As a young musician who used to lug his bass around the campgrounds of Indiana’s Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival at 4 a.m. simply looking for someone to jam with, ETSU alumnus Tyler Griffith never imagined he would go on to have a Grammy win under his belt.
“It’s kind of like a fairytale, if you will,” Griffith said. “Something that you don’t really see being obtainable, but you know, something that you strive for. So, actually realizing that something that I have played on – that my music’s been a part of something that has won a Grammy – just blows my mind.”
On Jan. 26, Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper’s album “Tall Fiddler,” of which Griffith played bass on, won the Grammy award for Bluegrass Album of the Year. For Griffith, who had looked up to Cleveland as a hero for many years, working on the album was a dream come true.
“Being on that album was one of the greatest highlights of my musical career to this day just because I got to be on there with heroes of mine I’ve heard of, and watched and listened to for my entire life,” Griffith said. “So really it was one of the most honoring things I’ve ever done. Just to be able to go into the studio and look right across the room and see my hero, musical hero, staring back at me.”
Griffith was among five other alumni and faculty of ETSU’s Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Studies program to be involved in Grammy-nominated projects this year. Also involved in a Grammy win was alumnus and former faculty member Barry Bales who played bass on Willie Nelson’s track “Ride Me Back Home,” which won Best Country Solo Performance.
Other nominations included alumna Amythyst Kiah’s song “Black Myself,” a song she wrote and performed with the band Our Native Daughters, which was nominated for Best American Roots song. Although the song did not win the Grammy award, it did win Song of the Year at the International Folk Music Awards Jan. 22.
“Amythyst – she’s a great singer-songwriter – and I’m really proud of her and her accomplishments,” Griffith said.
Three ETSU alumni and faculty members contributed to the album “Gonna Sing, Gonna Shout,” which was nominated for Best Roots Gospel Album: Faculty member Jon Weisberger, who co-wrote the songs “They Were Fishermen” and “Henry Clayton Parker;” alumna Kristen Leigh Bearfield, who is a member of gospel bluegrass band High Road responsible for the album’s song “Heaven’s Back Yard;” and alumna Becky Buller, who co-wrote the song “Don’t Tune Him Out.”
Buller also co-wrote the song “Crave” on Frank Solivan’s album “If You Can’t Stand the Heat” and played fiddle on the song “Swept Away” on Missy Raines’ album “Royal Traveler” – both of which were nominated for Bluegrass Album of the Year.
“I’ve done music my entire life, and I just never dreamed that I would get to do this at this level,” Buller said. “I just did it because it’s what I did. You know? It was like breathing. But I just look back, and I’m like, ‘Woah.’ There’s so many incredible things that have happened, and I feel so grateful and so blessed; and of course, it makes me want to reach for more.”
Since recording the album with Raines in fall 2017 and forming the group First Ladies of Bluegrass, Buller has gotten more opportunities than just Grammy-nominations.
“I just came off a four-day run with Steve Martin and Martin Short,” Buller said. “They’re doing a series of comedy shows, and at about the halfway point, Steve comes out and plays the banjo and then suddenly there’s a bluegrass band behind him; and this past weekend it was us: the First Ladies of Bluegrass.”
Buller said she is excited to share the experience of Grammy nominations with “such an elite group of musicians” to have come out of ETSU’s Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Studies program. With ETSU being a big part of her story and journey, and as a person who considers Johnson City her second home, Buller said she talks about the world-renowned program all the time.
“I mean, the program is so special, and I talk about it everywhere I go,” Buller said. “I’m so proud of it. I’m so proud to be part of it. You know, of course I graduated in 2001, but I feel like I’m part of – that I’m still part of the work that’s happening there.”
Griffith said the number of ETSU alumni and faculty involved in the Grammy-nominated projects this year was no surprise to him, and that it is “cool” to see people from a program he was a part of being awarded and recognized for their hard work and dedication.
“These people are all very, very accomplished musicians,” Griffith said. “And just to be able to have that connection with them – it’s amazing.”
