Grant Peeples

- Paul Kerr, Blabber N’ Smoke, Glasgow - - Paul Kerr, Blabber N’ Smoke, Glasgow

- Paul Kerr, Blabber N’ Smoke, Glasgow - - Paul Kerr, Blabber N’ Smoke, Glasgow

-The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, No Depression - -The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, No Depression

-The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, No Depression - -The Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, No Depression

-Barry White, South Florida Folk Network - -Barry White, South Florida Folk Network

-Barry White, South Florida Folk Network - -Barry White, South Florida Folk Network

-Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange - -Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange

-Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange - -Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange

-Americana Gazette - -Americana Gazette

-Americana Gazette - -Americana Gazette

-John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music - John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music

-John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music - John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music

-No Depression - -No Depression

-No Depression - -No Depression

-Bobby Braddock - -Bobby Braddock

-Bobby Braddock - -Bobby Braddock

--Florida Times-Union
- -Florida Times-Union

--Florida Times-Union
- -Florida Times-Union

--Music News Nashville - -Music News Nashville

--Music News Nashville - -Music News Nashville

This is a review of a rap record. No, not really. But kinda. It’s that more-spoken-than-sang kinda country-blues that makes every song sound old, established, rootsy and timeless. And you’d never expect this kind of music from a guy who looks like Grant Peeples.

He’s got love songs, lost and forlorn in the traditional country way (“Bluebird in My Heart”), but he’s also got a good bunch of focused anger, political and leftist (“Searching For A Sign”). It’s always refreshing to hear music that has a level of conscious protest to it. There’s nothing wrong with broken hearts and bling, but songs about the state of the Nation are in far-too-short supply these days, given the state of our country.

And one of the coolest things about him is his self-distribution plan: Grant will send you his latest album, Pawnshop, if you ask him to. That’s it. If you get it and dig it, then you can send him 15 bucks. He calls it “The New Deal.” Just e-mail him at order@grantpeeples.com. Seriously.

- Berkely Place Blog

This is a review of a rap record. No, not really. But kinda. It’s that more-spoken-than-sang kinda country-blues that makes every song sound old, established, rootsy and timeless. And you’d never expect this kind of music from a guy who looks like Grant Peeples.

He’s got love songs, lost and forlorn in the traditional country way (“Bluebird in My Heart”), but he’s also got a good bunch of focused anger, political and leftist (“Searching For A Sign”). It’s always refreshing to hear music that has a level of conscious protest to it. There’s nothing wrong with broken hearts and bling, but songs about the state of the Nation are in far-too-short supply these days, given the state of our country.

And one of the coolest things about him is his self-distribution plan: Grant will send you his latest album, Pawnshop, if you ask him to. That’s it. If you get it and dig it, then you can send him 15 bucks. He calls it “The New Deal.” Just e-mail him at order@grantpeeples.com. Seriously.

- Berkely Place Blog

This man's a born writer, it just seems it took a while for him to get the bit between his teeth. According to the potted autobiography he's got up on his website, which I'm prepared to take pretty much at face value despite the poetic sweep of his tale, it was a friends rendition of Bob Dylan songs that turned him onto the possibilities of songwriting. Many years of playing around with songwriting never really worked out for him, despite a successful comic song earning him a ticket to Nashville for a while. So he drifted away and only came back to it recently, on the point of turning 50.

Well I reckon it was worth the wait; he's still writing comic songs but mostly they're funny in the way that Dylan himself is funny - a mordant wit allied to a strong sense of the point he wants to make. He's got a strong political awareness and he's writing for the little guys downtrodden by the world in the rush for ever greater prosperity. Sometimes the music itself is used to disguise the point he's making: the bluegrassy Jesus Was A Revolutionary, sounding like Appalachian gospel music, very determinedly makes the case for Jesus as proto-socialist - and that's why he was killed. I don't think I buy the equating of Jesus' crucifixion with the use of the electric chair in modern America. America has ways of neutralising it's radicals without resort to execution. People who end up in the electric chair, if they're not actually victims of an injustice, are just bad guys who couldn't afford a good enough lawyer.

That's the only track that's bluegrass-tinged. On other songs Grant and his adaptable bunch of players try out all sorts of sounds, from honky tonk to the smoky, jazzy rock of Searching For A Sign. This actually has the effect of giving the album as a whole greater depth and hidden pleasures to be revealed on greater familiarity. The weight of these songs, however, is in the lyrics; Leaving her Was Easy is a prime example. Sounding like bog-standard honky tonk sentimentality, closer listening reveals the jokes: "leaving her was easy - once she dumped all my stuff out in the yard". There is a problem sometimes with songs like this: once they've revealed their surprise they tend not to bear much repeat listening, but there's a great seriousness underlying Grant Peeple's humour that's worth paying attention to.

Grant's voice is roughedged and gravelly and he's certainly not the most musical of singers, but he varies his approach enough not to entirely bludgeon you and he's got some girls stepping up to the mic occasioinally to sweeten the sound. There's some really nice playing from his band, especially Lis Williamson and Kurt Johnston on the guitars. The guy is good, one of the best and most original writers I've come across in a while. And if you check out his website you absolutely must listen to his offering for a Florida State Song. Priceless.
- Flying Shoes Review

This man's a born writer, it just seems it took a while for him to get the bit between his teeth. According to the potted autobiography he's got up on his website, which I'm prepared to take pretty much at face value despite the poetic sweep of his tale, it was a friends rendition of Bob Dylan songs that turned him onto the possibilities of songwriting. Many years of playing around with songwriting never really worked out for him, despite a successful comic song earning him a ticket to Nashville for a while. So he drifted away and only came back to it recently, on the point of turning 50.

Well I reckon it was worth the wait; he's still writing comic songs but mostly they're funny in the way that Dylan himself is funny - a mordant wit allied to a strong sense of the point he wants to make. He's got a strong political awareness and he's writing for the little guys downtrodden by the world in the rush for ever greater prosperity. Sometimes the music itself is used to disguise the point he's making: the bluegrassy Jesus Was A Revolutionary, sounding like Appalachian gospel music, very determinedly makes the case for Jesus as proto-socialist - and that's why he was killed. I don't think I buy the equating of Jesus' crucifixion with the use of the electric chair in modern America. America has ways of neutralising it's radicals without resort to execution. People who end up in the electric chair, if they're not actually victims of an injustice, are just bad guys who couldn't afford a good enough lawyer.

That's the only track that's bluegrass-tinged. On other songs Grant and his adaptable bunch of players try out all sorts of sounds, from honky tonk to the smoky, jazzy rock of Searching For A Sign. This actually has the effect of giving the album as a whole greater depth and hidden pleasures to be revealed on greater familiarity. The weight of these songs, however, is in the lyrics; Leaving her Was Easy is a prime example. Sounding like bog-standard honky tonk sentimentality, closer listening reveals the jokes: "leaving her was easy - once she dumped all my stuff out in the yard". There is a problem sometimes with songs like this: once they've revealed their surprise they tend not to bear much repeat listening, but there's a great seriousness underlying Grant Peeple's humour that's worth paying attention to.

Grant's voice is roughedged and gravelly and he's certainly not the most musical of singers, but he varies his approach enough not to entirely bludgeon you and he's got some girls stepping up to the mic occasioinally to sweeten the sound. There's some really nice playing from his band, especially Lis Williamson and Kurt Johnston on the guitars. The guy is good, one of the best and most original writers I've come across in a while. And if you check out his website you absolutely must listen to his offering for a Florida State Song. Priceless.
- Flying Shoes Review

Make no mistake about it: Grant Peeples is a poet. Putting his poetry to music definitely makes it more accessible to more people, and that's important for any artist. Sometimes, though, Pawnshop, which is a wonderful collection of poems about real America, seems to try to get too musical, instead of letting the poetry shine through. Only sometimes, thankfully. Songs like "The Saddest Thing," "There's a Bluebird in My Heart," and the title track paint vivid pictures of a our fragile human condition and you can head to the album's final three tracks for my favorite songblock. It begins with the lone cover tune, Frank Graham's "Better Jobs Down In Richmond" and ends with the rousing "Jesus Was a Revolutionary," with a duet (with Carrie Hamby) called "The Hanging" sandwiched between. Beautiful songs, beautifully produced. (SC)
- Americana Music Times

Make no mistake about it: Grant Peeples is a poet. Putting his poetry to music definitely makes it more accessible to more people, and that's important for any artist. Sometimes, though, Pawnshop, which is a wonderful collection of poems about real America, seems to try to get too musical, instead of letting the poetry shine through. Only sometimes, thankfully. Songs like "The Saddest Thing," "There's a Bluebird in My Heart," and the title track paint vivid pictures of a our fragile human condition and you can head to the album's final three tracks for my favorite songblock. It begins with the lone cover tune, Frank Graham's "Better Jobs Down In Richmond" and ends with the rousing "Jesus Was a Revolutionary," with a duet (with Carrie Hamby) called "The Hanging" sandwiched between. Beautiful songs, beautifully produced. (SC)
- Americana Music Times

On the opening track of "Pawnshop", “Searching For a Sign”, Grant wonders “how much shock and awe it takes to bring this nation to its senses”. The mood set, Peeples obviously isn’t happy with the State of Our Nation and he’s itching to tell you exactly how he feels. Pawnshops don’t thrive in good times and “Pawnshop” is dedicated to and inspired by the too many Americans slipping through the cracks. Grant sings, talks, growls and howls through the twelve tracks of hard times, lost love and a country off course. Like Butch Hancock, Guy Clark and Leonard Cohen, he’s a talented storyteller with a wise and weary, well worn voice. “Leaving Her Was Easy” is a pretty country weeper. “There's a Bluebird in My Heart (for Charles Bukowski)” leads perfectly into “I Know Why the Poets Drink and Smoke”. “Better Jobs Down in Richmond”, the lone cover, offers a sliver of hope for a better future, jobs and money somewhere down the road. The album closer, “Jesus Was A Revolutionary” finds Peeples channeling Woody Guthrie as he not so subtly skewers the Religious Right. Grant’s pissed off but he’s not giving up. He’s looking to survive and he’s taking a unique approach to spread his message and music.

- Hickory Wind

On the opening track of "Pawnshop", “Searching For a Sign”, Grant wonders “how much shock and awe it takes to bring this nation to its senses”. The mood set, Peeples obviously isn’t happy with the State of Our Nation and he’s itching to tell you exactly how he feels. Pawnshops don’t thrive in good times and “Pawnshop” is dedicated to and inspired by the too many Americans slipping through the cracks. Grant sings, talks, growls and howls through the twelve tracks of hard times, lost love and a country off course. Like Butch Hancock, Guy Clark and Leonard Cohen, he’s a talented storyteller with a wise and weary, well worn voice. “Leaving Her Was Easy” is a pretty country weeper. “There's a Bluebird in My Heart (for Charles Bukowski)” leads perfectly into “I Know Why the Poets Drink and Smoke”. “Better Jobs Down in Richmond”, the lone cover, offers a sliver of hope for a better future, jobs and money somewhere down the road. The album closer, “Jesus Was A Revolutionary” finds Peeples channeling Woody Guthrie as he not so subtly skewers the Religious Right. Grant’s pissed off but he’s not giving up. He’s looking to survive and he’s taking a unique approach to spread his message and music.

- Hickory Wind

When was the last time you made a purchase on the honor system? Americana artist Grant Peeples encourages visitors to his website to order his new Gatorbone Records release “Pawnshop”, receive it, THEN pay for it, which is his curious new business experiment and hopeful way of engaging his fans.

This rugged-voiced north Floridian also trusts us with his unapologetically brooding view of the world, as well as his dark humor. After spending 11 years on a remote Nicaraguan island, ex-ex-patriot Peeples has come home with a boatload to say about our changing American communities.

All but one of the 11 tracks on the album are self-penned (there are additional hidden tracks which are FCC compliant versions of tracks 1 and 2) and are reminiscent of lyric social commentaries by Bob Dylan and John Prine. Peeples is really a guitar-slinging poet and his worn delivery makes us hang onto his every word. He growls his disappointment with modern bards in “I Know Why the Poets Drink and Smoke”: “…I can’t stand them begging for acceptance/When it’s forgiveness they should want/And me, I still like to feel a little pain when I bleed/ And see every bone that’s broke/And taste some righteous anger in my mouth/When I’m all fresh out of hope”. In “There’s a Bluebird in My Heart”, he touchingly explains why he’s likely to write sad songs: “All his songs have sad melody/But he wants me to set him free/And I can’t do that right now/There’s a bluebird in my heart/And I just can’t let him out”.

Pawnshops are the back drops of two powerful songs. In the title track “Pawnshop”, a spare piano production connects with our emotions, as does Peeples’ early Tom Waits-esque, part recitation, part sung delivery of his vividly landscaped lyrics, “Where gold chains and deadly weapons/Sad guitars and family jewels/Lie in wait behind glass counters/Upon the fates of other fools”. The reality of economic hard times is brought to the surface via poignant lyrics and pedal steel in ¾ time in “The Saddest Thing”: “It’s the saddest thing I ever seen/This couple and their wedding rings/A pawnshop floor’s a nasty thing/For tears to have to find a place to fall”.

Stand-out track is “The Hanging”; it’s a stunning 19th century vignette of a community gathered around the gallows with, “…cotton candy, crucifixes and American flags”. Peeples’ story rings true, from his church bell intro, to the drone of an accordion, to his chorus featuring a female vocalist singing, “I’m not crying over him; I’m crying - Music News nashville

When was the last time you made a purchase on the honor system? Americana artist Grant Peeples encourages visitors to his website to order his new Gatorbone Records release “Pawnshop”, receive it, THEN pay for it, which is his curious new business experiment and hopeful way of engaging his fans.

This rugged-voiced north Floridian also trusts us with his unapologetically brooding view of the world, as well as his dark humor. After spending 11 years on a remote Nicaraguan island, ex-ex-patriot Peeples has come home with a boatload to say about our changing American communities.

All but one of the 11 tracks on the album are self-penned (there are additional hidden tracks which are FCC compliant versions of tracks 1 and 2) and are reminiscent of lyric social commentaries by Bob Dylan and John Prine. Peeples is really a guitar-slinging poet and his worn delivery makes us hang onto his every word. He growls his disappointment with modern bards in “I Know Why the Poets Drink and Smoke”: “…I can’t stand them begging for acceptance/When it’s forgiveness they should want/And me, I still like to feel a little pain when I bleed/ And see every bone that’s broke/And taste some righteous anger in my mouth/When I’m all fresh out of hope”. In “There’s a Bluebird in My Heart”, he touchingly explains why he’s likely to write sad songs: “All his songs have sad melody/But he wants me to set him free/And I can’t do that right now/There’s a bluebird in my heart/And I just can’t let him out”.

Pawnshops are the back drops of two powerful songs. In the title track “Pawnshop”, a spare piano production connects with our emotions, as does Peeples’ early Tom Waits-esque, part recitation, part sung delivery of his vividly landscaped lyrics, “Where gold chains and deadly weapons/Sad guitars and family jewels/Lie in wait behind glass counters/Upon the fates of other fools”. The reality of economic hard times is brought to the surface via poignant lyrics and pedal steel in ¾ time in “The Saddest Thing”: “It’s the saddest thing I ever seen/This couple and their wedding rings/A pawnshop floor’s a nasty thing/For tears to have to find a place to fall”.

Stand-out track is “The Hanging”; it’s a stunning 19th century vignette of a community gathered around the gallows with, “…cotton candy, crucifixes and American flags”. Peeples’ story rings true, from his church bell intro, to the drone of an accordion, to his chorus featuring a female vocalist singing, “I’m not crying over him; I’m crying - Music News nashville

"This guy sounds just like Prine, but with a Southern bent."
- Nashville songwriting legend

"This guy sounds just like Prine, but with a Southern bent."
- Nashville songwriting legend

"I was knocked out by this album. Grant is on a roll here, painting evocative picture of the New American landscape. Writers like this are hard to come by."
- Texas producer/singer/songwriter

"I was knocked out by this album. Grant is on a roll here, painting evocative picture of the New American landscape. Writers like this are hard to come by."
- Texas producer/singer/songwriter