David Grossman and The Limit - Bars
If you have never heard of David Grossman, don't worry; you are going to meet him. But first, let's introduce you to his music. Bars is a twelve-song CD release from Stump Records of Phoenix, Arizona. The CD has the added bonus of two "fugitive performance" videos, live performances of David Grossman's Guitar String Tattoo and Too Much, Too Late, Too Many.
The music will pick you up by the boots and not let you down once throughout album. It's real songwriting from a master. True grit. This is something that can only be written by the person who has lived it, felt it and bled for it. David Grossman delivers pure gold!
I like this CD, a lot. I have been playing it almost non-stop for the last several days. I have also been reading everything I can about David Grossman. As much as I like the Bars CD, I almost began this review by writing about David himself. If I did, we would never get to the review…
Bars is the twelfth album from singer/songwriter David Grossman. The Limit is Greg Lisi (drums), Johnny Kempt (bass), and Jason Montero (guitar, harmonies). There are also guest appearances by Terry Anderson (saxophone - Guitar String Tattoo), John Gallager (juice harp - The Warden is a Woman)and Matt Murman (trumpet).
Two kinds of bars, one too many…
David Grossman is a folk singer, he writes folk songs. So do Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Tom Waits and Lyle Lovett. Let's not forget Neil Young. Walking on Windows is the first song on the album and rocks with the same intensity as the best of Neil Young from his Crazy Horse days. Loads of attitude with a good driving bass, this is a very solid track.
Denny's (co-written by David Grossman and Ed Haynes) has an edgy, alternative sound. "My girlfriend left me, my car caught on fire, a couple weeds got me arrested and I just got fired… It's three a.m. and I'm stoned, drunk, bummed out at Denny's" Drinking endless cups of coffee. The fourth song, Government Problem, is another a driving rock ballad.
Too Late, Too Much, Too Many is one of the two songs that is also included as a video on the Bars CD. Pop it in your computer, open your favorite video player and look for the .mpeg files. You will get to see David prepare for Too Late, Too Much, Too Many. It is interesting to see him get into character for this song. He obviously puts a lot of effort here. I also liked the vocal range going all the way down to a very credible Tom Waits growl.
Last Call changes the tempo to a bittersweet folk ballad. "Another last call, turning up the music louder, sweeping the smoke from the floor, as he turned to go, she offered him one more… Two cars heading out in the distance, headlights heading out separate ways."
Stranger In The White Room and Your World are two very personal songs for David Grossman. I am certain of it. They are true folk songs filled with very personal feelings and heart. Simple. Beautiful.
Guitar String Tattoo is folk jazz straight up. David's songwriting and delivery backed by a superb saxophone thanks to Terry Anderson. It is my favorite track off the album: smooth and very cool.
Bars from David Grossman and The Limit is a very balanced CD, the rock ballads, tender folk songs and a taste of jazz. It starts hard and fast and finishes on a sweet note. Everything in between just seems to fit. A DJ at a folk/rock radio station would love it. Queue up the disc and let it play. The variety and the quality would make his station manager proud.
Produced by David Grossman, Johnny Kempt and Matt Murman, and mixed by Matt Murman, who does an excellent job with all of the tracks, all of which were either recorded live or in Grossman's home studio.
David Grossman vs. the Karma Patrol
An article about David originally published in the Phoenix New Times, Feb 08, 2001 begins with the following: "Singer-songwriter overcomes addiction, jail, homelessness and psych wards to start a family and pen some of the best songs you've never heard."
Today David performs his music six or more nights a week at various Phoenix Arizona clubs, he has a wife and a son, they have a house in the desert, two cars and some horses. He earns his living doing what he loves. It might have turned out different.
For much of his life, the karma patrol did seem to have David Grossman in its sights. Born in San Francisco, adopted while a baby, his parents divorced when he was four. At age ten his mother abandoned him.
David was raised Jewish, he even attended Hebrew school, studying Hebrew in the morning and English in the afternoon. Now living with his father, he converted to Episcopalian following his father's path. David even spent time in a Jesuit school for boys. His spiritual outlook became clouded.
The feeling of abandonment still haunted David. "I did feel unwanted when my mom didn't want me," Grossman says. "I thought everybody was depressed as a kid." He began spending time on therapist's couches to deal with his growing depression. He also experienced his first few run-ins with the law.
Music became an outlet. It also helped to pass the time while grounded to his room. No phone, no television, no games, just his guitar and notebooks. David wrote, David practiced. He got good.
The San Francisco Neo-Folk Scene
Entering the Bay area neo-folk scene with a vengeance, a fourteen-year-old David Grossman was good enough that one Bay Area publication wrote of him, "...a kid who's so good that he's going to have songwriters in the city scared silly."
While in the tenth grade, David's family relocated to Arizona. David's father allowed him to stay in San Francisco on his own, to finish his school year and keep up with the music scene.
Things were going very well, David was playing nightly, recording songs, and even headlined the San Francisco Songwriter's Showcase at the Great American Music Hall.
The next two years found David in Arizona, living with his father and finishing high school as agreed. David traveled back and forth between Phoenix and San Francisco to continue doing gigs.
After graduation, David returned to the Bay Area and the folk music scene. He was living in his '76 Maverick, working temp jobs for food and gas money, and playing in clubs just about every night. Not long after that, the karma patrol caught up with David Grossman. And so it went…
The Chinanski Club of Incarcerated Drunks
Fast forward karma patrol: bad luck and bad decisions; drugs, alcohol, and homelessness; hospitalization, more drugs, and jail, and one day finding all your worldly possessions stuffed into a paper bag. This was David Grossman's life.
Lose a job, lose a car, lose a girlfriend, add an overdose on crystal meth followed by even more time in the psych wards. Court ordered treatments and twelve step programs followed. But somehow, someway, the karma patrol that had been haunting David's life was beginning to lose its grip. David took the long way home…
In nineteen ninety-one David met the woman he would marry. They met in the most unlikely of places, a Phoenix mental ward. Kriss, David's wife, was there to change medications, they had hours together to do nothing but talk. Kriss empathized and David was certain, God was on his side.
David's problems were not solved overnight, but Kriss was supportive. A string of DUIs earned David a four-month sentence; a mistake with his paperwork put him in maximum security for a month. And so it went.
David Grossman's life and ultimate success is a fascinating story. He has written an autobiographical novel titled Six Months that is a great read, and an inspiring story for anyone who has ever felt like the karma patrol has you in its sights.
Read all of Six Months by David Grossman online at David's website.
Review by jack "papa" baer - December 31st, 2001
