Go to MySpace Coal Porters to find out who the stellar talents are in the Coal Porters, a band I am extremely, extremely proud of! Other than those dudes I would like to thank Toby Holdsworth, Dan Perloff, Michele Mei, Jeff Aug, Allie Fox, everyone at Adastra, Ed Stasium and the late John Kenneth Galbraith.
Influences
YES, we FINALLY moved into the new house in north London on Nov 14! Hats in the air!! Of course we are living in boxes. This is being typed while I sit on an amplifier. Off to IKEA...
Sounds Like
The Long Ryders back catalog is NOW DIGITALLY AVAILABLE via Amazon IN THE UK FOR THE FIRST TIME (!) and is soon available via iTunes in the UK too! This material is already digitally available in the USA on Amazon, iTunes and from many other sites.
The Coal Porters back catalog is available at all the places above, be they UK or USA, and their new album DURANGO will be digitally available around Christmas.
Sid Griffin is now on Twitter. So if you want to hear me Twitter SIGN ON!
I do believe my Twitter site is SidCPsGriffin
The Coal Porters new CD, cut in Colorado USA in April with the great Ed Stasium at the helm, IS OUT IN JANUARY 2010!! For more info keep tabs on MySpace Coal Porters.
The LONG RYDERS back catalog, including our two Island LPs, is NOW AVAILABLE digitally via Amazon USA and those same two Island LPs plus the Prima reissues should be available on iTunes.
By popular demand the beard is gone! Shaved off but not before I first got in this charming Fu Manchu and embarressed my closest friends.
"Hey, Sid Griffin" is by Invisible Republik who used to be The Heyze and are from the north of England. Their own MySpace link is below in the Friends section. "Sid" is by a wonderful Toronto band called Shortwave who I heartily recommend to all! Check 'em out via MySpace by clicking on Friends below!
The Ballad Of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest is a Dylan song from JWHarding I improvised as a finale at a Feb 2008 Basement Tapes reading/gig I did with the great Rod Clements who was in Lindisfarne.
I Tell Her All The Time (1966 re-mix) is me live in Spain January 2008 and the remix is by my pal Tony Poole of Starry-Eyed & Laughing, a fine band up right there with the Sons Of Adam and the Blues Poets. Thanks, Tony!
Currently Sid is writing the second book of his Dylan trilogy, this one on Bob's Rolling Thunder Review/Renaldo & Clara years. The book will be published in April 2010.
Sid Griffin is the proud author of the 94,000 word book MILLION DOLLAR BASH: Bob Dylan, The Band & The Basement Tapes (Jawbone Press, USA/UK). The book tells what Dylan was up to from his motorcycle crash on in July 1966 to the release of John Wesley Harding eighteen months later and also deftly explores the Hawks morphing into The Band during 1967. With interviews from Robbie Robertson, Ronnie Hawkins, Roger McGuinn, Manfred Mann, Band producer John Simon and many others MILLION DOLLAR BASH is an exhilarating ride. Reviews have been terrific so far with one critic writing, "this book maybe Griffin's greatest single work, his greatest contribution to contemporary culture from his lifetime spent deep in the archives and out on the streets."
Sid's mighty Coal Porters bluegrass band have a fine CD out called Turn The Water On, Boy! which has received killer reviews in Word, Uncut, Mojo, Maverick, Q, Classic Rock and The Sunday Times! They recorded the follow up CD this April 2009 in Colorado USA with Ed Stasium. (You can hear and see the Coal Porters via TV clips at last summer's festivals
on their own snazzy MySpace site!)
Author Griffin was a proud member of the Long Ryders who performed their first US gigs in 23 years January 9/10, 2009 in Atlanta...clips of which are already uploaded on YouTube!! Today he lives in London, England where he plays bluegrass mandolin with the aforementioned Coal Porters and writes for Mojo and the BBC. Griffin wears many hats, some of which fit better than others, none of which are beige. Yet.
Sid Griffin has finished editing footage of the Long Ryders 2004 reunion tour and now the DVD Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion is out in Europe AND in the USA! In Europe it is distributed by Proper Music and in the USA it is distributed by Burnside. The CD of that Long Ryders tour is already released via Prima Records and is entitled Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion.
In addition to all this he is still playing the occasional solo acoustic show and has performed a series of MILLION DOLLAR BASH readings/lectures/performances so these are busy times indeed for the artist referred to by BBC Radio One as "a rock'n'roll Renaissance man" and by Ireland's Hot Press as "The Great Enthusiast".
Sid Griffin, Long Ryders and Coal Porters music is available via Prima Records CDs or your favorite MP3 download site such as iTunes and eMusic. Check out the IODA website for a host of Sid, Ryders and CPs' downloadable music!
In addition to those tasks Sid Griffin was Resident Musicologist on Mark Radcliffe's excellent BBC Radio Two show, consultant and interviewee on the Mark Lamarr's recent BBC Radio series Redneck Music as well as becoming known more and more as a record producer.
Sid is also a freelance journalist having written for The Guardian, Mojo, Q, BAM, The Los Angeles Times, Country Music International, Ruta 66, Music Week and a host of other publications. As a rock'n'roll archivist he has overseen reissue projects for the Everly Bros., Long John Baldry, Dolly Parton, Arthur Lee, Nils Lofgren, his friend the late Gene Clark, Michael Nesmith, the Flying Burrito Bros., Gram Parsons, Phil Ochs, his old band the Long Ryders, Joe Ely, Steve Young and his dear sweet pal the late, great Ronnie Lane, amongst others, while participating in the reissue of many other albums.
And yes, Sid was once a DJ on Mean Country Radio 1035AM, hosting a very popular Thursday night bluegrass show and a Saturday afternoon C&W honky tonk show. He makes a mean banana walnut pancake. He can juggle too. Really!
Yet it is for his activities as a musician and songwriter that Griffin is best known. Having founded and named the Long Ryders back in 1982 Griffin was their ringleader during their long hard ride and he wrote and sang the band's biggest single, "Looking For Lewis And Clark".
A few years after the Long Ryders disbanded Sid relocated from Los Angeles to London, taking the name of his new band with him: the Coal Porters. Based in London since February 1992 the Coal Porters started out as a Long Ryders Mk. II but are now an all acoustic five piece playing uptempo folk and bluegrass.
In addition he started Western Electric, the alt-country band to beat all alt-country bands. Their debut album in the year 2000 was Mojo magazine's Americana Album Of The Month. Best described as "Portishead meet Wilco" Western Electric is the world's first Country & Eastern band, crossing straight C&W with psychedelia to great effect.
His work as a record producer has led him to produce tracks for Lindisfarne, Eric Burdon, the Flying Hendersons, France's indie heros Les Bayrues and young alt-country diva Esther Mae. His production of the 1998 Lindisfarne studio album, "Here Comes The Neighborhood", helped give the classic Geordie band what many consider their best release yet.
And during all this Griffin has been performing as a solo acoustic troubadour, at first in support of his two solo CDs "Little Victories" and the more recent "As Certain As Sunrise". This long awaited album is readily found in the shops, can be downloaded easily from many sources and will then reside in your heart forever.
If it seems like a full schedule that's because Sid Griffin has a full life. This is a man whose best Geordie friend says "Sid Griffin isn't happy unless he is doing five things at once". Griffin is always involved in one project or another be it a new album, a tour, research for a CD reissue or working with the BBC on a TV documentary such as the recent collaboration with Gandulf Hennig on Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel.
He lives in north London with his daughter Esther Mae Griffin, his rare guitar collection, a rare Beatles 78rpm from India and a frog named Juan Marichal. He has never met Linda Evangelista, Heidi Klum or Marisa Miller but in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in October 1974 when Sid had very long hair he shook the hand of bluegrass hero and ace mandolinist Bill Monroe who was cordial to chat to yet kept calling him "Sue Griffin".
Gosh I haven't been to the Half Moon Herne Hill for about 10 years! Used to go there a lot. Don't know if I can make Sunday, but would love to come and see you play soon. That book sounds good, I'll look that up on Amazon.
Does your son like your harp playing? He's only small, are you sure you're not mistaking wind for a look of approval?! :-)
Wow, you're looking youthful Sid! Many congratulations on the birth of your little son. Hope you're all doing well and getting a little sleep! Best wishes, Sarah x
Wow Sid! Congratulations! Well done, good job ;-) You must be the proudest Dad in the world right now! I will a song for the newborn boy tonite! Cheers and all the best! Stefan
What a beautiful boy. Congratulations Sid...and to Mrs Sid. Will definitely get to one of the upcoming gigs...and if you're a bit tired, nobody will hold it against you.
Hi Sid and thanks for accepting our request despite our disagrement! Yes PERRO, why on earth didn´t he finnish the mountain song? The version that starts "I went walking through the mountains I thought I found you there" is so damned good. You are lucky to have sung with Gene. Ivory tower is mighty fine recording. As a fan of Long Ryders It´s about time I check out the Coal Porters.
at The Magnolia, 211 Lordship Land, East Dulwich, London SE22 8AH Telephone : 020 8299 4116
An intimate warm-up to the 3-day event in the small upstairs room at The Magnolia featuring the great Miller Anderson (accompanied by Kris Gray) with The Broadkasters, Dr King & Nervous Jonty Atkinson supporting.
Sure! I'll see what I can do. I won't be shy to ask to prowl around London for my run as well. Have her get in touch with me and we'll see if we can round up something for The Station Inn or The Bluebird, something comparable. 3rd and Lindsley maybe? Have her contact me SOON! Christmas shall soon be upon us and nothing gets done here at that time.
Glad the move went alright. You'll soon have to check out your local eateries!
