“Sid Griffin was playing Americana
years before the term was invented
and that pioneer spirit shines on
in his current music”

Biography

Sid Griffin displays many chapeaux in his career as a multi-faceted musician, proud author, knowledgeable broadcaster and professional golfer. Or is that professional go-fer? Okay, only the first three hats get anywhere near his noggin, but they all fit snugly. He is also a proud parent and part time journalist as well as a man who makes excellent cheese mushroom omelettes.

An eighth-generation native Kentuckian who currently resides in England, Sid has popped up in literary circles due to the success of his Million Dollar Bash book on Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes as well as the follow up Shelter From The Storm. He has also appeared in music circles due to his bluegrass band the Coal Porters enjoying success after success with their new CD, No. 6. and to his many media appearances, be they via print media or the airwaves. In 2006 ABC’s The Jimmy Kimmel Show had their house band play Sid’s song Jimmy Reed as they went to commercial…our hero was watching that eve and fell off the sofa when he heard the familiar melody struck up. In addition to falling off furniture Griffin has already won a Lifetime Achievement Award in Italy in 2003 (Piero Ciampi Award), and Sid’s old band the Long Ryders, the legendary founders of alt-country, are occasionally found touring.

Sid appears as Resident Musicologist on BBC Radio 6 Music DJs Stuart Maconie and Mark Radcliffe’s excellent afternoon show and this brought Sid to an entirely new demographic. Frequently heard on late night BBC Radio, Griffin’s silver-toned vocal chords were heard extensively when the BBC broadcast Mark Lamarr’s four-part series Redneck Music in early 2008. (Griffin was not the redneck in question.)

As a musician, Griffin has performed bluegrass mandolin with his acoustic Coal Porters ensemble. The Coal Porters who played festivals in many places around the world including Glastonbury in the UK, Kilkenny Festival in Ireland and the World Of Bluegrass festival in Kentucky USA. After a seventeen year run The Coal Porters called it a day on July eleventh, 2018. He looks forward the future as his old rock band The Long Ryders sometimes perform again. The Long Ryders box set Final Wild Songs was released in January 2016 to universal acclaim, creating a new demand for live concerts by the band.

And yes, in between all of this activity Sid Griffin still performs the occasional, and very special, solo troubadour show. Lately his solo appearances are in support of his 2015 solo album The Trick Is To Breathe, which earned Griffin four and five star reviews globally. In 2018 Sid is performing solo in Spain, Italy, the UK, Scandinavia and his native United States.

The DVD release on Warner Bros/Rhino of the BBC TV special which Griffin co-wrote and researched entitled Gram Parsons, Fallen Angel has proven to be a great success as was his book Bluegrass Guitar: Know The Players, Play The Music. (Backbeat, UK) Sid of course has two books on Bob Dylan; one one The Basement Tapes called Million Dollar Bash, and the other on the Rolling Thunder Revue era Bob called Shelter From The Storm. Both are published in the USA and UK by Jawbone.

Griffin believes global warming is our greatest challenge and recycles while striving to reduce his own carbon footprint.

As a documentary scriptwriter for BBC Radio Two, Sid Griffin had two of his scripts broadcast in 2006, the first on Gram Parsons and the second on the Carter Family, this latter narrated by Dolly Parton. Sid is starting to write a new book in early 2018 and word has it this will be his final book on Bob Dylan.

As a freelance journalist Griffin is a regular contributor to Mojo, Fritz Lang Review, Gaslight, Rock ‘n’ Reel, Baseball Maniac, Skyway and Country Music International. He has been published in The Guardian, Music Week, Variety, Cash Box, New Musical Express, the L.A. Weekly, BAM and Melody Maker. Sid was a regular contributor to Q magazine as well.

An acknowledged expert on the musical career of Gram Parsons, Sid’s first book Gram Parsons – A Music Biography (Sierra Books) is still in print and it would be nice if the publisher paid him his royalties one day. He has contributed sleeve notes to a great many CD reissues by Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Bros, The Byrds and Gene Clark. Sid has also compiled and written sleeve notes for reissues by Long John Baldry, Mike Nesmith, Arthur Lee’s Love, Joe Ely, Dolly Parton, the International Submarine Band, Steve Young, Tim Hardin, The Everly Brothers, Phil Ochs, Iggy Pop, Nils Lofgren, his heroes Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys, his friend the late Ronnie Lane, Hank Williams, Glen Campbell and for various compilations including Beating Up The Campus, Fallen Angels: An Alt-Country Sampler and Okay, So We Lost: Songs Of The Confederacy, Vol. Five.

Further to all this Sid has his very own musical Podcast 'Call All Coal Porters' which is availible on iTunes as well as on his own website at SidGriffin.com

A sixth CD was released in October 2007, Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion and a seventh, an expanded Native Sons with extra tracks, appeared to loud huzzahs in January 2011. At present there are no further Long Ryder reissues planned.

The Long Ryders reformed for live concerts in 2004, 2009, 2014 and twice in 2016 and the band hope to record some new songs for a new album! So watch this space for a major announcement as regards new Long Ryders studio tracks.

Album Discography

Music

Press Photos

Click on the images to download high resolution press photos.

Videos

Sid Griffin plays Ode To Bobbie Gentry from his album The Trick Is To Breathe at the Americana Fest in Vienna, Austria.

Circle Bar was originally written by Sid for The Long Ryders before they broke up. It was eventually recorded and released a quarter of a century later on The Trick Is To Breathe and is shown here performed in Piedralaves, Spain in 2015.

Sid Griffin playing the Guy Clark song New Cut Road live on September 10th, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky. Danny Kiely is on doghouse bass and Allison Summers is the great fiddler.

The Trick Is To Breathe is Sid Griffin’s first solo album in a decade, released in September of 2015 it received a host of fine reviews and was Uncut magazine's Americana Album of the Month.

As promoters and venues were frequently contacting Griffin about solo shows it was obviously time for new Sid Solo Music. Yet the multi-tasking Griffin, a musician first, both with The Coal Porters and The Long Ryders, a writer second, a broadcaster third and…oh yes, a family man on top of all that, didn’t have much time to spare to record. “You can spend weeks doing an album. Both my previous solo albums were done piecemeal, that is recorded in bits here and then bits there over weeks. I needed to get an album done quickly.”

“Billy Bragg told me his last album was recorded by Joe Henry in just a few days out in Pasadena, California and I remembered Dylan did Nashville Skyline in only a few days. So I contacted some Nashville cats I knew, they recommended Thomm Jutz as a producer, he and I hit it off, Thom picked most of the players and by the time I flew to Tennessee these folks knew my songs better than I did. Hence we started on Monday and were done by Thursday!”

Sid played mandolin on two tracks, guitar on about six more, but the core of the band was Mark Fain from Ricky Skagg’s Kentucky Thunder outfit on bass, the great virtuoso Sierra Hull on mandolin, Paul Griffiths on drums, Thomm Jutz on guitar, Justin Moses on banjo, fiddle and dobro, and gospel legend James T. Brown on backing vocals.

The Trick Is To Breathe announces Sid Griffin is back on the world stage as a solo artist, globe-trotting troubadour and singer-songwriter. “It’s a great record, it really is, my best songs ever and you can play them with a group behind you as I did in Nashville or they can be performed by me solo.”

Sid Griffin - The Trick Is To Breathe Cover Art

Sid Griffin Solo Show Poster

Representation and Bookings

Sid Griffin Solo Concert Bookings:

For UK and North American shows please email Sid via bookings@sidgriffin.com

In Spain all Sid Griffin promotion is handled by Francisco Santelices at PromOla!

In Scandinavia all Sid Griffin promotion is handled by Peter Holmstedt at Hemifran

Contact Sid Griffin directly via bookings@sidgriffin.com, via twitter or by the contact page on his website at SidGriffin.com

For more on Sid Griffin, The Coal Porters and The Long Ryders please visit SidGriffin.com