Riffin' With Griffin
Sid Griffin, author, musician and now broadcaster, plays his current fave tunes from across the musical spectrum and chats about what’s coming up in his own life and what’s going down at large culturally.
The Sid Griffin Podcast - A Tribute To Tom Stevens - Show 31
24-03-2021
Our first podcast to focus on a single artist it was a quixotic, bittersweet program to produce but with the help of five…yes, five…Special Guest Stars it is clearly the jewel in the crown, the flagship of the several dozen podcasts we three have recorded over the past six years.
At this point most listeners to this podcast will know Tom Stevens died in late January.
Known to many as the bass player of the Long Ryders since Christmas 1983 Tom was of course a brilliant lead singer, songwriter, bass player, cellist, guitar player, arranger, harmony singer, as well as a wonderfully cool and calm, pretty much unflappable band member.
He was also a deeply devoted family man, proud Indiana resident, and a lover of sports who enjoyed many long lasting friendships with folks around the world. He was in many fine bands during his lifetime and had a totally underrated solo career as well. Long term Long Ryders listeners will remember him as the Long Ryders’ archivist, the guy behind the recent box set reissues on Cherry Red Records so many of you have enjoyed.
This show features five Long Ryders songs written and sung by Tom, five brilliant solo Tom Stevens songs from his post-Long Ryders career, a song sung in tribute to Tom and a Neil Young cover which Tom sang live onstage it really is something we at Sid Griffin Dot Com are proud to have been part of.
If you did not know it already by the end of one hour’s listening you will certainly then know how multi-talented Tom Stevens was and how it was so easy to work alongside him and enjoy his warm company.
And now there were three. No musician who worked with him will ever forget Thomas Howard Stevens. I suppose the situation of the Long Ryders is somewhat akin to that of the Stevens family. We will all carry on as best we can, knowing he is looking out for us from above, a protective and guiding hand to show us the true way forward.
Farewell, old friend, enjoy your eternal rest, say hi to your folks for us, and remind the Angel Band you play cello as well.
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This is the Podcast of Solo perfomer, Long Ryder and now ex-Coal Porter Sid Griffin
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. 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.
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.
The Long Ryders reformed for live concerts in 2004, 2009, 2014 and twice in 2016 and on February 15, 2019 Cherry Red Records in London released the first new Long Ryders album in over thirty years, Psychedelic Country Soul. (In the USA the album is released by Omnivore.) And you know what this means… it means the band will hit the road for live performances. So put that wighat on yo’ head and get ready to rock da joint.
Follow Sid on facebook, twitter and on his website at Sidgriffin.com
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