A Conversation with David Grisman (continued)
PM: Whose mandolins are you playing?
DG: Well, I still use an old Gibson F-5. In fact, I just acquired the second one made.
PM: You're kidding!
DG: No.
PM: Where did you get it?
DG: I got it from a friend of mine who had it. And I actually turned him on to it when it was on the block a few years ago.
PM: Wow! Need the friend remain anonymous or...
DG: He's actually my agent, Dexter Johnson, who is also a Luthier, and he represented Steve Gilchrist for many years, a great Australian mandolin builder. And he's a vintage instrument guy.
PM: That's got to be worth an incredible amount of money, does it not?
DG: Well, yeah. It's got one thing -- somebody painted a parrot on the back of it, a rather nice parrot, actually.
PM: Oh, at least that.
DG: An oil painting of a parrot on the back, which to some people would devalue it. But the people who were selling it didn't notice that it was the first one in the first batch. There's only one accounted for that's earlier than that, and that's the prototype.
PM: Holy shit!
DG: Yeah.
PM: And the painter of the parrot is unknown?
DG: Unknown, yeah.
PM: Wow. [laughs] Some more good mandolin myth.
DG: Yeah. But I play another old one, what they called the Lloyd Loar Gibson.
PM: L-o-h-r?
DG: L-o-a-r. L-o-h-r is the wine.
PM: Oh, thank you. [laughs]
DG: Yeah. I like that, too.
PM: [laughs]
DG: But, you know, I have Gilchrist mandolins and mandocellos. I'm a mandolin collector.
PM: No doubt.
DG: But you can only play one at a time.
PM: Have you been a fiddler in your time, too?
DG: Never.
PM: Never.
DG: I picked up a fiddle, and I inherited a fiddle. My Uncle was a classical violin player, and I inherited his violin. But I gave it to Darol Anger a few years ago. I would go up to the attic and take it out and try to play it, but the sound that I made was so ugly that I didn't have the perseverance to go beyond that. But I like telling fiddle players exactly what to play -- good fiddle players.
PM: [laughs] You know, David, you've accomplished so much in your lifetime. Are there goals that still lie ahead that we should talk about on the way out?
DG: Well, just kind of more of the same. I mean, I'm a grandpa now. I have twin grandkids. And, you know, I'd just like to keep going. People are always asking me, "Is there anybody left you want to play with?" And I say, "By now, it's like: who wants to play with me?"
PM: [laughs]
DG: I used to have a file in my filing cabinet -- and it's probably still there -- it says "Concepts." And I used to dream up these concepts. Of course, now, I've just shipped ACD #50. I've gotten to really execute a lot of those concepts. And I've learned that, you know, a concept, sometimes in reality it's great and sometimes it isn't. On paper you could say, "Oh, I'd like to play with these guys." But maybe the chemistry wouldn't be there, you never know.
PM: Right.
DG: I'm real grateful. I've gotten to play with so many great people and meet so many great people, and lost so many great people and found so many great people. I'd just like to stay healthy, and have my family healthy. I don't really have any big goals right now, other than to keep going on the path that I'm on. I'm already working on the next three CDs always. I think you'll be interested in this: we just recorded Old And In The Grey.
PM: Oh, that's great.
DG: Pete Rowan, Vassar Clements, myself, Herb Peterson, and a young female bass player named Bryn Bright. We did 14 new tunes. And I think anybody that liked Old And In The Way will like this. It's definitely in the spirit of the original band.
PM: I sure look forward to it. I was a big fan. Well, you're kind to give us so much time today, David.
DG: Sure. You kept me interested.
PM: Thanks, brother. Take good care of yourself.
DG: Well, good luck, man.
 |
