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The Grand
Imagineer Gary Greene |
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A musical enigma walks the streets of
Rome looking like Burl Ives or Wilfred Brimley. He's Gary "Grizzly
" Greene a/k/a The Grand Imagineer.
Chances are you've seen him perform
around town at the Chieftains Museum,
First Friday Concerts, in band
collaborations, or at one of the
Schroeder's locations with the gang of
experienced RASA songwriters. |
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Full of stories past and present, Gary
is a tour guide at the
New
Echota State Historical Site
as well as an exceptional songwriter and
storyteller performing locally and
regionally. Most Monday's he'll tell me
about where the previous weekend took
him. It's usually to see one/some of his
favorite songwriting/storytelling
mentors/colleagues in a
festival/gathering somewhere in the
Southeast. |
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The guy is a walking encyclopedia of
rock & roll, country, blues, and folk
music history. He can preach Billy Joe
Shaver, Townes Van Zandt, and Steve
Young like a hard shell Baptist minister
and often talks about people you've
never heard of as if you know them, like
everyone in the world went to high
school together. You can name a city in
the Southeast and Gary can tell you ten
great musicians within fifty miles from
there, and tell you a story about each
one. |
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One of my personal favorites is the story about how
Billy Joe convinced Waylon to record his songs, which
turned out to be the classic Honky Tonk Heroes
album. |
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Gary is extremely versed in the folklore and legend of
our Native American predecessors, and often tells
accounts of the Cherokee whose land we walk on every
day. Accompanied with a vast knowledge of our nation's
history through the lore of the American working class,
a conversation with Gary is always something to
remember. |
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His album, The Grand Imagineer, is an excellent
collection of songs produced by Gene Brigham, and
features musicians from the local songwriting scene. He
also has a storytelling CD with fables from the Cherokee
Nation. It features music and sound effects by John
Schroeder and Charles "Crazylegs" McGee. It's a hoot.
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Both CD's are available from cdbaby.com.
cdbaby.com/cd/greene You can
check out more about what Gary's been up to on his
myspace page.
myspace.com/garyagreene |
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'Ol
Grizzly likes to quote Hunter S. Thompson on the music
world:
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"The music business is a cruel and shallow money
trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps
run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a
negative side" |
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Gary is a good friend to have in a world that can't wait
to go faster.
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Here are links to
some of Gary's videos. Check 'em out. |
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Gary plays for the Georgia Winnie Rebels
(this website is
awesome!) |
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Original Tunes |
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Broken Wheel at RASA event |
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Grand Imagineer |
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back to friends |
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