people to hear. There are links to our music and embedded music at www.facebook.com/graymatternc and at www.graymatternc.com.”

• Upcoming performances: “We’re fortunate to be playing somewhere almost every weekend of the year. People can check out our calendar at either of those websites mentioned above. Here’s a partial list: July 31 at the Rusted Bucket Tavern in Burlington; Aug 6 for a taping for the Tokyo Rosenthal Radio Show (broadcasts on WCHL 97.9 FM and syndicated to a dozen-plus other stations including Country Music Radio-Nashville); Aug7 at The Kraken, Chapel Hill; Aug 29 at the Doodad Farm, Greensboro; Sep 6 at Muddy Creek Café, Winston Salem; Sept 11 at Pittsboro Roadhouse, Pittsboro; Sept 19 Historic Lowville Cream Cheese Festival, Lowville N.Y. and a few other dates in N.Y. and N.J. on this trip; Sept 26 at Beer-B-Que in Burlington; Oct 2 at the Rusted Bucket Tavern in Burlington; and Oct. 4 at Festifall in Chapel Hill. “We had a great time playing the Musical Chairs event last year and are pleased that Alamance Arts, the Burlington Recreation and Parks Department and Downtown Burlington Corporation have invited us back again.”

“This has been a great summer for us so far. We’ve been really busy and have met lots of really great people and other talented musicians. GrayMatter was selected to perform at a John Prine Tribute Concert that happened in Greensboro in May and at Bull Fest in Durham as well. We also performed live on WQFS 90.9 FM in Greensboro, where we played all original music. We also were invited to play at the Festival for the Eno in Durham on July Fourth, which is always a very fun event. We’re working hard, staying busy and we’re so appreciative of the people that invite us to play their venues and events and so grateful for our wonderful audiences. They’re the best.”

For more details on the band, visit graymatternc.com or facebook.com/graymatternc.

Festival for the Eno

We had a fabulous time at the Festival for the Eno! This two day festival is run by the Eno River Association and for 36 years now, people from all ages and walks of life have been coming together on the beautiful banks of the Eno to listen to great music, share local arts and craftwork, eat delicious food, and most of all, to celebrate the Eno River & Watershed and its importance in the community. Over 65 musical acts on 4 stages and we were honored to be a part of it all!

So what's coming up next for Graymatter? You can check out our calendar on Facebook or on Reverbnation.

Flashback: the night the lights went out at the Depot at Hillsborough Station

Though the Depot at Hillsborough Station has closed it's doors forever, one of Graymatter's most memorable moments occurred there one evening. There must have been something going on with the wiring that day because the poor sound-guy was having a terrible time keeping us up and running. Feedback, clicking & clattering, and huge issues with weird noises coming from both Barry's & Bev's guitars. All night we were experiencing the sound flickering in and out while we were playing. The poor sound-guy was doing the best he could throughout the evening but then the lights in half the building started to get twitchy too. He kept running between the sound board and the electrical panel to keep the place alive. We were beyond frustrated but kept pushing through. We had a nearly-full house, people had been dancing the whole evening, seats were full of people who had gathered to enjoy their wine, beer and conversation with friends...and they stuck with us through all the electrical annoyances...when the lights & sound in our half of the building flickered one last time and stayed off. At this point, we were working our way through the very last song of the night. Dancers were still dancing, people were calling for us to continue, we were singing our hearts out to "I'm a Believer." You'd think that we'd just give up right? Enough was enough, after all. But what really happened was, with no amplification to help us along and barely enough light to see, we moved in front of the mics, the crowd moved as one to the front of the stage, the seated folks got to their feet and the whole crowd sang at the top of their lungs, finishing out the rest of the song with us. Dave shouted his usual "Thank you and good night!" and we got a most rousing, energetic appreciative "good night!" back from the room. The clapping went on & on and people came up to us afterwards to say how much fun that moment was. What a night!  

Love Notes

A Tribute to John Prine: to benefit Voices Together

On Sunday, May 12th, Graymatter, along with 22 other musical artists, will be participating in a benefit for a very worthy cause: Voices Together. This innovative group serves people in both the Triangle and Triad regions of NC, providing music therapy to folks with special needs in order to help them improve their communication, social and emotional skills, support their independence and self-advocacy.

What is music therapy? According to the American Music Therapy Association, "Music Therapy is an established health profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of the individuals. After assessing the strengths and needs of each client, the qualified music therapist provides the indicated treatment including creating, singing, moving to, and/or listening to music. Through musical involvement in the therapeutic context, clients' abilities are strengthened and transferred to other areas of their lives. Music therapy also provides avenues for communication that can be helpful to those who find it difficult to express themselves in words. Research in music therapy supports its effectiveness in many areas such as: overall physical rehabilitation and facilitating movement, increasing people's motivation to become engaged in their treatment, providing emotional support for clients and their families, and providing an outlet for expression of feelings."

Voices Together partners with Durham, Chatham, Alamance and Orange County schools and provides music therapy sessions that help to increase student’s verbal and speech skills, supports the individual student’s classroom experience by helping them to increase their ability to appropriately act and interact in a group setting, engage appropriately, and teaches them effective coping skills. The VT sessions also helps in the student’s communications skills as well as conversational and listening skills.

A photo from the Voices Together Facebook page.

Outside of the school setting, VT uses musical therapy to help individuals build positive relationships, improve social skills and participate in activities that will provide them with peer support.  Also important in their mission is effectively raising public awareness regarding how music therapy can benefit people of all ages who deal with developmental disabilities. They make presentations to parent and community groups and provide workshops to help educate the general public and to support families.

For more information about Voices Together or partnership opportunities please contact them at 919-942-2714 or info@voicestogether.net or check out their website or their facebook page.

This benefit is free to the public and 100% of the donations received will benefit Voices Together. Come enjoy a beautiful Spring afternoon in a beautiful, family-friendly setting. Bring your lawn chairs, your cooler, your kids, your well-behaved dogs and enjoy the music of 23 of the area’s best artists, all gathered together to perform the songs of John Prine, one of America’s legendary singer-songwriters.

Also being celebrated that day is the recent book release of the biography, John Prine-In Spite of Himself, written by local author Eddie Huffman. The book will be available for sale at the event, with a portion of the sales going to VT.

Doodad Farm is located at 4701 Land Rd in Greensboro, NC. The Doodad Farm Facebook event page can be found here.

April 18th is Record Store Day!

April 18th is Record Store Day!  I love the idea of Record Store Day. In my early years I would spend hours in small record stores, fingering through the bins, walking the aisles, going home again with a small pile of treasures. I spent my college years working in and managing an independent record store. Oh, the people I met, the music I was exposed to for the first time, the satisfaction found when introducing new music to someone, meeting the artists themselves when they wandered into the store while on tour.  I was fortunate enough to work in an area that was ripe with bluegrass and roots music and we also supplied albums for NPR’s international music radio show “Thistle and Shamrock” so I also got amazing exposure to fabulous British Folk, Irish, Scottish, Celtic recorded music and got a great education from DJ/curator Fiona Richie. Bela Fleck came through and did some shopping after just releasing his 2nd album. Doc & Merle Watson would come in on Saturdays to sit and listen to the new bluegrass albums released each week and lucky for us, Doc usually had his guitar with him. And there were so many others!  It was a terrific way to put myself through school. How lucky was I!
~ Bev

So what happens on Record Store Day? According to the founding organization’s website: “Record Store Day was conceived in 2007 at a gathering of independent record store owners and employees as a way to celebrate and spread the word about the unique culture surrounding nearly 1400 independently owned record stores in the US and thousands of similar stores internationally. There are Record Store Day participating stores on every continent except Antarctica. 

This is a day for the people who make up the world of the record store—the staff, the customers, and the artists—to come together and celebrate the unique culture of a record store and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. 

A Record Store Day participating store is defined as a standalone brick and mortar retailer whose main primary business focuses on a physical store location, whose product line consists of at least 50% music retail, whose company is not publicly traded and whose ownership is at least 70% located in the state of operation.  (In other words, we’re dealing with real, live, physical, indie record stores—not online retailers or corporate behemoths).”

Find a participating store here.

Record Store Day specials fall into three categories: 

RECORD STORE DAY EXCLUSIVE RELEASES: Exclusively available on Record Store Day at Record Store Day participating stores. Will not be available anywhere else in the same format.  




RECORD STORE DAY LIMITED RUN/REGIONAL FOCUS RELEASES: Also exclusively available on Record Store Day at Record Store Day participating stores, but may not be distributed nationally, or the quantities of these titles are EXTREMELY limited. 1000 and under and WAY under 1000 in some cases. We felt it was only right to put them on a special sub-list, so that everyone is clear on the odds. 




RECORD STORE DAY FIRST RELEASE:  These are titles that you can find on Record Store Day at Record Store Day participating stores. So if you’re a fan of the artist, you get first listen. At some point in the future, generally four to six weeks, these titles will be available at other retailers. 

Here’s a list of special releases that will be available with more being added daily.

“I feel like I spent most of my life wandering the aisles of record stores. I used to love going to Amoeba when our guitar player Immy worked there and hanging out all day talking about records. I think that's what finally got him fired; there were always people trailing around after him cluttering up the store trying to soak up the Immerwisdom. Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure it was when some kid came up to the cash register with a pile of records and Immy, who was sitting on top of the counter at the time, grabbed the pile, perused it, threw most of them to the side and said something like, "Forget these, you don't need them. These two are really good, that one is great. Now go to that rack over there and grab the new Gang of Four and the Pere Ubu album. That's all you need." It probably would've been cool if the manager hadn't walked up behind him just before he did it. Oh well. 

The great thing about the best record stores is that the people who work there, like Immy, love music. They love to listen to it and they love to talk about it and they love to introduce other people to it. My favorite record stores in the world reside together on either side of a tiny storefront in Blenheim Crescent, just off the Portobello Rd in London. Minus Zero and Stand Out Records face each other across a three foot aisle and Bill Allerton and Bill Forsyth stand on either side of the aisle enthusiastically competing to play some of the best music you've never heard for anyone who dares come inside. Immy and I were directed there by friends at Mod Lang records in Berkeley (another stellar shop). They're only open a few days a week and they weren't open when we got there. Still, Bill A let us in. Four hours later, we staggered out under the weight of shopping bags full of obscure records by bands we loved but mostly by ones we'd never heard of. Bill A just played us record after record after record of amazing music and we soaked it up. We came back the next day to meet Bill F and it happened all over again. We literally had to buy extra suitcases. Now we're junkies. We never go to London without leaving at least 4-5 hours free to visit Blenheim Crescent and we NEVER go to London without an extra suitcase. I heard half of my favorite bands for the first time inside that little shop. 

The fact is that there will always be good music. The only question really is how are we ever going to learn about it without guys like Bill Allerton and Bill Forsyth to play it for us.”    
~ Adam Duritz (Counting Crows)

"I don't know if I'd ever have had the exposure to the roots and world music...folk, blues, classic jazz, gypsy, celtic, African, Latin, had it not been for combing the racks of the local independent record stores in the Cambridge/Boston area when I was in college and the years since. Those 'mom and pop' stores and small chains, like radio,  provided the rich soil from which so much of my passion and education sprang. Having the ability to linger and talk about selections with a staff person who really knew their stuff and was able to illuminate why certain albums by a given artist  were better than others or steer me to new exciting finds I never would have discovered without their help, is another reason why preserving these independent record stores is so crucial. It's the personal connection, the vastly more extensive collections, and being part of the community of like minded music fans, that makes such a difference. I loved striking up conversations or just spending hours reading notes on vinyl record covers and  having the visceral experience of being surrounded by so much history and variety.  Nothing like it. So much of what I love about music of all kinds and eras was hatched by just this kind of discovery and choice. The decisions about what to carry and the overall service of these stores is what has made so many of us who we are as musicians and people. Indelible, irreplaceable...and a treasure to protect."    
~ Bonnie Raitt 

"I found my calling in the back bin of a dark, dusty record store. 

 

1975's K-Tel's Blockbuster 20 Original Hits by the Original Stars featuring Alice Cooper, War, Kool and the Gang, Average White Band and many more, bought at a small record shop in my suburban Virginia neighborhood, it was this record that changed my life and made me want to become a musician. The second that I heard Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" kick in, I was hooked. My life had been changed forever. This was the first day of the rest of my life. 

 

Growing up in Springfield, Virginia in the 70's and 80's, my local independent record stores were magical, mysterious places that I spent all of my spare time (and money) in, finding what was to eventually become the soundtrack of my life. Every weekend I couldn't wait to take my hard earned, lawn mowing cash down for an afternoon full of discovery. And, the chase was always as good as the catch! I spent hours flipping through every stack, examining the artwork on every cover, the titles and credits, searching for music that would inspire me, or understand me, or just to help me escape. These places became my churches, my libraries, my schools. They felt like home. And, I don't know where I would be today without them. 

 

More recently, I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to rediscover this sense of excitement, that magical feeling of finding something all one’s own, by watching my kids go through it. Let me tell you: Nothing makes me prouder than watching my daughters spin that first Roky Erickson LP one of them picked out for their very own on one of our weekend trips to the record store. Or to watch the reverence they have as they handle their Beatles vinyl. How carefully they replace the albums into their sleeves, making sure they’re placed back onto the self in the proper sequence. Watching them realize how crucial and intertwined every part of this experience is, I relive the magic of my earliest experiences with vinyl singles and albums, their artwork, liners notes etc. all over again and again. 

 

I believe that the power of the record store to inspire is still alive and well, and that their importance to our next generation of musicians is crucial. Take an afternoon (and some hard earned lawn mowing money) and please support them. You never know, it might change your life forever, too." 
~Dave Grohl

So mark your calendar, find a friend, go to your local record store, and feel happy about keeping these shops in business. There’s nothing is like an independent record store and buying music off the internet from a faceless giant just isn’t the same.

Rockin' For Research

On Saturday, April 11th, Graymatter will be joining close to 50 bands and a fantastic gathering of 30 artists and crafts people in a massive music festival in downtown Burlington. Local studio owner, Max Dearing has organized the event to benefit the NC Amaranth Diabetes Research Foundation, which is associated with the American Diabetes Foundation. The NC Amaranth Diabetes Foundation has NO administrative costs so all of the proceeds directly support diabetes research. All of the bands are donating their performances, which will be on stages at The Rusted Bucket Tavern, Lowes Vintage Instruments, Paramount Theater, Historic Burlington Amphitheater, Upmann's Cigar Bar, Front St Public House, and at Brewballs across town.   The music begins at 7pm at some of the venues on Friday night, then on Saturday the crafts fair kicks off at 10am and music starts rolling at 11:30am. Start and stop times vary for each venue so make sure to pick up a schedule when you arrive on Saturday. There will be food trucks as well as the downtown food establishments so no need to leave the area. You can stay all day! Make plans now to come see some of the finest music our area has to offer. There's something for everyone: classic rock, metal, funk, punk, blues, acoustic and country too.

Though you'll want to stroll and catch a variety of bands thoroughout the day, make sure to pop into The Rusted Bucket Tavern at 7:30 pm on that Saturday evening to catch Graymatter's 90 minute set! 

Diabetes effects nearly 1 in 6 people and is the 7th leading cause of death in our country. It effects people of all ages and ethnicities, and more research needs to be done. Come out, enjoy the event, and support the cause!    
 

You Power Us Along!

Some Warm Weather Inspiration

Oh my, what a Winter we've been having! 2015 has been brutal, weather-wise. The east coast has really been slammed this year and I know that we're all yearning for Spring and warmer weather. A bit of daydreaming...

Flashback: It’s 1966 in New Providence, NJ and I’m spending a lazy summer afternoon in one of my frequent, favorite pastimes. I’m leaning up against the huge old willow tree in our yard, my prized AM transistor radio in hand. I’ve got WABC on the dial and listening to Dan Ingram, Cousin Brucie, Ron Lundy or Harry Harrison spin some tunes and I spend (what seems like) hours listening to the fabulous music of the day. One of my favorites was Summer in the City, and since I’m looking for warm weather inspiration today, I’ll pull this one up. My transistor radio is long gone, but YouTube has all those favorite summertime songs of my youth archived for me. Here ya go!     (~Bev)


The Lovin' Spoonful