Baby Gramps is a guitar performer, who, though born in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, has been based in the Northwest U.S. for at least the last 40 years. He is famous for his

palindromes A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as the words ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date and time ''11/11/11 11:11,'' and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Panam ...

. Baby Gramps started performing in 1964 and is still playing professionally as of 2018.

Style

Baby Gramps plays a mixture of styles and eras including traditional

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, children's and labor songs, and his own compositions. His busy and unusual guitar style includes flat and finger picking, and "chording" with the back of his hand and his elbow. His singing styles include

throat singing Throat singing refers to several vocal practices found in different cultures around the world. The most distinctive feature of such vocal practices is to be associated to some type of guttural voice, that contrasts with the most common types of voi ...

. His performance is based in part on improvisation and he often encourages audience participation. Baby Gramps has performed as a street musician, and has toured with

Artis the Spoonman Artis, known professionally as Artis the Spoonman (born October 3, 1948), is an American street performer and musician from Seattle, Washington, who uses spoons as a musical instrument. He frequents the Pike Place Market accompanying singer/so ...

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Béla may refer to: * Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater * Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name See also * Bela (disambiguation) * Belá (disambiguation) * Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''whit ...

and

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...

. His rendition of "The Teddy Bears' Picnic" was featured in Martin Bell's

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-nominated documentary film, ''Streetwise''.

Popularity

Writer Patrick Ferris said he has "a mass appeal in the sense that any audience between the age of 2 and 102 are captivated by his vaudeville antics, hilarious lyrics and animated guitar playing... His voice is a cross between Popeye the Sailor and a Didgeridoo and the plinkity plink of his VERY worn National steel guitar, sounds like a wind up jack in the box. If you listen closely and know anything about music, you'll realize Gramps is an absolutely incredible guitar player. Being a professional musician for over 40 years can't help but give you some sort of chops, but Gramps is a modern day Robert Johnson; a revolutionary guitarist that, like Thelonious Monk on piano, can play the notes 'between the cracks.'"Patrick Ferris
Baby Gramps – Seattle, WA, A Ghost From The Past
, hotbands.com.

Discography

* ''Same Ol' Timeously: Vocalisthenics & Stunt Guitar'' (CD, Grampophone 1001), 2000 * ''Hossradish'' CD (Baby Gramps Trio), 2003 * ''Baptized on Swamp Water'' CD (Baby Gramps & his Back Swamp Potioners), 2006 * '' Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys'' (two tracks, 'Cape Cod Girls' and 'Old Man of the Sea' on compilation CD), Anti-Records, 2006 * ''Outertainment'' CD (Baby Gramps &

Peter Stampfel Peter Stampfel (born October 29, 1938, in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin) is an American fiddle player, old-time musician, and singer-songwriter. Stampfel is best known as a member of the Holy Modal Rounders, a psychedelic folk band that he founded with ...

), Red Newt Records, 2010 Videos: * ''SomeDemos'' Originally released on VHS in 1996 Re-released on DVD together with "Sauteed To A Fine Crisp" in 2006. Filmed on 8/26/93 when Baby Gramps opened for Phish in Portland OR. 1) Richland Woman Blues 2) Back Swamp Potioner 3) Let's all be fairies Running time: 20 min. Produced/Directed/Edited By Sam Small for Small Wonder Video Services. Baby Gramps actually shared the stage with Phish, performing the enigmatic “Tea Tray Song” with Fishman on vacuum during the second set. * ''Sauteed To A Fine Crisp'' Originally released on VHS in 1999 Re-released on DVD together with "SomeDemos" in 2006. # Breakfast Blues # Anagram Song # The Shortest Poem In The World # The Wooden Darning Egg # Nothin' But A Nothin' # Palindromes # Uncontrovertable Facts #

The Big Rock Candy Mountain "The Big Rock Candy Mountains", first recorded by Harry McClintock in 1928, is a country folk song about a hobo's idea of paradise, a modern version of the medieval concept of Cockaigne. It is a place where "hens lay soft-boiled eggs" and ther ...

# Teddybears' Picnic Running time: 37 min. This video was stitched together from three performances that were filmed at "Funhouse": A Contemporary Theatre, in conjunction with TheatreVision and ShadowCatcher Entertainment. Conceived and directed by Paul Magid and Ron W. Bailey. Stage show written by Magid; teleplay written by Magid and Alex Metcalf; musical direction by Mark Ettinger. "Funhouse" starred vaudevillians Dmitri Karamazov of the

Flying Karamazov Brothers The Flying Karamazov Brothers (FKB) are a juggling and comedy troupe that has been performing since 1973. They learned their trade busking as street artists starting in Santa Cruz, California, eventually going on to perform nationally and internat ...

, Rebecca Chace, Cathy Sutherland and the UMO Ensemble, and featured Baby Gramps and Christian Swenson, among others. A psychedelically inspired feast was served by Chez Ray Sewal. The raw multi-camera video from three of Gramp's solo performances were given over to Sam Small of Small Wonder Video Services who edited and released 'Sauteed To A Fine Crisp'. * ''I Shall Continuum!'' Released on DVD in 2004. Produced, Directed and Edited by Sam Small for Small Wonder Video Services Recorded Live at Terra Blues, Greenwich Village, NYC # Ankle Wrench Rag # New Big Rock Candy mountain # A Ragtime Continuum / Rags Makes Paper / Paper Makes Money / A Man Took A Ride In An Airplane # A Ragtime Medley: Ragged But Right / Certainl Am Living' A Ragtime Life # Charge It To The Dust & Let The Rain Settle It #

Dream A Little Dream Of Me "Dream a Little Dream of Me" is a 1931 song with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first recorded in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson and also by Wayne King and His Orchestra, with vocals by Ernie Birchill. ...

# Skillet Of Snakes #

Satisfied Mind ''Satisfied Mind'' is the sixth album by American rock band The Walkabouts, released in 1993 on Sub Pop.The Walkaboutsat Discogs'' It consists entirely of covers of roots music and compositions by modern singer-songwriters, including songs auth ...

# Thought I Heard The Voice Of A Porkchop Say Come Unto Me & Rest #

Ballad Of A Thin Man "Ballad of a Thin Man" is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan, and released in 1965 on his sixth album, ''Highway 61 Revisited''. Recording Dylan recorded "Ballad of a Thin Man" in Studio A of Columbia Records in New York City, located at 799 ...

(Mr. Jones) # Possum Opera

Notes

References

* Denise Sullivan
A Grand Ol’ Timeously With Baby Gramps
''Crawdaddy Magazine'', August 13, 2008 * Jonathan Zwickel
An Introduction to Baby Gramps, a musical enigma
''Seattle Times'', December 24, 2009
Phish.net – people: Baby Gramps
* *

External links

babygramps.com
*
2003 interview with HotBands.com

Excerpts from ''SomeDemos'' 5:39

Excerpts from ''Sauteed To A Fine Crisp'' 9:00
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baby Gramps Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists Pedal steel guitarists American street performers Fast Folk artists Unidentified musicians