WELCOME TO THE SID GRIFFIN HOMEPAGE
SID GRIFFIN wears many hats in his career as a musician, author and broadcaster. Well, okay, that's only three hats...but it's more than two and they all fit snugly and look quite smart. He is also a proud parent and makes excellent seafood rissotto but is, alas, unpaid for either task.
A eighth generation native Kentuckian who currently resides in England he recently turned on NBC's The Jimmy Kimmel Show only to hear one of his songs being played by the house band! Sid Griffin has already won a Lifetime Achievement Award in Italy (true!), and on Sept. 28, 2007 his 94,000 word book on Bob Dylan's Basement Tapes sessions will finally be available in the shops. In October Sid's old band the Long Ryders, the legendary founders of alt-country, have a new live album released on Prima Records Ltd. entitled Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion and 2008 will witness a live DVD release from the same tour. Further to all this Sid activity a brand new bluegrass album from his band The Coal Porters will be released in February 2008 which features guest spots from such notables as ex-Byrd Chris Hillman.
His recent stint as Resident Musicologist on BBC Radio Two DJ Mark Radcliffe's excellent late night show raised his profile and brought the Griffin Wisdom to an entirely new demographic. Frequently heard on late night BBC Radio Griffin's silver-toned his vocal chords will be heard extensively when the BBC broadcast Mark Lamarr's four part series Redneck Music.
As a musician Griffin continues to perform on bluegrass mandolin with his acoustic Coal Porters ensemble. He looks forward to summer 2008 with the hope his old rock band The Long Ryders, considered to be the founders of Alt-Country, will perform at some festivals in Europe. Having finally completed the editing of the DVD release of the Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion concert it is worth noting an Extra on this upcoming DVD is the Long Ryders performing live in 1985 in Manchester (filmed by a fan who had one of the very first mini-cams).
And yes, in between all of this activity Sid Griffin still performs the occasional, and very special, solo troubadour show. He is slated to tour the UK in April with Eleanor McEvoy so watch this space!
The Coal Porters have contributed to the tribute album to The Clash's great Sandinista! record by cutting their own version of Something About England. This album is now out and available and it is called The Sandinista Project: A Tribute To The Clash.
Griffin's "country & eastern" act Western Electric is formally dormant yet periodically regroups to record selections for compilation albums such as their version of So You've Got A Lover for Five Way Street: A Tribute To The Buffalo Springfield.
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 last book Bluegrass Guitar: Know The Players, Play The Music. ( Backbeat , UK )
Mr. Griffin continues to support cancer research and all tsunami charities. His sister is deeply involved in Hurricaine Katrina home building in New Orleans so anyone interested check out Habitat For Humanity. Or for that matter www.wateraid.org
Griffin believes global warming is a fact and our greatest challenge and somebody else's fault.
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.
As a freelance journalist Griffin is a regular contributor to Mojo, Dead Beat, Gaslight, 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 but they shifted their editorial emphasis to a younger, more dance oriented audience which caused Mr. Griffin to take his laptop elsewhere.
Sid's second book, Bluegrass Guitar: Know The Players, Know The Music, was published by BackBeat Books with an accompanying CD which features Sid's bluegrass Coal Porters performing songs alongside ex- Jerry Garcia sideman, guitar whiz Eric Thompson.
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 New England Whaling Songs, Vol. Five.
Prima Records has compiled, archived and reissued five albums of Sid's 1980's band, the Long Ryders. A sixth CD is out in October 2007, Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion. The Long Ryders are considered to be the founding fathers of today's alt-country movement and they toured for the first time in seventeen years when they performed in Europe that summer of 2004. The Prima release of The Best Of The Long Ryders (SID016) is the label's best selling CD.
February 2004 witnessed the release of the first "new" Long Ryders material in sixteen years with Three Minute Warnings: The Long Ryders Live In New York City on Prima Records. Full details are here.
