Going where life leads

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Musician Tracy Grammer, performing May 21 on Bainbridge Island, knows how unpredictable life can be.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how many different paths there are to take in life. I’ve had somewhere around 20 different jobs and at least three careers, four if you count motherhood. I’ve been married, divorced, lived in a foreign country and gone back to school at 40. Every one of those was a path; some dead ends, some with no end in sight.

And I hope I’m only halfway down my life path.

I’m always fascinated by people who make their living in the arts, whether it’s as an actor, writer, painter or musician. How did they get on that path? Did they choose it or did it choose them?

I thought of that question this week while reading the biographical information about musician Tracy Grammer, who is playing May 21 at Island Center Hall.

I learned she was raised in a musical family, and could even claim that a cousin played in the Lawrence Welk Band.

Her dad played lap steel and electric guitars, and they would often invite the neighborhood kids over for singalongs. At age 9 she began taking voice and classical violin lessons, and went on to play in school and regional orchestras.

But then she went away to college, UC Berkeley, to work on a degree not in music, but English literature. While going to school she worked as an administrator and graphic designer at the college.

What happened to the music? Turns out it was still there, and her dad (bless his heart) brought her back to it. He introduced her to Curtis Coleman, a former member of the pivotal ‘60s folk group, The New Christy Minstrels. Coleman invited her to perform with him at a few small gigs, and that was it.

“Performing revived a part of me that felt like it had been dormant for eternities,” Grammer writes. “I had abandoned music for several years and couldn’t for the life of me figure out why.”

Back at school she formed a band and released a demo, but her road of life wasn’t done turning yet.

In 1996 she saw folk musician and songwriter David Carter perform at a show in Portland, shortly after she had moved there.

As she tells it, “Here were stories that could stand alone as poetry, sung with compassion, intelligence, and a hint of Texas twang. Dave’s entire presentation felt like home to me. I knew instantly that I was in the presence of greatness; I knew I had received my calling in life.”

It didn’t take long for the duo to become musical and romantic partners, drawing out the best in each other.

They toured heavily, recorded three albums and drew praise from critics and fellow artists. In early 2002 they toured with Joan Baez, who sang Carter’s songs.

One folk music expert said of their music, “No one sings Dave Carter’s songs better than Tracy. He chose her to be the voice of his songs. His vision, their vision, was that they shared something they both saw. She is half the reason they were so great.”

“Were.” Past tense. Sometimes you choose the path, sometimes it chooses you.

Just six years after they met, Carter suffered a massive heart attack at age 49, and died in Grammer’s arms. She was left to carry on his — their — music on her own.

She told heartbroken fans on her Web site, “We need to keep this music alive, it was always my mission that the world hear and know the poetry and vision and wonderful mystical magic of David Carter. This path is broad and long; I hope you will stay the course with me.”

And so she started down the path of solo artist, continuing to sing and play Carter’s songs for a growing legion of fans.

In 2005 she produced her first album without Carter by her side, “Flower of Avalon,” but it features nine of his songs never before released. The recording has been favorably received by the folk music community, and was the most-played album on folk radio in the United States in 2005.

Grammer now tours with multi-instrumentalist Jim Henry.

We in Kitsap County are fortunate that Grammer’s immediate path is leading her our way.

Catch her in concert, 7 p.m. May 21 at Island Center Hall, 8395 Fletcher Bay Rd., Bainbridge Island. Admission is $15 adults, $10 students. To reserve tickets call (206) 842-5485.

The concert is sponsored by Music Community Resources.