Tyler Grant: The Champ Comes Home

Goin’ Home, Goin’ Home

Tyler Grant.

Tyler Grant, National Flatpicking Champion[1], is coming home to San Diego to play a rare local show on January 3. If you like Doc Watson or John Denver, Billy Strings or Andrés Segovia, I recommend getting a good seat at this concert—this man covers a lot of territory! Mama, Mama, many worlds he’s come since he first left home….

As a very young man setting out from Jamul, he headed a few hours up I-5 for music studies at CalArts, then powered off to the industrial music complex (Tyler’s words) of Nashville for a hands-on master’s degree in performance. Subsequently, he has split the difference and made Colorado his home base, while touring relentlessly. I caught him recently from his East County family homestead on his way to pick up a San Diego Music Hall of Fame induction award for his tenure with Electric Waste Band.

Let’s see if we can get to know the man by retracing some of that itinerary.

What a Long, Strange Trip
Tyler grew up in Jamul, which you’ve traversed if you’ve driven to Tecate out SR-94. His Dad, Michael Grant, was a writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, covering local stories, and a journalism professor at Grossmont College. He was also a “campfire entertainer” with numerous songs and stories he’d collected since his youth in Texas. With a record rack full the likes the Judds and Ricky Skaggs, “there was always music in the house.”

While attending Valhalla High School, Tyler was playing in bands and teaching guitar at the local music store. He progressed to studying guitar at Grossmont College under Fred Benedetti (who himself studied under Andrés Segovia and was inducted to the San Diego Music Hall of Fame in 2023). He also spent five years (1997-2002) in the aforementioned Electric Waste band, which claims the honor of the longest running local (national?) Grateful Dead cover band, and also boasts of having basketball superstar and Deadhead extraordinaire Bill Walton as another ex-member.

Grant’s studies at Grossmont led him to study classical guitar and music theory at California Institute for the Arts (CalArts) in Santa Clarita. He spent hours every day mastering the fretboard, while also sampling diverse and exotic flavors of world music, each very different from—but just as rich—as the rootsy Americana he grew up with.

But it was those country roots that decided the next fork in his path: “I realized if I’m going to excel, I need a cultural connection to the music I’m playing.” Hearing Tony Rice, he concluded that bluegrass could be played at the technical level of top classical musicians. (Plus bluegrass allows more outdoor time than classical!) Where better to find that roots connection than in Nashville? Tyler spent seven years based there, establishing himself as a go-to tour band guitarist for the likes of Abigail Washburn.

Touring around the country opened a lot of vistas, geographically and musically, and Tyler shifted his home base to Colorado. He teamed up with alumni from festival/jam band favorites The String Cheese Incident and Leftover Salmon to form Grant Farm. That band released a series of acclaimed albums and entertained innumerable enthusiastic crowds…until COVID threw a wrench in the music machine and made him rethink his trajectory.

Listen to the River, Sing Sweet Songs
Dinosaur National Monument is named for the amazing collection of fossils found there. It sits on the Colorado/Utah border not far from Wyoming, and if you’re going there from the east, you come in on US-40. I remember a while back, driving along the Yampa River, watching it disappear into the hills to my right, and wondering if I could get a little boat into that water and those canyons. Apparently that’s not recommended for my inflatable kayak, but there are other options.

A series of unpredictable events during the pandemic slowdown led Tyler to work his way into the position of credentialed river guide on whitewater rafting trips through the Monument on the Yampa and Green Rivers. I haven’t seen him in action, but I would feel safe with a guy who has both the meticulousness to master those Bach pieces on guitar and the agility to trade lightning licks with Billy Strings on stage. On July 4, 2025, you can book a spot with Tyler on a RiverWonderGrass trip through the Green River’s Gates of Lodore under the auspices of Adrift Adventures Dinosaur. Of course he’ll bring his guitar, and he’s not afraid to use it.

The Music Never Stops
Not coincidentally, the Suite Ladore is the name of Tyler’s latest work in progress. It’s an album-length piece for solo guitar, harkening back to his classical days, but played on steel rather than nylon strings, also including vocals. He expects to play selections of this work at his January show, though release of the album will have to wait until his NEW album, due out in March 2025, has a chance to settle.

Tyler Grant with Grant Farm.

Tyler has released six solo albums, plus five with Grant Farm. His most recent, the rocking Tryin’ to Have a Good Time, has had a good run since its 2022 release, but it’s time for it to make way. Flatpicker takes Tyler back to the acoustic/bluegrass space where he has spent so much time. It contains all original music, some solo, some full band, with themes of travel, wilderness, and longing for home. Expect to hear some of that at his January show as well. We’ll encourage him to play Goat Canyon Trestle, a favorite of mine he wrote for the Folk Heritage Train Song Festival in 2023. Other players on the album are:

Andy Thorn, banjo
Michael Daves, tenor vocal
Dylan McCarthy, mandolin
Andy Reiner, fiddle
Ace Engfer, bass

Besides rafting and recording, Tyler keeps a full touring schedule during the more benign weather months, and tries to spend winter time in Jamul writing. He maintains a strong online presence, with popular play-along sessions and highly regarded online lessons. I attended his classes at the Julian Family Fiddle Camp a couple years back and can vouch for his ability to clearly convey nuggets of his acquired wisdom in a way that’s accessible to students.

Live on Stage in January
Tyler Grant will perform a full solo (unless he has some surprises he’s not ready to disclose) concert in Poway on Friday, January 3, as part of the San Diego Folk Heritage concert series. Templar’s Hall is an old meeting house, whose small stage, high ceiling, and wood construction provide excellent sound and the perfect vibe for this type of show.

Travis Oliver, who has worked with Tyler in the past, and shares his love for dexterous flatpicking guitar work, will open the show. He’s a 10th generation Appalachian, but these days a local OBcean, and he’s entertained audiences on our stage before with his strong singing, entertaining repertoire, and blazing fretwork.

LINKS
Tyler Grant https://www.tylergrant.com/
Travis Oliver https://travisflatpicking.com/
San Diego Folk Heritage https://sdfolkheritage.org/events/tyler-grant/
Adrift Adventures Dinosaur https://adrift.com/
Tyler Grant’s Playalong Bluegrass Jams https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTdEJR2u-477ePqK3RK82uibm_45DDYB5&si=dgHmMFUBhYk1ollW
Flatpick Academy lessons https://artistworks.com/guitar-lessons-tyler-grant

CONCERT INFO
Tyler Grant, Travis Oliver opens
January 3, 2025, 7:30pm (doors 6:45)
Templars Hall, Old Poway Park
14134 Midland Road, Poway 92064
$18 general admission (SDFH member $15)
Presented by San Diego Folk Heritage

[1] A Very Big Deal among acoustic guitar players!