Students who attended Wednesday night’s Tracy Grammer concert were treated to an intimate evening of folk music. The concert drew just as many fans from surrounding areas as it did Wesleyan students, comfortably filling the World Music Hall.
Tracy Grammer is a highly regarded folk musician who achieved fame alongside musical partner Dave Carter, who joined her in 1996.
“I didn’t start doing this publicly until I met Dave,” Grammer said, adding that she was moved by his music and wanted to help. “At the time the world was full of solo male [singer-songwriters]. Having a male-female duo was an advantage.”
In July of 2002, while on tour with Grammer, Carter passed away from a heart attack.
Rather than give up her art, Grammer made it her mission to spread Carter’s music by continuing to play their songs.
For Wednesday’s show, Grammer appeared onstage with new partner Jim Henry. The duo performed a total of 18 songs in about two hours, including a two- song encore.
Most of the songs came from Carter and Grammer’s last album, “Drum Hat Buddha,” released in 2001. Grammer also introduced a few unreleased tunes that will appear on a forthcoming album, tentatively scheduled for the end of the year. Henry was given a chance to show off two songs of his own.
During the performance the musicians stood amid a sea of instruments, as Grammer demonstrated her skill on the guitar, violin and mandolin while Henry played two different guitars and a mandolin of his own.
Grammer appeared at ease onstage, adopting a conversational tone between songs, telling various stories of herself and Carter and of the origins of songs.
The audience response, initially merely polite, grew increasingly enthusiastic as the night went on, with many heads bobbing and toes tapping during the up-tempo numbers and whistling and hoots of approval during applause.
After the show, concertgoers expressed their pleasure about Grammer’s choice to continue performing Carter’s songs after his passing.
“I loved it,” said Jonathan Berlin ’07 about the performance, adding that it was “emotional and meaningful.”
“I thought the show was great,” said Arielle Cohen ’07. “I think it’s a really amazing way to deal with death. It takes courage to get up there and talk about somebody [for whom] she cared so much and deeply.”
Rachel Morris traveled from Newtown, Connecticut, about an hour west of Middletown, to see the concert.
“It was fantastic,” Morris said. “It’s really nice that she’s doing a lot of songs in tribute to Dave.”
However, Morris expressed some concern that Grammer might be undercutting herself by not including more of her own songs.
“She did find a really good partner in Jim,” Morris added.
Henry has been a professional performer for about 20 years and has released four albums of his own. Grammer and Henry were introduced in 2003 after a different substitute partner failed to work out.
“It’s an honor [working with Tracy],” Henry said. “It was great when she called.”
Henry will be appearing on Grammer’s new album, and says that he hopes to continue their partnership down the line.
Wednesday’s show was organized by Katie Mahoney ’04, a longtime fan of Grammer’s music.
“I saw her and Dave for the first time at the Falcon Ridge Festival in 2000,” Mahoney said. “I was completely blown away.”
Mahoney works for Grammer’s label, Signature Sounds, during the summer and used the connection to get in touch with her booking agent
When asked about the show, Mahoney was enthusiastic.
“It went more fantastically than I ever thought it would,” she said. “I’m really glad that people came and that they were as enthusiastic as they were.”
Grammer echoed her sentiment.
“It was really fun. I didn’t expect such an enthusiastic response,” she said. “I was delighted, totally delighted.”
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