In this episode of "Tales From The Green Room" Sam Grisman Project mainstays Max Flansburg and Chris English visit with hosts Dennis Strazulo and Tami Larson backstage at Terrapin Crossroads' Sunday Day Dream Vol. 4 in San Rafael, CA. Max Flansburg shares his experience of visiting California for the first time, his musical beginnings in the Finger Lakes region, and joins the roster of stellar guitar players marveling at the mystical encounters surrounding their playing of Jerry Garcia's iconic Alligator Stratocaster, with his own jaw-dropping story! Percussionist extraordinaire Chris English reflects on his rich musical background rooted in a family of pastors, delves into the background of the formation of SGP and describes the emotions of band leader Sam Grisman as he prepared to step in for the ailing Phil Lesh with the day's headliners moments after the interview. Both guests describe the magic moment from the night before when Billy Strings joined the band during their show at the UC Theater in Berkeley along with long-time friend and cross-genre violinist, Alex Hargreaves - adding an exciting twist to the backstage tales told by these fine musicians. It's a perfect warm up for anyone planning to catch SGP shows as they tour the country, and a chance for listeners who have already heard this must-see band to learn more about two of its extraordinary members. Listen and you'll want to hang out with them!
Music
Dawg Funk
Sam Grisman Project
Links
https://www.samgrismanproject.net/
https://www.dirtyblanket.net/
https://chrishollywoodenglish.com/
https://www.sundaydaydream.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dennis (00:01):
Welcome to Tales from the Green Room. Backstage
conversations from popular musicvenues around the country
curated by Mount Tam Media.Listen in as host Dennis
Trouszullo and Mount Tam Mediafounder Tammy Larson dig up
conversations with artistsbefore and after shows in the
exclusive confines of the greenroom.
(00:33):
Tammy, how are you? We are jamming to get another
episode out, and this one iswith Chris Hollywood English.
tami (00:42):
And Max Flansberg.
Dennis (00:44):
Max Flansberg. And they are part of the project of the
Sam Grisman project.
tami (00:50):
Yeah. Now we had seen them the night before as well.
Dennis (00:53):
Yeah. Well, listen. First of all, I'm so happy to,
put something out for Sam'sfolks, right, for the people in
his band because we've had Samon here a couple of times.
tami (01:03):
I hope
Dennis (01:04):
people have listened. If not, please go back to listen to
our Grateful Guitars episode andway back when with, Jay Lane.
Right?
tami (01:11):
That was
Dennis (01:11):
one of That's a
tami (01:12):
good one.
Dennis (01:12):
One of our favorites. So I'm just happy that we can have
our audience get to know theseguys who are part of the Sam
Brisbane project.
tami (01:19):
Very cool. Both of them. One Mass hadn't even been to,
California.
Dennis (01:25):
Yeah. I I wasn't sure. I knew he had In Rochester. I
wasn't even sure if, perhaps Ithink maybe Chris had, but,
anyway, we'll have to listen tofind out. But Yeah.
For sure, Max had not I rememberhe's a big fisherman. We talked
about that. First time inCalifornia. And by the way, we
should tell everybody where thiswas. This was at the Terrapin
Sunday Daydream number four.
(01:45):
Yep. Do I have that right?
tami (01:46):
You have that right.
Dennis (01:48):
I'm doing this by memory.
tami (01:50):
I'm making Dennis do all the talking today. He just looks
like he's in the mood. He'shappy.
Dennis (01:54):
Yeah. Well, here's the deal. Sam himself that day had
to stand in for one Phil Lesh toplay bass.
tami (02:02):
Yeah. Phil wasn't doing well
Chris (02:04):
since he's
tami (02:04):
right right before he passed
Dennis (02:05):
away. Was. And so, you know, I think he had COVID at
that point. And Sam sat in, and,of course, he did remarkably,
but we got to talk to theseguys. And, the the Sam Grisman
project is if you haven't heardit, you got to.
tami (02:20):
They are so good.
Dennis (02:21):
They are so good.
tami (02:22):
Yeah. We saw them the night before. They and then
Billy Strings was was the,surprise guest.
Dennis (02:27):
Well, you know, I saw Mac. I actually, I saw I'm
trying to remember how thishappened, but I think I saw Sam
in between. And we were over atPerry's. Shout out to Perry's in
Fairfax and Danny Luring anddead, right, live dead
Wednesdays. And he he said,look.
I'm just I'm not gonna promiseyou anything, but I have it all
set up for after the BillyString Show for Billy to show
(02:48):
up. Yeah. And I'll be
tami (02:50):
So cool.
Dennis (02:50):
So, of course, we went, and he did. Max got to play the
alligator. Right?
tami (02:54):
He did.
Dennis (02:55):
Yeah. Max played the alligator, and, so we talk about
that.
tami (03:00):
Yeah. Let's not give any more away.
Dennis (03:01):
Alright. So, anyway, these got the Sam Grisman
project, I don't know. I justreally enjoyed them, and we're
always trying to find the timingof when we send these out. Check
out their website and go seethese because they were awesome.
(04:21):
Max Flansberg, welcome to Talesfrom the Green Room.
Oh, thanks for an out indeed.Yeah. We're we're just thrilled
to have you, And I'll tell youwhy. For so many reasons. One,
we saw you play last night.
Yeah. And, it was outstanding.We love the Sam Brisbane
project. Yeah. Thought you wereterrific.
And the other thing is yourfirst time to California.
max (04:42):
That's true, man. Yeah.
Dennis (04:44):
And I I heard that last night when he was saying I
didn't realize it was you. SoYeah. We're here to welcome you.
Native of the the Bay Area herein San Francisco. So welcome.
And welcome.
tami (04:53):
Where are you from?
max (04:55):
I'm from Hamlive In, the Finger Lakes region of New York
State.
Dennis (04:59):
Oh. Yeah.
max (05:00):
Oh. Which is not far from where Rochester. Yeah. Chris.
tami (05:04):
Which Chris
Dennis (05:05):
who we interviewed earlier.
tami (05:06):
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Exactly. Nice. Yes.
Did did you know each other?
max (05:09):
Yeah. For a long time. Okay. Okay. He was always he was
just of a hero of mine, butthen, you know, we became
friends.
And
Dennis (05:17):
Tell tell us about that, then we're gonna talk about you
because he was very modest.
max (05:21):
Oh, yeah.
Dennis (05:22):
So so give him some accolades. Yeah.
max (05:24):
I mean, he's a killer musician, killer percussionist,
drummer, singer. And he he'splayed with so many amazing
people, and he he's had his ownbands, like Audio and Flux and
Bangless Project and Funk None.They were really popular bands
that I would go watch when I wasyounger. I he's played with
Buddy Guy.
tami (05:45):
Wow. Ma.
max (05:47):
Yeah. But, yes. I just we started playing together, you
know, like, and then all of asudden, he started doing the Sam
Grisman gig. I was like, yeah.It looks pretty fun.
He was like, yeah, bro. Yougotta you gotta play. Like, come
on in, Amy. He had me sit inwith him last year for a couple
songs at a show. That's kindahow I met Sam, and then that's
how I got kinda into the
tami (06:10):
fold a bit. That's beautiful. So how many, gigs
Dennis (06:10):
have you done with those?
max (06:12):
This was my twenty fifth Wow. Or 24.
Dennis (06:17):
That is not insignificant. Yeah. I mean,
max (06:20):
I just started playing with them in the spring. So Yeah.
Dennis (06:22):
Pretty good. Well, how about what an experience,
max (06:25):
Oh, man. I'm I'm so lucky and I mean, look where we are
right now.
tami (06:31):
I mean And if you look at the palms here, it looks like
we're in Hawaii. Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (06:35):
Pretty much everybody today that sat down with us said
those exact words. Look where weare. Yeah. So, thank you. Yeah.
Whoever put us there.
tami (06:43):
It's in you know, every Terrapin Sunday, day, June, they
got, it's been nice. Yeah. Ifit's not always.
max (06:49):
Okay. Interesting. I don't know anything about California,
by the
tami (06:52):
way, the
Chris (06:53):
weather or
max (06:54):
Wow. Or
Dennis (06:54):
Terrapin even Is that the
max (06:55):
whole time? I know about Terrapin Crossroads. Yeah. I had
never been.
tami (06:58):
But What about the Sweetwater Music Hall?
max (07:00):
I know about it. Yeah. Yeah. For sure know about it,
tami (07:03):
but Yeah. Okay.
Dennis (07:04):
Never Yeah. Yeah. What did you know about Terrapin,
from afar before you Oh, I'm
Chris (07:09):
I'm a new
max (07:09):
Datad, so
tami (07:10):
I mean
Chris (07:11):
yeah. There you
max (07:12):
have it. I've seen a million YouTube videos and
people playing it or whatever.You know?
Dennis (07:17):
Yeah. Well, this is kind of, because it's not there
anymore, you're you're heretoday. It's probably the closest
you'll get, but this is, Iguess, it's not there. But Yeah.
max (07:26):
This is It's somewhere.
Dennis (07:27):
This is somewhere.
tami (07:28):
Yeah. And
Dennis (07:28):
I think it's here.
max (07:29):
You know? Alright.
tami (07:30):
It's actually not that far from the the Terrapins.
max (07:32):
Yeah.
tami (07:32):
It's just right down the road.
Chris (07:34):
Yeah. Right?
tami (07:34):
So So
Dennis (07:35):
So that's
tami (07:35):
not that far.
Dennis (07:36):
I think you got Graham and the rest of the Leshes and,
of course, Phil have been tryingto maintain the vibe and Yeah.
Who they are. So you're Missionaccomplished, I think. I mean,
max (07:44):
I wasn't there. Yeah.
Dennis (07:45):
You were right. Yeah.
Chris (07:46):
And,
Dennis (07:47):
now all of a sudden, you're instantly part of that.
So right on.
tami (07:50):
So tell us a little bit about your, you know, your
origins and and in music ingeneral.
max (07:56):
Yeah. So I've been playing music my whole life, really. I
have, an original band from backin New York called Dirty
Blanket. We're a bluegrass band,and that's been my main gig
forever. And then I kindastarted playing with Sam, and
Sam kinda would be like, hey.
Can you do these shows? Can youdo these shows? Can you do these
shows? And then it's, like,started having a lot of fun. So
(08:17):
it's it's been fun kinda, like,getting to do both, like, my
original stuff and then alsocome do these Sam gigs.
Sam is, such a great bandleader. He's he's really
selfless. You know? He he get hegives such a great platform for
his friends to share their art.And, I mean, that's amazing.
You know? I think that's kindarare. So it's just
tami (08:37):
That's what we've been airing. Yeah. Perfect. Really
important. I mean, then you canfeel that.
It comes through the music.Yeah. You know,
Dennis (08:44):
when we're having fun
Chris (08:45):
for sure.
tami (08:46):
Yeah. That's that's awesome.
max (08:47):
Yeah.
tami (08:48):
And so are you getting so how is that this mixing with
some of your other projects thatwe have going on?
max (08:54):
I think we all kinda play on the same team, you know? So
Yeah. It's Yeah. It's great forme because I've gotten to have a
lot of really cool experiencesplaying with the Sam And, you
know, a lot of those experiencescan carry over to other things
that I'm doing back home and onthe road with dirty blanket or
whoever. But, so it's all been,you know, kind of a great
(09:17):
situation all night.
Complimentary. Yeah.
Dennis (09:19):
Yeah. What what is your instrument with, that's the
project? Guitar. Guitar. Yep.
And on your own projects,guitar. You're a guitar guy.
Yeah. Pretty much.
max (09:28):
You know, I try to play a lot of instruments, but
Chris (09:31):
I'm
max (09:32):
only kind of good at one of them.
Chris (09:34):
So
Dennis (09:35):
Did you get to, play Alligator last night?
max (09:37):
I did. Yeah.
tami (09:38):
You know, somebody was trying to tell me. They're like,
that's not the that's a replica,and I'm like, I don't think so.
max (09:44):
A replica. And here's the yeah. I've it's actually the
second time I've played thatguitar. The first time was at,
Dark Star Orchestras Festival inOhio.
Dennis (09:53):
Yeah. The Jubilee? Yeah.
max (09:55):
Yeah. I was with Sam, and Sam was like, man, I want you to
meet somebody. There's a guitarI want you to check out. And
here's the crazy thing. It'sabout a a year ago, my dad had a
really bad stroke, and so hismemory and speech is affected.
But that day, he called me andhe said, hey. I had a dream last
night that you were going toplay in concert, and somebody
(10:16):
wanted you to play theirStratocaster.
Dennis (10:18):
Are you kidding
max (10:19):
me? Swear to God.
tami (10:20):
Oh, but I have chills. Holy crap. And I
max (10:23):
was like, wow. That's weird. This is, you know, that
he told me this before. I waslike
tami (10:26):
Oh my God. I was
max (10:27):
like, okay. You know? And then Sam happened to be like,
alright. I got you. Wash yourhands.
He's like, wash your hands firstbecause I wanna show you a
guitar. I was like, oh, that'sweird. The skater, you know?
Yeah. It's pretty heavy because,you know, that guitar created
music that guided my life,really.
tami (10:43):
I mean,
max (10:44):
so yeah. It's, like, pretty intense.
Dennis (10:46):
So So Europe 70 2 being
tami (10:49):
Yeah. So Okay. I understand. Ask him the
question?
Dennis (10:52):
Well, no. I guess I just wanna say for I just dropped the
the that
tami (10:56):
was a drop the mic. That was a drop the mic, moment.
Intense. We're not gonna drop itthough. We're not
Dennis (11:00):
gonna drop
max (11:00):
it. Don't
Chris (11:00):
drop those.
tami (11:01):
They're expensive.
Chris (11:01):
We have
Dennis (11:02):
a lot of, I'll call, spiritual or mystical Yeah.
Experiences reported to us, bypeople. And we're talking about
Andy Logan, by the way. Weshould
max (11:10):
mention Andy. Did you met
Dennis (11:11):
Andy, who had the guitar or did you not?
tami (11:14):
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
max (11:15):
Yeah. I met Andy wasn't there last night.
Dennis (11:17):
No. He was not.
max (11:18):
But I met him in Ohio and he's what he's doing is amazing.
Yeah. That's that's what thosethings are for. They're for
people to play.
tami (11:26):
Yeah. When you get a chance next time, you're out
here. You have you have to go tohis house and check out that
guitar collection because he hasevery guitar.
max (11:34):
He'd probably have to pull me out of there.
tami (11:36):
So you
max (11:36):
would have to do that.
tami (11:37):
I would love it. You got you have to do that. And I have
a question for you. So is thereever a moment when you play that
guitar? I think you played ittwice.
Yeah. Where you maybe felt likethe guitar was playing, you
know, when you I like you weremaybe all you put this coming
through you a little bit.
max (11:55):
I've I I don't know if I'm there yet.
Dennis (11:58):
Ah, okay.
max (11:59):
Like, it was almost like I don't know. Almost like a first
date or something.
tami (12:04):
Like, it's It's all good.
max (12:06):
But, also, it's like it's there's, like, this power that I
feel like I'm not ready orworthy yet. So it's kinda like I
played a few songs last night,and I was just like and it's
just intense. And I was likeYeah.
Dennis (12:20):
I don't understand.
tami (12:21):
The way that the with the story Yeah. I don't wanna get up
there
max (12:24):
and just I don't know. It's like Yeah. It's
Dennis (12:27):
it's a lot. Well, listen. You it happened before
before you even played it, thiswhole bit with your dad.
tami (12:32):
I I just I'm still thinking about that. I still
chill.
max (12:34):
Yeah. That was really, like, I don't I'm not a believer
in, like
tami (12:38):
Now you are. Well, I'm clear.
max (12:40):
Yeah. Because
tami (12:41):
I am. And I've I've heard a lot of these stories, but now
you are. Yeah. And you're
Dennis (12:44):
not That's weird. When Tammy was driving at it, some
people have told us, or A lot ofpeople have
tami (12:49):
told us.
Dennis (12:50):
Them have they played it. And maybe they're more for
for the long I don't know. Youknow? Like, for example, David
Hidalgo of Los Lobos. Okay.
He somebody we we went AndyLogan Heard this story. Did you?
max (13:01):
About the Los yeah. I was, like, just he was talking about
how he the guitar was playing,Hank
tami (13:07):
Yes. Basically. Yeah. And Garrett Deloin and other we've
had several people. Yes.
So that at some point, they're
Dennis (13:13):
like, no. Yeah. So it happens.
max (13:16):
I guess, like, during the moment, I'm not really, like,
having thoughts about what'shappening. So even if that did
happen, I don't know if I wouldknow no matter what when I'm on
playing performing, I'm kindajust in a different place where
I'm not really analyzing thingslike that. Yeah. So I don't know
what happened.
Dennis (13:33):
It waits you have to wait for
tami (13:35):
us to do it. I think it's I think it's all about not
analyzing it. I think Yeah. Whenyou're not analyzing it, that's
when that's when that happens.Yeah.
But anyway, it was just so coolto see you playing in.
max (13:43):
Yeah.
tami (13:44):
And and then the guy that said said it was a replica, came
familiar. He talked to somebodyelse, he goes, okay. You're
right. It's not a replica. Isaid,
Chris (13:50):
well, just listen to it. Was not.
Dennis (13:52):
You know when I knew it wasn't a replica is when the
Martin came out as well. And Igo, okay. Hang on a second.
Yeah. You know?
Yeah. We had the privilege ofholding those two guitars. Yeah.
Which Yeah. Which and that wasenough.
Chris (14:02):
I was like,
tami (14:03):
oh, that's too expensive. Yeah.
max (14:04):
It's pretty intense stuff.
tami (14:06):
Yeah. We're Yeah. That's great.
Dennis (14:07):
So but Andy I'm surprised Andy wasn't there
because I didn't think he everwas at a place where the guitars
were.
max (14:13):
Yeah. They were well taken care of. He had a crew there
that Okay. That was definitely,like
tami (14:18):
Yeah.
max (14:19):
On guard Yeah. As they should be.
Chris (14:21):
As they
tami (14:21):
should be. Right. So Why don't tell him quickly the I
think I'm gonna get back to you,but, this the 4 20 story.
Dennis (14:27):
Yeah. Well, he got that that, particular guitar, Andy
Logan, you may know it, got it,won it at an auction. Right. So
this the the the guitar wasoriginally purchased at a
pawnshop by Stephen Stills andgifted to Jerry Garcia for
playing on teacher Jokin. Am Iam I familiar with that?
Yeah. Okay. So that whole thing.So when he Jerry dies, the, the
(14:49):
guitar is out in the public, andnext thing you know, it's in an
auction and Andy goes to theauction. Do you know
max (14:54):
the story?
Dennis (14:55):
I know. I know. Okay. So Andy goes to the auction and he
says to himself, and and he's aman of means. Right?
So he has some money to spend onthese guitars. And, he says to
himself, I cannot spend morethan $400,000 on this guitar
knowing that Jerry's Tigerguitar went for, like, $3.04 I
don't know what it is, in themillions. Yeah.
tami (15:14):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (15:15):
And so he the auction proceeds and it gets up to
400,000 and he's like, okay,well, I'm out. And the
auctioneer, turned to him, it'ssomething like this, and said,
okay, $4.20 to you, Andy Logan.Four twenty.
tami (15:32):
Yeah. I mean
Dennis (15:33):
And everybody laughed. The whole place laughed, and he
said, fuck it.
max (15:38):
$4.20, of course. Sold. Yeah.
Dennis (15:40):
How can you not Yeah. Just say $4.20.
tami (15:42):
Yeah. But then but then the guitar went back.
Dennis (15:44):
So anyway, the book sold. You're right. He said
$4.20 got silent. He got theguitar. He couldn't believe it.
And then he brought that guitarback to a show Stephen Stills
was playing at a couple yearsago. Nice. So this is Andy
Logan.
tami (15:56):
Yeah. Full circle. Yeah. Full circle.
max (15:58):
That's a great story.
Chris (15:59):
Yeah.
tami (16:00):
It's a
Dennis (16:00):
great story. Nobody should be interviewing me here,
though. Anyone.
tami (16:02):
Let's get No. No. I mean, that's my mean, it's a great
story. It's a great story. Heand he deserves to know that.
I have to play.
Dennis (16:08):
He deserves to know. And then so okay. Bluegrass is your
jam. No pun intended.
max (16:12):
Yeah. Pretty much, man.
Dennis (16:13):
Yeah. Alright. So what the hell? Last night, I know you
there was a inkling that BillyStrings might come, but Chris
told us that no one knew forsure until you saw him right
before that five minute break.
max (16:26):
Oh, definitely. I mean, I there was a lot going on. I
mean, Jerry's guitar is upthere. We're playing with Peter
Rowan who's all living legends.
tami (16:36):
Yeah. I mean
Dennis (16:37):
He's playing in the background right now, by the
max (16:38):
way. Yeah. And,
Dennis (16:41):
But you've already played with him, so it's no big
deal.
tami (16:43):
Yeah.
max (16:43):
No. That was my first time. Absolutely. No.
tami (16:45):
Last night. Last night.
max (16:47):
Wow. Yeah. I knew. But, yeah, so, like, Billy and his
guys showed up and played acouple quite a few songs. They
were super fun.
Dennis (16:56):
So when you saw that that was happening, what what
came over you?
max (17:01):
I did. My dad called me and said, hey, buddy. There's gonna
be no. Yeah. Yeah.
No. I don't know. I mean, I feeljust so lucky and, grateful for
to have opportunities like thatto, to be even be here talking
to you guys Yeah.
Dennis (17:19):
Where we are.
tami (17:19):
We're we're in the forest. Are you any would you ever move
out here? Do you have a do youhave a family? Do you have
children?
max (17:27):
No. Okay. Yeah. Okay. But I have my roots planted pretty
deep off where I live.
tami (17:32):
Everybody seems to have that. My daughter's actually
leaving tomorrow. She's going toYukon. My son went to Boston,
New York, so it's like Yeah.They're and they love it.
Yeah. And when, you know, thesesnow seems to be this we used to
think it was California, buteveryone we've talked to lately
Dennis (17:46):
Goes most
tami (17:46):
they grounded themselves.
max (17:48):
Well, it's cool because in this line of work, you can kinda
live wherever you want. Sure. Goget to go see all these great
places in the in Pomo. So Yeah.Yeah.
Dennis (17:58):
Alright. So Billy, back to that. So he comes, and now
you're playing with him. Are youin the moment, just focusing on
your own playing or what's goingon in the back of your mind?
max (18:07):
Yeah. There's a lot going on now. I guess, like, first of
all, just the nature of whatwe're doing, no matter if it's,
someone very well known likeBilly Strings or whatever, it's
like nine dudes on stage.
tami (18:20):
Right. No
max (18:20):
matter who they are.
tami (18:21):
Yeah.
max (18:21):
Like, people are and we're all, like, great listeners and
we're all super respectful. Soit's like, people have to take
charge, but people don't wanna,like
tami (18:30):
Yes.
max (18:30):
Like, hog
tami (18:31):
the stage.
max (18:32):
But people wanna, like, be respectful, but also, like, take
someone else take charge.
Dennis (18:35):
Yeah. Communicate.
max (18:36):
Yeah. So there's a
tami (18:37):
lot of
max (18:37):
that going on. And then you added the fact that it's, like,
you know, there's obviously, youknow, these cats
tami (18:42):
Yeah.
max (18:42):
Like Billy and Alex that, I don't know. They're, you know,
they they're playing a differentleague than me, you know. So
it's like Yeah. Let's have it.
Dennis (18:49):
We got Alex Hargrave too. Yeah.
max (18:51):
I know, man. And that's the first time I got to meet Alex,
and I I've just I've been a fanfor so long.
tami (18:55):
It's Yeah.
max (18:56):
He's such a nice guy. I mean, he's amazing, you know.
Dennis (18:59):
But you can't get too caught up in those that thinking
because you would have to playwith the nine guys. Right?
max (19:04):
Yeah. So yeah. But no. It it worked out great. And,
Dennis (19:08):
yeah. Yeah. I I I And every Billy Strings was
deferring and, you know, I couldtell he was like, okay. This is
your gig and let me know when Ican step up. And, yeah, that was
very cool.
tami (19:19):
Yeah. That was all very obvious and that's why the I
think the audience
Chris (19:22):
is Down.
tami (19:23):
Too much. Too much. Too much. So where where next for
you? What what's next for you?
max (19:28):
We're here tomorrow on a day off going fishing.
Dennis (19:31):
Yeah. Oh.
max (19:32):
And then, we're going to Colorado for four shows and then
couple days off, and then we'regoing to North Carolina, South
Carolina. And those are all withPeter.
tami (19:42):
Those are great plans. Have you been to Colorado?
max (19:45):
I've never been to West.
tami (19:46):
Oh, boy.
max (19:46):
Oh, man. I've never been nowhere.
tami (19:48):
Oh, man. Okay. Well, you're gonna enjoy yourself,
man. This would be so much.Colorado's beautiful.
max (19:53):
Yeah. I'm hoping to do some fishing there too, Ken. Yeah.
tami (19:55):
You like to fish. Anything else? What are your other
passions?
max (19:58):
Just fish, man.
Dennis (19:59):
Fish and maybe a little music. Maybe a little. Yeah. Oh.
Chris (20:03):
Love it. Right on, man.
tami (20:04):
Okay. God. Listen. Well, Max,
Dennis (20:05):
man, I wanna I don't want you to miss the rest of
this. Thanks for sitting downwith us for a few minutes. So
we'll keep an eye out
tami (20:10):
for you.
max (20:11):
Very much.
Dennis (20:11):
And, well, we'll get your contact info and stay in
touch.
tami (20:14):
We'll get we'll get the podcast out to you.
Dennis (20:16):
We'll see you on the road someday. If not, back here
in California.
max (20:18):
Sounds good.
tami (20:19):
It was great to meet you. Alright. Thank you so much. You
prosper. Call you now.
Chris (20:26):
That's awesome.
Dennis (20:27):
Well, put some kid eye headphones on just
Chris (20:28):
because I was acting in my voice today. Well,
Dennis (20:31):
a little
Chris (20:31):
bit of all because of me.
Dennis (20:32):
Oh, we love Oh.
tami (20:34):
What's up with the band of the surround?
Chris (20:36):
That is better than this one.
Dennis (20:37):
I know.
Chris (20:37):
And it's louder over the music.
Dennis (20:39):
That's right. So we're gonna do it with that.
tami (20:41):
Last the last show, we were interviewing Stanley Jordan
got there in a weekend for,like, an hour, and they were
breaking down. It was like, youknow, the thing banging.
Chris (20:50):
Do you?
tami (20:51):
I'm like, okay.
Chris (20:52):
We gotta do.
tami (20:53):
Yeah. Yeah. Move.
Dennis (20:56):
Right on. I'm gonna turn off this one mic, which is this
one, I think. Right? Modern.
tami (21:00):
I don't know.
Dennis (21:00):
Yeah. I think so. Talk to me, Chris. Alright. Hey.
Chris (21:03):
How you doing?
Dennis (21:03):
Alright. Good. Alright. And you're good?
tami (21:05):
I'm doing yeah. I've got it.
Dennis (21:06):
Okay. And does that make any difference if
tami (21:08):
No. I think you're good. Right? Okay. There we go.
Alright. The equipment. Right?
Dennis (21:11):
We got the equipment. We're also technicians. Hey.
Chris (21:15):
This is Chris
Dennis (21:16):
Chris English, welcome to Tales from the Green Room.
Chris (21:19):
Oh, thanks for having me. It's awesome.
Dennis (21:20):
Man, we're so happy to have you. I'll tell you why.
First of all, I've seen we'veinterviewed Sam, a couple of
times. I think right when theSam Grisman project was getting
off the ground over a year
tami (21:32):
Wow.
Dennis (21:32):
I forgot two year almost two years.
Chris (21:33):
Two years now.
Dennis (21:34):
Yeah. About two years, which was cool. And he sat in I
mean, I sat in. He and Jay Lane,with the Dev and Company sat
together for an interview, whichyou'll have to listen to us.
Chris (21:44):
Oh, yeah. I have to
tami (21:44):
say something. Yeah. It was great.
Dennis (21:46):
I love Jay. Yeah.
tami (21:47):
Jay, they'll take you down the road.
Dennis (21:49):
You can only imagine. Right?
tami (21:50):
Oh, that's
Dennis (21:50):
true. And those two and, immediately, Jay said this is my
favorite bass player right here.My favorite bass player just
from the sound check.
Chris (21:57):
Oh, I love it. Yeah.
Dennis (21:59):
So, so that was one reason. Then I went and saw you
guys a couple of times. Ithought, wow. Badass band, but
more importantly, bad assdrummer.
Chris (22:08):
Oh, I'll tell you. Thank you
tami (22:09):
so much. Badass singer. So we've been talking off, you
know, and we're talking aboutsuperstition last night. Tell us
a little bit about last nightand how that
Chris (22:18):
Oh, that was a blessing. It just happened pretty much,
you know, other than me havingPeter Rowan and, they joined us
as well and,
tami (22:26):
Billy Strings?
Chris (22:27):
Billy Strings and Alice Haddes and yeah. It was a
blessing
Dennis (22:31):
to to make to heaven. How much of that that and just
for everybody background, lastnight, Billy Strings played at
the Greek theater in San Franand in Berkeley. And, just so
happened that the Sam Grismanproject had a show at the UC
theater down the road Yeah.Piece. And
tami (22:47):
Just show up.
Dennis (22:48):
Peter Rowan was, part of that build
tami (22:50):
Yeah.
Dennis (22:50):
From the beginning. And so it just seemed natural. And
it and what happened was thenatural thing that did happen
is, is that, Billy Strings didshow up, and play with you guys
at the end as did his, fiddleplayer, that his name escapes
me. It's Alex. Alex.
Yes.
tami (23:09):
Yeah. Oh,
Dennis (23:10):
yeah. You just mentioned that. Mhmm. So,
tami (23:12):
I wanna hear about you. I wanna hear about your a little
bit more about your backgroundand how you got involved with
this project.
Chris (23:18):
Well, with this project, I met Sam over a, Internet chat
actually.
tami (23:24):
Really?
Chris (23:24):
Maybe, like, a little over three years ago.
tami (23:27):
It wasn't a dating app, wasn't it?
Chris (23:29):
Heck no. No. It it was it's through it's through a
mutual friend of ours. And, andsay I wanted to start the
project and, I I came to Caliand, we just started in, like,
October 2022.
tami (23:44):
Wow. What were you doing before?
Chris (23:46):
I was playing with a band called Down of the Buffalo.
tami (23:48):
Nice.
Chris (23:49):
And then before that, I was doing my own, projects and
coming out with my own musicand, you know, and That was
established. And yeah. No. Thisis, you know, I've been doing
this since I was five years old.And Okay.
Yeah.
Dennis (24:02):
Where'd you grow up?
Chris (24:03):
I grew up in Rochester, New York. I had a musical family
growing up. I just I pretty muchwatched them play, and and
that's how I learned just bywatching them and Yeah.
tami (24:12):
Know. Have you seen Holly's son walking around with
a guitar and I have. Like
Chris (24:16):
a drummer. This is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
It's pretty cool to have toYeah.
Dennis (24:22):
So you you and Sam have that in common, the musical
families. Right?
Chris (24:25):
Amen. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty pretty strict families too to to
get us where we at. You know?
I know. It's a blessing. And andas we grow older, we realize how
much that meant meant to us withthe strictness of, you know,
growing up and being
tami (24:38):
a lot a big family?
Chris (24:39):
Oh, I we yeah. We did. Family reunions and, you know,
it was always music and
tami (24:44):
Yeah.
Dennis (24:44):
Was it strict that you had a had a play or just, once
you started playing, they werevery strict about what you did?
Both. Both. You know?
tami (24:51):
But really, I
Chris (24:52):
It was pretty much both and that's what made us, you
know, kinda, you know, acceptedto, like, pretty much any genre
of music. And
Dennis (25:00):
yeah. Well, you did, like, in the bluegrass into, you
know, with the Superstition lastnight. Yeah. The bluegrass
version of that Stevie Wondersong. Right?
That's awesome. With doingvocals was was resilient.
tami (25:12):
You guys didn't do more of that? Sort of, like, or do you
Chris (25:14):
Oh, yeah. We do a lot of that. We always, our our set
list is always different. So younever would get the same set at
a show. So it's
tami (25:22):
It's good.
Dennis (25:23):
It's it's
Chris (25:23):
pretty it's pretty cool. It's Grateful Dead. Yeah. That's
how, you know, that's what theydo.
Dennis (25:28):
Did did Sam, when he was, talking to you, was he
looking for a drummer, withvocals as well? Or did he say
did you guys talk about that?
Chris (25:37):
We talked about it, but he didn't really know know until
he knew. Yeah. We startedjamming stuff together. But I
guess he watched a lot of Imean, we watched a lot of videos
of each other to to to make sureit was the right decision and
our vibe is just like no other,you know. We never argue, we
never, you know.
It's like Oh. It's a family. Webrothers, you know.
tami (25:56):
Yeah. That's so cool.
Chris (25:58):
Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (25:59):
That is.
Chris (25:59):
I'm trying to make make sure that's
Dennis (26:01):
Yeah. You know?
tami (26:01):
Well, I I would assume, like, and I could just tell this
by your first time. Right? Imean, that's probably essential.
Chris (26:06):
Right? Very. Yeah.
tami (26:07):
Yeah. You can play with some people and even though you
have, you know, your music isreally good. Mhmm. You know,
there's not that vibe.
Chris (26:13):
No. But people can feel vibes too, you know.
tami (26:15):
Oh, totally.
Chris (26:16):
You're on stage, you know, the the audience come to
see you play, you know, theenergy shows.
tami (26:20):
Yeah. So cool.
Dennis (26:21):
Yep. So when did you get out? So where do you live now?
Chris (26:23):
I live in Rochester, New York.
Dennis (26:25):
Still do?
tami (26:25):
Yeah. Still live.
Chris (26:26):
Still live there. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Born and raised.
tami (26:29):
Wow. Nobody's convinced you to move.
Chris (26:31):
Nobody I I lived in so many different places, and I
just
Dennis (26:35):
Is my back? Yeah.
tami (26:36):
Yeah.
Chris (26:37):
It's pretty cool.
Dennis (26:37):
Yeah. That's really cool.
tami (26:38):
Like your favorite place, home?
Chris (26:40):
Finger Lakes is great. Yes. Yeah. It's my favorite.
Yeah.
Beautiful.
Dennis (26:44):
Tell us about, some of the other guys in the band. How
did, because we when we talkedto Sam the first time, I think
this was still in progress.
Chris (26:52):
Yeah.
Dennis (26:52):
Right? So it's
tami (26:52):
He was playing with Bob Wheeler and he hadn't ever met
Chris (26:55):
him. Right?
tami (26:55):
That's true.
Chris (26:56):
I think that was at the Sweetwater
tami (26:57):
Stadium. The fortieth anniversary. Anniversary.
Dennis (26:59):
I'm just wondering how, if you know it, we can ask him,
but, you know, how he grabbedthe the rest of the band members
and what that process was.
Chris (27:06):
What I love about Sam is, we it's always a different
lineup. So you never know whatyou're gonna get. So that's a
blessing to have where that'swhy the show is always different
because the everybody's, youknow, rhythm's different,
everybody's sounds different.Yeah. And, yeah.
That's that's that's theblessing. I've been I've been
(27:26):
with Sam since the beginning.
tami (27:27):
And Yeah.
Chris (27:28):
It's pretty cool to to to see that.
tami (27:31):
Did you know his father?
Chris (27:33):
I I definitely medicine. I, you know Yeah. Know his
father and, we did a lot of, acouple, like, couple shows
together. Yeah. And, yeah,talked to him online.
tami (27:43):
Yeah. You
Chris (27:43):
know, talked to him online.
Dennis (27:44):
And he showed up at Sweetwater, didn't he? You know?
His dad?
Chris (27:47):
When when he was played? No. I don't know. He didn't show
up in Sweetwater. He showed upin, in Seattle.
Dennis (27:52):
Okay.
Chris (27:54):
And he showed up a times in Seattle. We did, like, a
couple of private showstogether, and it's pretty cool
to have that. The and and I grewup around it, and, like, the
he's right there next to meplaying. Yeah. Awesome.
Yeah. That's true.
Dennis (28:07):
And what about your folks? Are they, your was there
dad, mom, or who was, who werethe musicians, if not both?
Chris (28:13):
My parents are pastors.
Dennis (28:16):
Okay.
Chris (28:16):
They've been pastors since I was, since I was born.
max (28:19):
Got it.
Chris (28:20):
So I came from we came from both sides, which is
awesome. Oh, yeah. They've beenthey just had their anniversary
44 forty five forty six yearsnow.
tami (28:26):
Oh, it's too bad.
Chris (28:27):
Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. They're awesome.
Yeah.
So they came from my mom's side.Yeah. But my dad is is awesome.
Oh, I'm
tami (28:35):
so sorry. Oh, don't don't worry. People have been
tripping.
Dennis (28:38):
Oh, that's it. All been. Wow. Alright. So, so the gospel
influence from the pastors orwhat?
Chris (28:44):
Yeah. Gospel, blues, Soul Larnaby, funk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (28:49):
So cool. Because I I think of the the ladies, that
that sang with Jerry Garciaband. Right? Yes. And they were
both, from gospel backgrounds.
Yeah.
Chris (28:59):
Yeah. Jackie Labranos of Melbourne.
tami (29:01):
In Melbourne. Got all of them.
Dennis (29:03):
All from the gospel families. Yeah.
Chris (29:05):
But that's how I got started, like, knowing, you
know, Jay Garcia's music wasthrough, Jay Van. I didn't know
who I didn't know who Gay forDead was because I thought it
was a, a metal band.
Dennis (29:16):
Sound right.
Chris (29:16):
Sounds like it.
tami (29:17):
So I yeah.
Chris (29:18):
I was in tenth grade when I was, you know
tami (29:20):
Really?
Chris (29:20):
I was like, found out about it. I I need to know
something.
Dennis (29:24):
So so
what you're saying is you're listening to the Jerry
Garcia band music.
Chris (29:27):
Oh, before. I was just for a day for dead. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Because it was more soulful andgospel y because
tami (29:33):
Right. Those people love it. So we were talking about
sorry about how because Denniswas a deadhead, you know
Dennis (29:38):
I grew up in San Francisco. I had no choice.
Yeah.
tami (29:40):
But when Jerry stumbled upon it.
Chris (29:42):
I mean, you're yeah. You're lucky.
tami (29:44):
Yeah. But when Jerry started, you told me that
everyone was like, the dead isout, Jerry. Right?
Dennis (29:48):
Not when he started, but at the end, so I stumbled into
the dead at Golden Gate Park ata free show in 1975. My friends
from high school said, hey,there's a free show Sunday. You
wanna go? And it was the theGrateful Dead and Jefferson
Stars. Pretty amazing.
And I had no idea what I wasstepping into. But okay. So then
we stick with the dead. Love theyears, winterland, and and on
and on. And then there was atime probably in the late
(30:11):
eighties something we said, theit was a joke, but, we started
seeing the Jerry Garcia band.
Somebody one of my friends says,the dad is out and Jerry is in.
Because we were so enthralled bythe Jerry Garcia band. Yes.
Chris (30:24):
I mean, you know, I I love the I love I love the
Grateful Dead. I love them, youknow, but I learned from them. I
always do. But, the JB was thisis my gospel. It's my church.
Yeah. Which is the dead too.It's my church as well. Yeah.
Dennis (30:40):
That's right. So Yeah.
tami (30:41):
Do you have any other projects going on?
Chris (30:44):
Right now, I have my own stuff that's gonna come out
pretty soon.
Dennis (30:49):
Now tell us about it as much as you can.
Chris (30:51):
I will. It's called this this Chris is under my name,
Chris j English, and it's morelike funk so with horns and
Oregon. And I I wrote a lot ofthe tunes, and I play a lot of
the instruments in the in theband, and this should be out in,
like, two two months. And I'mreally forward to it. And
Dennis (31:10):
Is that something you can perform live to to support?
Chris (31:13):
Amen. Yes. I love real music. I love routine music, and
it's all real instruments. So,yes, it will be definitely,
lively.
Dennis (31:20):
We're not
Chris (31:20):
very lively.
Dennis (31:21):
Oh, you will? Will that be on the East Coast or or
wherever you can do it?
Chris (31:24):
Wherever I can do it, especially, like, when I have
days off with Sam Grisman, Iwould make sure I, like, can
play with, like, one show andhave musicians in probably
different states that can knowmy music or something. Yeah.
tami (31:33):
Yeah. And I
Chris (31:33):
can just keep the the music going. Yeah. You know?
tami (31:36):
Or if you I have a feeling you you played other
instruments. What what can sharea little bit about that.
Chris (31:41):
I play, like, guitar and bass and Oregon.
tami (31:45):
Wow.
Chris (31:45):
I used to play saxophone.
tami (31:47):
Oh. Oh.
Dennis (31:48):
That I wanna hear. Wow.
Chris (31:49):
Yeah. Yeah.
tami (31:50):
Wow. So that's awesome.
Dennis (31:52):
Yeah. I wanna ask one more question about last night.
Tell the, you know, again, thetrue story from inside the band.
And that is, at what point didyou know that the Billy Strings
would be joining you that lastnight?
Chris (32:07):
I didn't know. You did not? I just knew that Alex
Hargrave was coming because we,like, we are close friends with
Alex. Yeah. And Sam grew up withAlex Hargrave.
So, like, we knew Alex was gonnabe there that place with Billy.
And, and then we saw Billy onthe side stage doing, like, a
couple of songs that we wasplaying and he and we took that
(32:28):
five minute break.
Dennis (32:29):
And that's what that
tami (32:30):
song was. Wow. We was trying to I was like,
Dennis (32:33):
what are we doing?
tami (32:34):
You haven't asked anybody yet, but
Dennis (32:35):
Well, no. It's so cool. And that's so cool.
tami (32:37):
I mean, you know
Chris (32:38):
It's unexpected. I mean, I was like, I wasn't shocked or
scared or anything. I was justlike, ah, it's about to happen.
Dennis (32:44):
So let's do it. And the smile, like I said before we
said, was interviewed, the smileon your face was
tami (32:49):
Oh, gosh. Yeah. But But,
Dennis (32:51):
so because Sam had told me a couple of nights earlier,
he said, look, I got Alexcoming. I got Peter Rowan Yeah.
On the bill. Billy's playing upthe street. I got it all set up.
And I thought he was
tami (33:03):
I was He thought he was hinting like that. I'm not sure
Dennis (33:05):
he was hinting. He better or or he that he really
felt that he didn't know, and Idon't think he knew either.
Chris (33:10):
Wait. I mean, I I don't think he knew either, but we we
had, like, a we had, like, a,you know, a
Dennis (33:15):
Sneaky suspicion.
Chris (33:15):
A suspicious. Yeah. And it was awesome to have Dominic
Leslie who plays a Miley Tuttleas well on the on the on the
Mandolin, and those he's goodfriends of all of ours as well.
So it was awesome. It's like abig family.
tami (33:27):
Yeah. You know,
Chris (33:27):
by Do
tami (33:28):
do you
Dennis (33:28):
have a Leslie that plays with the project, his brother?
tami (33:30):
Or is that
Chris (33:31):
Well, Sam Leslie is yep. He plays with us every once in a
in a while, and, like, we switchit up, Max Max Franzberg and
Mhmm. Victor and yeah.
Dennis (33:39):
And the Leslie's what? They're in North Carolina, South
Carolina?
Chris (33:42):
The Leslie's are in Colorado. Oh, Colorado. Oh, man.
Dennis (33:46):
This is an eclectic abandoned mini walls.
tami (33:48):
Right? I know.
Chris (33:49):
So many ways we got we got people that's that's Yeah.
Yeah. That's everywhere aroundthe the the the the the country.
So Yeah.
Dennis (33:56):
So you you have a pretty good tour coming up. I saw what
any of the venues that you'regonna go to really excite you
and say, wow, I gotta get toplay there?
Chris (34:05):
I just love every everyone because everyone is
different. I'm I'm lookingforward to playing, Red Rocks
whenever that happens. Yeah.Okay.
tami (34:16):
Yeah. Did you make it to the sphere?
Chris (34:19):
I did not make it to
tami (34:20):
the sphere,
Chris (34:20):
and it was, like, right before my birthday. And I I
couldn't make it because we hada show. You're the same.
tami (34:26):
Yeah. It's just going on. That's okay.
Dennis (34:28):
Yeah. What about, the Brooklyn Bowl? Would that would
that be a cool spot for you?
Chris (34:31):
Actually, I love the Brooklyn Bowl.
tami (34:33):
Yeah. I don't know.
Chris (34:33):
Think it's kinda We put the one in New York and the
Brooklyn Bowl in New York. Yeah.Not the one here yet. Yeah.
Dennis (34:40):
Yeah. There's one I thought I saw one coming up,
Brooklyn Bowl coming up for youguys.
Chris (34:44):
Actually, yes. We do
tami (34:44):
have a
Chris (34:45):
well, that's true. In New York? And in
tami (34:47):
New York
Dennis (34:47):
I did your website.
Chris (34:48):
And New York. Do you know the website better than that? My
my show's better than that,which is great. That's right.
Hey.
Dennis (34:54):
I have to know something. I
Chris (34:55):
love it. I mean, I try to.
Dennis (34:58):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can't play the drums, saxophone,
or guitar.
tami (35:01):
I can't.
Dennis (35:02):
So she can play the drums a little bit. But yeah. So
Oh.
tami (35:04):
Well, I play the jambe. I started doing COVID. You know?
What else am I gonna do?
Chris (35:09):
I met so many great musicians during COVID.
tami (35:12):
Well
Chris (35:12):
And
Dennis (35:13):
Bella. Do
tami (35:13):
you know Bella what Bella's last
Dennis (35:15):
Bella Raine.
tami (35:16):
Bella Raine.
Chris (35:16):
Okay.
tami (35:17):
Yeah. She started doing COVID
Chris (35:18):
playing that
Dennis (35:18):
guitar. Bella Raine, seventeen year old, guitar
player, and Sam played with herthe other night.
tami (35:24):
I know. But she actually told us.
Chris (35:26):
That's so cool. What? A lot of people a lot of people
came out from, you know, camecame from out of, you know, the
the COVID ass. Yeah. Yeah.
tami (35:35):
You know? Gives you some time to think.
Chris (35:36):
Yeah. Yeah.
tami (35:37):
And create.
Chris (35:38):
That's pretty cool. Yeah.
Dennis (35:40):
Are you gonna hang out the rest of the day here?
Chris (35:42):
Yeah. Sam Sam is playing bass.
Dennis (35:44):
Oh, that's right. Yeah.
Chris (35:45):
Of course you are.
tami (35:46):
Yes. So now it's that. We're stuck over here. What's
Dennis (35:49):
going on? No. We knew that. Sam and poor Phil has
COVID.
Chris (35:52):
My little
tami (35:52):
You know, Elliot.
Dennis (35:53):
And Elliot has COVID. But but Graham did, assure us
that, he's doing well.
Chris (35:57):
He's doing well. And I talked I talked to Graham and
yeah. Yeah. He's doing good. Hesaid his pops is doing a little
bit better.
Yeah. Yeah. So he's gonna keepup the
tami (36:07):
Well, I'll give you a little advice. So some advice
given to me last night was zincspray.
Chris (36:11):
Oh, I got some.
tami (36:12):
I have some. Okay. Well, you were the last to know about
zinc spray. I'm like, I'm goingto the store today.
Chris (36:17):
Yep. I have some. You do. It's pretty cool. Yeah.
tami (36:19):
Okay. I'm not.
Dennis (36:20):
Yeah. I would, I I think Sam and I asked him this. I
said, I'm thinking you'reprobably excited as hell, but
nervous as fuck. Yeah. Or orvice versa.
Chris (36:30):
Oh my god. Yeah. He was telling me he was nervous as
hell. And I was like, dude, it'slike Phil Phil Phil is, a nature
of on the bass. So he'severywhere on the bass.
He never plays the same he neverplays the song. Yeah. You know,
at the same. It's always the youknow, it's always different
whatever song it is. So I I saidmake it your own, dude.
(36:50):
You know?
Dennis (36:50):
So you're making
tami (36:51):
it And he will.
Chris (36:52):
And he will.
Dennis (36:53):
Yeah. He will in about five minutes. Guess we're about
to go see that.
tami (36:56):
Thank you so much. Oh, thanks so much. It was such a
pleasure to meet you. Oh, I want
Dennis (37:00):
to keep you on. I wanna keep up with following you sweet
trip too.
max (37:03):
Yeah. Maybe we'll
Dennis (37:04):
see on this.
tami (37:05):
We like to follow-up sometimes and, you know, when we
see an ad
Chris (37:07):
I love that.
tami (37:08):
Archive as much as we can.
Chris (37:11):
Please do. Yeah. Yeah. Let's hang up. Yeah.
We'll nice.
tami (37:13):
We'll have
Dennis (37:14):
a hang of this
tami (37:15):
after this.
Dennis (37:16):
Yeah. Absolutely. Very nice. Alright. Chris.
Right. Chris English, thanksagain. Thank you
tami (37:20):
very much.
Dennis (37:21):
Cheers. Bye bye.
Thanks for listening to Tales from the Green Room, a
presentation of Mount Tam Media.You can hear more spontaneous
stories from the secludedconfines of green rooms on our
next episode. To experience allMount Tam Media productions,
including the Woman Are Smarterpodcast, log on to
mounttammedia.com. We'll see youat the next show.
Welcome to Tales from the Green Room. Backstage
conversations from popular musicvenues around the country
curated by Mount Tam Media.Listen in as host Dennis
Trouszullo and Mount Tam Mediafounder Tammy Larson dig up
conversations with artistsbefore and after shows in the
exclusive confines of the greenroom.
(00:33):
Tammy, how are you? We are jamming to get another
episode out, and this one iswith Chris Hollywood English.
tami (00:42):
And Max Flansberg.
Dennis (00:44):
Max Flansberg. And they are part of the project of the
Sam Grisman project.
tami (00:50):
Yeah. Now we had seen them the night before as well.
Dennis (00:53):
Yeah. Well, listen. First of all, I'm so happy to,
put something out for Sam'sfolks, right, for the people in
his band because we've had Samon here a couple of times.
tami (01:03):
I hope
Dennis (01:04):
people have listened. If not, please go back to listen to
our Grateful Guitars episode andway back when with, Jay Lane.
Right?
tami (01:11):
That was
Dennis (01:11):
one of That's a
tami (01:12):
good one.
Dennis (01:12):
One of our favorites. So I'm just happy that we can have
our audience get to know theseguys who are part of the Sam
Brisbane project.
tami (01:19):
Very cool. Both of them. One Mass hadn't even been to,
California.
Dennis (01:25):
Yeah. I I wasn't sure. I knew he had In Rochester. I
wasn't even sure if, perhaps Ithink maybe Chris had, but,
anyway, we'll have to listen tofind out. But Yeah.
For sure, Max had not I rememberhe's a big fisherman. We talked
about that. First time inCalifornia. And by the way, we
should tell everybody where thiswas. This was at the Terrapin
Sunday Daydream number four.
(01:45):
Yep. Do I have that right?
tami (01:46):
You have that right.
Dennis (01:48):
I'm doing this by memory.
tami (01:50):
I'm making Dennis do all the talking today. He just looks
like he's in the mood. He'shappy.
Dennis (01:54):
Yeah. Well, here's the deal. Sam himself that day had
to stand in for one Phil Lesh toplay bass.
tami (02:02):
Yeah. Phil wasn't doing well
Chris (02:04):
since he's
tami (02:04):
right right before he passed
Dennis (02:05):
away. Was. And so, you know, I think he had COVID at
that point. And Sam sat in, and,of course, he did remarkably,
but we got to talk to theseguys. And, the the Sam Grisman
project is if you haven't heardit, you got to.
tami (02:20):
They are so good.
Dennis (02:21):
They are so good.
tami (02:22):
Yeah. We saw them the night before. They and then
Billy Strings was was the,surprise guest.
Dennis (02:27):
Well, you know, I saw Mac. I actually, I saw I'm
trying to remember how thishappened, but I think I saw Sam
in between. And we were over atPerry's. Shout out to Perry's in
Fairfax and Danny Luring anddead, right, live dead
Wednesdays. And he he said,look.
I'm just I'm not gonna promiseyou anything, but I have it all
set up for after the BillyString Show for Billy to show
(02:48):
up. Yeah. And I'll be
tami (02:50):
So cool.
Dennis (02:50):
So, of course, we went, and he did. Max got to play the
alligator. Right?
tami (02:54):
He did.
Dennis (02:55):
Yeah. Max played the alligator, and, so we talk about
that.
tami (03:00):
Yeah. Let's not give any more away.
Dennis (03:01):
Alright. So, anyway, these got the Sam Grisman
project, I don't know. I justreally enjoyed them, and we're
always trying to find the timingof when we send these out. Check
out their website and go seethese because they were awesome.
(04:21):
Max Flansberg, welcome to Talesfrom the Green Room.
Oh, thanks for an out indeed.Yeah. We're we're just thrilled
to have you, And I'll tell youwhy. For so many reasons. One,
we saw you play last night.
Yeah. And, it was outstanding.We love the Sam Brisbane
project. Yeah. Thought you wereterrific.
And the other thing is yourfirst time to California.
max (04:42):
That's true, man. Yeah.
Dennis (04:44):
And I I heard that last night when he was saying I
didn't realize it was you. SoYeah. We're here to welcome you.
Native of the the Bay Area herein San Francisco. So welcome.
And welcome.
tami (04:53):
Where are you from?
max (04:55):
I'm from Hamlive In, the Finger Lakes region of New York
State.
Dennis (04:59):
Oh. Yeah.
max (05:00):
Oh. Which is not far from where Rochester. Yeah. Chris.
tami (05:04):
Which Chris
Dennis (05:05):
who we interviewed earlier.
tami (05:06):
Yeah. Oh, yeah. Exactly. Nice. Yes.
Did did you know each other?
max (05:09):
Yeah. For a long time. Okay. Okay. He was always he was
just of a hero of mine, butthen, you know, we became
friends.
And
Dennis (05:17):
Tell tell us about that, then we're gonna talk about you
because he was very modest.
max (05:21):
Oh, yeah.
Dennis (05:22):
So so give him some accolades. Yeah.
max (05:24):
I mean, he's a killer musician, killer percussionist,
drummer, singer. And he he'splayed with so many amazing
people, and he he's had his ownbands, like Audio and Flux and
Bangless Project and Funk None.They were really popular bands
that I would go watch when I wasyounger. I he's played with
Buddy Guy.
tami (05:45):
Wow. Ma.
max (05:47):
Yeah. But, yes. I just we started playing together, you
know, like, and then all of asudden, he started doing the Sam
Grisman gig. I was like, yeah.It looks pretty fun.
He was like, yeah, bro. Yougotta you gotta play. Like, come
on in, Amy. He had me sit inwith him last year for a couple
songs at a show. That's kindahow I met Sam, and then that's
how I got kinda into the
tami (06:10):
fold a bit. That's beautiful. So how many, gigs
Dennis (06:10):
have you done with those?
max (06:12):
This was my twenty fifth Wow. Or 24.
Dennis (06:17):
That is not insignificant. Yeah. I mean,
max (06:20):
I just started playing with them in the spring. So Yeah.
Dennis (06:22):
Pretty good. Well, how about what an experience,
max (06:25):
Oh, man. I'm I'm so lucky and I mean, look where we are
right now.
tami (06:31):
I mean And if you look at the palms here, it looks like
we're in Hawaii. Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (06:35):
Pretty much everybody today that sat down with us said
those exact words. Look where weare. Yeah. So, thank you. Yeah.
Whoever put us there.
tami (06:43):
It's in you know, every Terrapin Sunday, day, June, they
got, it's been nice. Yeah. Ifit's not always.
max (06:49):
Okay. Interesting. I don't know anything about California,
by the
tami (06:52):
way, the
Chris (06:53):
weather or
max (06:54):
Wow. Or
Dennis (06:54):
Terrapin even Is that the
max (06:55):
whole time? I know about Terrapin Crossroads. Yeah. I had
never been.
tami (06:58):
But What about the Sweetwater Music Hall?
max (07:00):
I know about it. Yeah. Yeah. For sure know about it,
tami (07:03):
but Yeah. Okay.
Dennis (07:04):
Never Yeah. Yeah. What did you know about Terrapin,
from afar before you Oh, I'm
Chris (07:09):
I'm a new
max (07:09):
Datad, so
tami (07:10):
I mean
Chris (07:11):
yeah. There you
max (07:12):
have it. I've seen a million YouTube videos and
people playing it or whatever.You know?
Dennis (07:17):
Yeah. Well, this is kind of, because it's not there
anymore, you're you're heretoday. It's probably the closest
you'll get, but this is, Iguess, it's not there. But Yeah.
max (07:26):
This is It's somewhere.
Dennis (07:27):
This is somewhere.
tami (07:28):
Yeah. And
Dennis (07:28):
I think it's here.
max (07:29):
You know? Alright.
tami (07:30):
It's actually not that far from the the Terrapins.
max (07:32):
Yeah.
tami (07:32):
It's just right down the road.
Chris (07:34):
Yeah. Right?
tami (07:34):
So So
Dennis (07:35):
So that's
tami (07:35):
not that far.
Dennis (07:36):
I think you got Graham and the rest of the Leshes and,
of course, Phil have been tryingto maintain the vibe and Yeah.
Who they are. So you're Missionaccomplished, I think. I mean,
max (07:44):
I wasn't there. Yeah.
Dennis (07:45):
You were right. Yeah.
Chris (07:46):
And,
Dennis (07:47):
now all of a sudden, you're instantly part of that.
So right on.
tami (07:50):
So tell us a little bit about your, you know, your
origins and and in music ingeneral.
max (07:56):
Yeah. So I've been playing music my whole life, really. I
have, an original band from backin New York called Dirty
Blanket. We're a bluegrass band,and that's been my main gig
forever. And then I kindastarted playing with Sam, and
Sam kinda would be like, hey.
Can you do these shows? Can youdo these shows? Can you do these
shows? And then it's, like,started having a lot of fun. So
(08:17):
it's it's been fun kinda, like,getting to do both, like, my
original stuff and then alsocome do these Sam gigs.
Sam is, such a great bandleader. He's he's really
selfless. You know? He he get hegives such a great platform for
his friends to share their art.And, I mean, that's amazing.
You know? I think that's kindarare. So it's just
tami (08:37):
That's what we've been airing. Yeah. Perfect. Really
important. I mean, then you canfeel that.
It comes through the music.Yeah. You know,
Dennis (08:44):
when we're having fun
Chris (08:45):
for sure.
tami (08:46):
Yeah. That's that's awesome.
max (08:47):
Yeah.
tami (08:48):
And so are you getting so how is that this mixing with
some of your other projects thatwe have going on?
max (08:54):
I think we all kinda play on the same team, you know? So
Yeah. It's Yeah. It's great forme because I've gotten to have a
lot of really cool experiencesplaying with the Sam And, you
know, a lot of those experiencescan carry over to other things
that I'm doing back home and onthe road with dirty blanket or
whoever. But, so it's all been,you know, kind of a great
(09:17):
situation all night.
Complimentary. Yeah.
Dennis (09:19):
Yeah. What what is your instrument with, that's the
project? Guitar. Guitar. Yep.
And on your own projects,guitar. You're a guitar guy.
Yeah. Pretty much.
max (09:28):
You know, I try to play a lot of instruments, but
Chris (09:31):
I'm
max (09:32):
only kind of good at one of them.
Chris (09:34):
So
Dennis (09:35):
Did you get to, play Alligator last night?
max (09:37):
I did. Yeah.
tami (09:38):
You know, somebody was trying to tell me. They're like,
that's not the that's a replica,and I'm like, I don't think so.
max (09:44):
A replica. And here's the yeah. I've it's actually the
second time I've played thatguitar. The first time was at,
Dark Star Orchestras Festival inOhio.
Dennis (09:53):
Yeah. The Jubilee? Yeah.
max (09:55):
Yeah. I was with Sam, and Sam was like, man, I want you to
meet somebody. There's a guitarI want you to check out. And
here's the crazy thing. It'sabout a a year ago, my dad had a
really bad stroke, and so hismemory and speech is affected.
But that day, he called me andhe said, hey. I had a dream last
night that you were going toplay in concert, and somebody
(10:16):
wanted you to play theirStratocaster.
Dennis (10:18):
Are you kidding
max (10:19):
me? Swear to God.
tami (10:20):
Oh, but I have chills. Holy crap. And I
max (10:23):
was like, wow. That's weird. This is, you know, that
he told me this before. I waslike
tami (10:26):
Oh my God. I was
max (10:27):
like, okay. You know? And then Sam happened to be like,
alright. I got you. Wash yourhands.
He's like, wash your hands firstbecause I wanna show you a
guitar. I was like, oh, that'sweird. The skater, you know?
Yeah. It's pretty heavy because,you know, that guitar created
music that guided my life,really.
tami (10:43):
I mean,
max (10:44):
so yeah. It's, like, pretty intense.
Dennis (10:46):
So So Europe 70 2 being
tami (10:49):
Yeah. So Okay. I understand. Ask him the
question?
Dennis (10:52):
Well, no. I guess I just wanna say for I just dropped the
the that
tami (10:56):
was a drop the mic. That was a drop the mic, moment.
Intense. We're not gonna drop itthough. We're not
Dennis (11:00):
gonna drop
max (11:00):
it. Don't
Chris (11:00):
drop those.
tami (11:01):
They're expensive.
Chris (11:01):
We have
Dennis (11:02):
a lot of, I'll call, spiritual or mystical Yeah.
Experiences reported to us, bypeople. And we're talking about
Andy Logan, by the way. Weshould
max (11:10):
mention Andy. Did you met
Dennis (11:11):
Andy, who had the guitar or did you not?
tami (11:14):
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
max (11:15):
Yeah. I met Andy wasn't there last night.
Dennis (11:17):
No. He was not.
max (11:18):
But I met him in Ohio and he's what he's doing is amazing.
Yeah. That's that's what thosethings are for. They're for
people to play.
tami (11:26):
Yeah. When you get a chance next time, you're out
here. You have you have to go tohis house and check out that
guitar collection because he hasevery guitar.
max (11:34):
He'd probably have to pull me out of there.
tami (11:36):
So you
max (11:36):
would have to do that.
tami (11:37):
I would love it. You got you have to do that. And I have
a question for you. So is thereever a moment when you play that
guitar? I think you played ittwice.
Yeah. Where you maybe felt likethe guitar was playing, you
know, when you I like you weremaybe all you put this coming
through you a little bit.
max (11:55):
I've I I don't know if I'm there yet.
Dennis (11:58):
Ah, okay.
max (11:59):
Like, it was almost like I don't know. Almost like a first
date or something.
tami (12:04):
Like, it's It's all good.
max (12:06):
But, also, it's like it's there's, like, this power that I
feel like I'm not ready orworthy yet. So it's kinda like I
played a few songs last night,and I was just like and it's
just intense. And I was likeYeah.
Dennis (12:20):
I don't understand.
tami (12:21):
The way that the with the story Yeah. I don't wanna get up
there
max (12:24):
and just I don't know. It's like Yeah. It's
Dennis (12:27):
it's a lot. Well, listen. You it happened before
before you even played it, thiswhole bit with your dad.
tami (12:32):
I I just I'm still thinking about that. I still
chill.
max (12:34):
Yeah. That was really, like, I don't I'm not a believer
in, like
tami (12:38):
Now you are. Well, I'm clear.
max (12:40):
Yeah. Because
tami (12:41):
I am. And I've I've heard a lot of these stories, but now
you are. Yeah. And you're
Dennis (12:44):
not That's weird. When Tammy was driving at it, some
people have told us, or A lot ofpeople have
tami (12:49):
told us.
Dennis (12:50):
Them have they played it. And maybe they're more for
for the long I don't know. Youknow? Like, for example, David
Hidalgo of Los Lobos. Okay.
He somebody we we went AndyLogan Heard this story. Did you?
max (13:01):
About the Los yeah. I was, like, just he was talking about
how he the guitar was playing,Hank
tami (13:07):
Yes. Basically. Yeah. And Garrett Deloin and other we've
had several people. Yes.
So that at some point, they're
Dennis (13:13):
like, no. Yeah. So it happens.
max (13:16):
I guess, like, during the moment, I'm not really, like,
having thoughts about what'shappening. So even if that did
happen, I don't know if I wouldknow no matter what when I'm on
playing performing, I'm kindajust in a different place where
I'm not really analyzing thingslike that. Yeah. So I don't know
what happened.
Dennis (13:33):
It waits you have to wait for
tami (13:35):
us to do it. I think it's I think it's all about not
analyzing it. I think Yeah. Whenyou're not analyzing it, that's
when that's when that happens.Yeah.
But anyway, it was just so coolto see you playing in.
max (13:43):
Yeah.
tami (13:44):
And and then the guy that said said it was a replica, came
familiar. He talked to somebodyelse, he goes, okay. You're
right. It's not a replica. Isaid,
Chris (13:50):
well, just listen to it. Was not.
Dennis (13:52):
You know when I knew it wasn't a replica is when the
Martin came out as well. And Igo, okay. Hang on a second.
Yeah. You know?
Yeah. We had the privilege ofholding those two guitars. Yeah.
Which Yeah. Which and that wasenough.
Chris (14:02):
I was like,
tami (14:03):
oh, that's too expensive. Yeah.
max (14:04):
It's pretty intense stuff.
tami (14:06):
Yeah. We're Yeah. That's great.
Dennis (14:07):
So but Andy I'm surprised Andy wasn't there
because I didn't think he everwas at a place where the guitars
were.
max (14:13):
Yeah. They were well taken care of. He had a crew there
that Okay. That was definitely,like
tami (14:18):
Yeah.
max (14:19):
On guard Yeah. As they should be.
Chris (14:21):
As they
tami (14:21):
should be. Right. So Why don't tell him quickly the I
think I'm gonna get back to you,but, this the 4 20 story.
Dennis (14:27):
Yeah. Well, he got that that, particular guitar, Andy
Logan, you may know it, got it,won it at an auction. Right. So
this the the the guitar wasoriginally purchased at a
pawnshop by Stephen Stills andgifted to Jerry Garcia for
playing on teacher Jokin. Am Iam I familiar with that?
Yeah. Okay. So that whole thing.So when he Jerry dies, the, the
(14:49):
guitar is out in the public, andnext thing you know, it's in an
auction and Andy goes to theauction. Do you know
max (14:54):
the story?
Dennis (14:55):
I know. I know. Okay. So Andy goes to the auction and he
says to himself, and and he's aman of means. Right?
So he has some money to spend onthese guitars. And, he says to
himself, I cannot spend morethan $400,000 on this guitar
knowing that Jerry's Tigerguitar went for, like, $3.04 I
don't know what it is, in themillions. Yeah.
tami (15:14):
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (15:15):
And so he the auction proceeds and it gets up to
400,000 and he's like, okay,well, I'm out. And the
auctioneer, turned to him, it'ssomething like this, and said,
okay, $4.20 to you, Andy Logan.Four twenty.
tami (15:32):
Yeah. I mean
Dennis (15:33):
And everybody laughed. The whole place laughed, and he
said, fuck it.
max (15:38):
$4.20, of course. Sold. Yeah.
Dennis (15:40):
How can you not Yeah. Just say $4.20.
tami (15:42):
Yeah. But then but then the guitar went back.
Dennis (15:44):
So anyway, the book sold. You're right. He said
$4.20 got silent. He got theguitar. He couldn't believe it.
And then he brought that guitarback to a show Stephen Stills
was playing at a couple yearsago. Nice. So this is Andy
Logan.
tami (15:56):
Yeah. Full circle. Yeah. Full circle.
max (15:58):
That's a great story.
Chris (15:59):
Yeah.
tami (16:00):
It's a
Dennis (16:00):
great story. Nobody should be interviewing me here,
though. Anyone.
tami (16:02):
Let's get No. No. I mean, that's my mean, it's a great
story. It's a great story. Heand he deserves to know that.
I have to play.
Dennis (16:08):
He deserves to know. And then so okay. Bluegrass is your
jam. No pun intended.
max (16:12):
Yeah. Pretty much, man.
Dennis (16:13):
Yeah. Alright. So what the hell? Last night, I know you
there was a inkling that BillyStrings might come, but Chris
told us that no one knew forsure until you saw him right
before that five minute break.
max (16:26):
Oh, definitely. I mean, I there was a lot going on. I
mean, Jerry's guitar is upthere. We're playing with Peter
Rowan who's all living legends.
tami (16:36):
Yeah. I mean
Dennis (16:37):
He's playing in the background right now, by the
max (16:38):
way. Yeah. And,
Dennis (16:41):
But you've already played with him, so it's no big
deal.
tami (16:43):
Yeah.
max (16:43):
No. That was my first time. Absolutely. No.
tami (16:45):
Last night. Last night.
max (16:47):
Wow. Yeah. I knew. But, yeah, so, like, Billy and his
guys showed up and played acouple quite a few songs. They
were super fun.
Dennis (16:56):
So when you saw that that was happening, what what
came over you?
max (17:01):
I did. My dad called me and said, hey, buddy. There's gonna
be no. Yeah. Yeah.
No. I don't know. I mean, I feeljust so lucky and, grateful for
to have opportunities like thatto, to be even be here talking
to you guys Yeah.
Dennis (17:19):
Where we are.
tami (17:19):
We're we're in the forest. Are you any would you ever move
out here? Do you have a do youhave a family? Do you have
children?
max (17:27):
No. Okay. Yeah. Okay. But I have my roots planted pretty
deep off where I live.
tami (17:32):
Everybody seems to have that. My daughter's actually
leaving tomorrow. She's going toYukon. My son went to Boston,
New York, so it's like Yeah.They're and they love it.
Yeah. And when, you know, thesesnow seems to be this we used to
think it was California, buteveryone we've talked to lately
Dennis (17:46):
Goes most
tami (17:46):
they grounded themselves.
max (17:48):
Well, it's cool because in this line of work, you can kinda
live wherever you want. Sure. Goget to go see all these great
places in the in Pomo. So Yeah.Yeah.
Dennis (17:58):
Alright. So Billy, back to that. So he comes, and now
you're playing with him. Are youin the moment, just focusing on
your own playing or what's goingon in the back of your mind?
max (18:07):
Yeah. There's a lot going on now. I guess, like, first of
all, just the nature of whatwe're doing, no matter if it's,
someone very well known likeBilly Strings or whatever, it's
like nine dudes on stage.
tami (18:20):
Right. No
max (18:20):
matter who they are.
tami (18:21):
Yeah.
max (18:21):
Like, people are and we're all, like, great listeners and
we're all super respectful. Soit's like, people have to take
charge, but people don't wanna,like
tami (18:30):
Yes.
max (18:30):
Like, hog
tami (18:31):
the stage.
max (18:32):
But people wanna, like, be respectful, but also, like, take
someone else take charge.
Dennis (18:35):
Yeah. Communicate.
max (18:36):
Yeah. So there's a
tami (18:37):
lot of
max (18:37):
that going on. And then you added the fact that it's, like,
you know, there's obviously, youknow, these cats
tami (18:42):
Yeah.
max (18:42):
Like Billy and Alex that, I don't know. They're, you know,
they they're playing a differentleague than me, you know. So
it's like Yeah. Let's have it.
Dennis (18:49):
We got Alex Hargrave too. Yeah.
max (18:51):
I know, man. And that's the first time I got to meet Alex,
and I I've just I've been a fanfor so long.
tami (18:55):
It's Yeah.
max (18:56):
He's such a nice guy. I mean, he's amazing, you know.
Dennis (18:59):
But you can't get too caught up in those that thinking
because you would have to playwith the nine guys. Right?
max (19:04):
Yeah. So yeah. But no. It it worked out great. And,
Dennis (19:08):
yeah. Yeah. I I I And every Billy Strings was
deferring and, you know, I couldtell he was like, okay. This is
your gig and let me know when Ican step up. And, yeah, that was
very cool.
tami (19:19):
Yeah. That was all very obvious and that's why the I
think the audience
Chris (19:22):
is Down.
tami (19:23):
Too much. Too much. Too much. So where where next for
you? What what's next for you?
max (19:28):
We're here tomorrow on a day off going fishing.
Dennis (19:31):
Yeah. Oh.
max (19:32):
And then, we're going to Colorado for four shows and then
couple days off, and then we'regoing to North Carolina, South
Carolina. And those are all withPeter.
tami (19:42):
Those are great plans. Have you been to Colorado?
max (19:45):
I've never been to West.
tami (19:46):
Oh, boy.
max (19:46):
Oh, man. I've never been nowhere.
tami (19:48):
Oh, man. Okay. Well, you're gonna enjoy yourself,
man. This would be so much.Colorado's beautiful.
max (19:53):
Yeah. I'm hoping to do some fishing there too, Ken. Yeah.
tami (19:55):
You like to fish. Anything else? What are your other
passions?
max (19:58):
Just fish, man.
Dennis (19:59):
Fish and maybe a little music. Maybe a little. Yeah. Oh.
Chris (20:03):
Love it. Right on, man.
tami (20:04):
Okay. God. Listen. Well, Max,
Dennis (20:05):
man, I wanna I don't want you to miss the rest of
this. Thanks for sitting downwith us for a few minutes. So
we'll keep an eye out
tami (20:10):
for you.
max (20:11):
Very much.
Dennis (20:11):
And, well, we'll get your contact info and stay in
touch.
tami (20:14):
We'll get we'll get the podcast out to you.
Dennis (20:16):
We'll see you on the road someday. If not, back here
in California.
max (20:18):
Sounds good.
tami (20:19):
It was great to meet you. Alright. Thank you so much. You
prosper. Call you now.
Chris (20:26):
That's awesome.
Dennis (20:27):
Well, put some kid eye headphones on just
Chris (20:28):
because I was acting in my voice today. Well,
Dennis (20:31):
a little
Chris (20:31):
bit of all because of me.
Dennis (20:32):
Oh, we love Oh.
tami (20:34):
What's up with the band of the surround?
Chris (20:36):
That is better than this one.
Dennis (20:37):
I know.
Chris (20:37):
And it's louder over the music.
Dennis (20:39):
That's right. So we're gonna do it with that.
tami (20:41):
Last the last show, we were interviewing Stanley Jordan
got there in a weekend for,like, an hour, and they were
breaking down. It was like, youknow, the thing banging.
Chris (20:50):
Do you?
tami (20:51):
I'm like, okay.
Chris (20:52):
We gotta do.
tami (20:53):
Yeah. Yeah. Move.
Dennis (20:56):
Right on. I'm gonna turn off this one mic, which is this
one, I think. Right? Modern.
tami (21:00):
I don't know.
Dennis (21:00):
Yeah. I think so. Talk to me, Chris. Alright. Hey.
Chris (21:03):
How you doing?
Dennis (21:03):
Alright. Good. Alright. And you're good?
tami (21:05):
I'm doing yeah. I've got it.
Dennis (21:06):
Okay. And does that make any difference if
tami (21:08):
No. I think you're good. Right? Okay. There we go.
Alright. The equipment. Right?
Dennis (21:11):
We got the equipment. We're also technicians. Hey.
Chris (21:15):
This is Chris
Dennis (21:16):
Chris English, welcome to Tales from the Green Room.
Chris (21:19):
Oh, thanks for having me. It's awesome.
Dennis (21:20):
Man, we're so happy to have you. I'll tell you why.
First of all, I've seen we'veinterviewed Sam, a couple of
times. I think right when theSam Grisman project was getting
off the ground over a year
tami (21:32):
Wow.
Dennis (21:32):
I forgot two year almost two years.
Chris (21:33):
Two years now.
Dennis (21:34):
Yeah. About two years, which was cool. And he sat in I
mean, I sat in. He and Jay Lane,with the Dev and Company sat
together for an interview, whichyou'll have to listen to us.
Chris (21:44):
Oh, yeah. I have to
tami (21:44):
say something. Yeah. It was great.
Dennis (21:46):
I love Jay. Yeah.
tami (21:47):
Jay, they'll take you down the road.
Dennis (21:49):
You can only imagine. Right?
tami (21:50):
Oh, that's
Dennis (21:50):
true. And those two and, immediately, Jay said this is my
favorite bass player right here.My favorite bass player just
from the sound check.
Chris (21:57):
Oh, I love it. Yeah.
Dennis (21:59):
So, so that was one reason. Then I went and saw you
guys a couple of times. Ithought, wow. Badass band, but
more importantly, bad assdrummer.
Chris (22:08):
Oh, I'll tell you. Thank you
tami (22:09):
so much. Badass singer. So we've been talking off, you
know, and we're talking aboutsuperstition last night. Tell us
a little bit about last nightand how that
Chris (22:18):
Oh, that was a blessing. It just happened pretty much,
you know, other than me havingPeter Rowan and, they joined us
as well and,
tami (22:26):
Billy Strings?
Chris (22:27):
Billy Strings and Alice Haddes and yeah. It was a
blessing
Dennis (22:31):
to to make to heaven. How much of that that and just
for everybody background, lastnight, Billy Strings played at
the Greek theater in San Franand in Berkeley. And, just so
happened that the Sam Grismanproject had a show at the UC
theater down the road Yeah.Piece. And
tami (22:47):
Just show up.
Dennis (22:48):
Peter Rowan was, part of that build
tami (22:50):
Yeah.
Dennis (22:50):
From the beginning. And so it just seemed natural. And
it and what happened was thenatural thing that did happen
is, is that, Billy Strings didshow up, and play with you guys
at the end as did his, fiddleplayer, that his name escapes
me. It's Alex. Alex.
Yes.
tami (23:09):
Yeah. Oh,
Dennis (23:10):
yeah. You just mentioned that. Mhmm. So,
tami (23:12):
I wanna hear about you. I wanna hear about your a little
bit more about your backgroundand how you got involved with
this project.
Chris (23:18):
Well, with this project, I met Sam over a, Internet chat
actually.
tami (23:24):
Really?
Chris (23:24):
Maybe, like, a little over three years ago.
tami (23:27):
It wasn't a dating app, wasn't it?
Chris (23:29):
Heck no. No. It it was it's through it's through a
mutual friend of ours. And, andsay I wanted to start the
project and, I I came to Caliand, we just started in, like,
October 2022.
tami (23:44):
Wow. What were you doing before?
Chris (23:46):
I was playing with a band called Down of the Buffalo.
tami (23:48):
Nice.
Chris (23:49):
And then before that, I was doing my own, projects and
coming out with my own musicand, you know, and That was
established. And yeah. No. Thisis, you know, I've been doing
this since I was five years old.And Okay.
Yeah.
Dennis (24:02):
Where'd you grow up?
Chris (24:03):
I grew up in Rochester, New York. I had a musical family
growing up. I just I pretty muchwatched them play, and and
that's how I learned just bywatching them and Yeah.
tami (24:12):
Know. Have you seen Holly's son walking around with
a guitar and I have. Like
Chris (24:16):
a drummer. This is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
It's pretty cool to have toYeah.
Dennis (24:22):
So you you and Sam have that in common, the musical
families. Right?
Chris (24:25):
Amen. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty pretty strict families too to to
get us where we at. You know?
I know. It's a blessing. And andas we grow older, we realize how
much that meant meant to us withthe strictness of, you know,
growing up and being
tami (24:38):
a lot a big family?
Chris (24:39):
Oh, I we yeah. We did. Family reunions and, you know,
it was always music and
tami (24:44):
Yeah.
Dennis (24:44):
Was it strict that you had a had a play or just, once
you started playing, they werevery strict about what you did?
Both. Both. You know?
tami (24:51):
But really, I
Chris (24:52):
It was pretty much both and that's what made us, you
know, kinda, you know, acceptedto, like, pretty much any genre
of music. And
Dennis (25:00):
yeah. Well, you did, like, in the bluegrass into, you
know, with the Superstition lastnight. Yeah. The bluegrass
version of that Stevie Wondersong. Right?
That's awesome. With doingvocals was was resilient.
tami (25:12):
You guys didn't do more of that? Sort of, like, or do you
Chris (25:14):
Oh, yeah. We do a lot of that. We always, our our set
list is always different. So younever would get the same set at
a show. So it's
tami (25:22):
It's good.
Dennis (25:23):
It's it's
Chris (25:23):
pretty it's pretty cool. It's Grateful Dead. Yeah. That's
how, you know, that's what theydo.
Dennis (25:28):
Did did Sam, when he was, talking to you, was he
looking for a drummer, withvocals as well? Or did he say
did you guys talk about that?
Chris (25:37):
We talked about it, but he didn't really know know until
he knew. Yeah. We startedjamming stuff together. But I
guess he watched a lot of Imean, we watched a lot of videos
of each other to to to make sureit was the right decision and
our vibe is just like no other,you know. We never argue, we
never, you know.
It's like Oh. It's a family. Webrothers, you know.
tami (25:56):
Yeah. That's so cool.
Chris (25:58):
Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (25:59):
That is.
Chris (25:59):
I'm trying to make make sure that's
Dennis (26:01):
Yeah. You know?
tami (26:01):
Well, I I would assume, like, and I could just tell this
by your first time. Right? Imean, that's probably essential.
Chris (26:06):
Right? Very. Yeah.
tami (26:07):
Yeah. You can play with some people and even though you
have, you know, your music isreally good. Mhmm. You know,
there's not that vibe.
Chris (26:13):
No. But people can feel vibes too, you know.
tami (26:15):
Oh, totally.
Chris (26:16):
You're on stage, you know, the the audience come to
see you play, you know, theenergy shows.
tami (26:20):
Yeah. So cool.
Dennis (26:21):
Yep. So when did you get out? So where do you live now?
Chris (26:23):
I live in Rochester, New York.
Dennis (26:25):
Still do?
tami (26:25):
Yeah. Still live.
Chris (26:26):
Still live there. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Born and raised.
tami (26:29):
Wow. Nobody's convinced you to move.
Chris (26:31):
Nobody I I lived in so many different places, and I
just
Dennis (26:35):
Is my back? Yeah.
tami (26:36):
Yeah.
Chris (26:37):
It's pretty cool.
Dennis (26:37):
Yeah. That's really cool.
tami (26:38):
Like your favorite place, home?
Chris (26:40):
Finger Lakes is great. Yes. Yeah. It's my favorite.
Yeah.
Beautiful.
Dennis (26:44):
Tell us about, some of the other guys in the band. How
did, because we when we talkedto Sam the first time, I think
this was still in progress.
Chris (26:52):
Yeah.
Dennis (26:52):
Right? So it's
tami (26:52):
He was playing with Bob Wheeler and he hadn't ever met
Chris (26:55):
him. Right?
tami (26:55):
That's true.
Chris (26:56):
I think that was at the Sweetwater
tami (26:57):
Stadium. The fortieth anniversary. Anniversary.
Dennis (26:59):
I'm just wondering how, if you know it, we can ask him,
but, you know, how he grabbedthe the rest of the band members
and what that process was.
Chris (27:06):
What I love about Sam is, we it's always a different
lineup. So you never know whatyou're gonna get. So that's a
blessing to have where that'swhy the show is always different
because the everybody's, youknow, rhythm's different,
everybody's sounds different.Yeah. And, yeah.
That's that's that's theblessing. I've been I've been
(27:26):
with Sam since the beginning.
tami (27:27):
And Yeah.
Chris (27:28):
It's pretty cool to to to see that.
tami (27:31):
Did you know his father?
Chris (27:33):
I I definitely medicine. I, you know Yeah. Know his
father and, we did a lot of, acouple, like, couple shows
together. Yeah. And, yeah,talked to him online.
tami (27:43):
Yeah. You
Chris (27:43):
know, talked to him online.
Dennis (27:44):
And he showed up at Sweetwater, didn't he? You know?
His dad?
Chris (27:47):
When when he was played? No. I don't know. He didn't show
up in Sweetwater. He showed upin, in Seattle.
Dennis (27:52):
Okay.
Chris (27:54):
And he showed up a times in Seattle. We did, like, a
couple of private showstogether, and it's pretty cool
to have that. The and and I grewup around it, and, like, the
he's right there next to meplaying. Yeah. Awesome.
Yeah. That's true.
Dennis (28:07):
And what about your folks? Are they, your was there
dad, mom, or who was, who werethe musicians, if not both?
Chris (28:13):
My parents are pastors.
Dennis (28:16):
Okay.
Chris (28:16):
They've been pastors since I was, since I was born.
max (28:19):
Got it.
Chris (28:20):
So I came from we came from both sides, which is
awesome. Oh, yeah. They've beenthey just had their anniversary
44 forty five forty six yearsnow.
tami (28:26):
Oh, it's too bad.
Chris (28:27):
Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful. They're awesome.
Yeah.
So they came from my mom's side.Yeah. But my dad is is awesome.
Oh, I'm
tami (28:35):
so sorry. Oh, don't don't worry. People have been
tripping.
Dennis (28:38):
Oh, that's it. All been. Wow. Alright. So, so the gospel
influence from the pastors orwhat?
Chris (28:44):
Yeah. Gospel, blues, Soul Larnaby, funk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Dennis (28:49):
So cool. Because I I think of the the ladies, that
that sang with Jerry Garciaband. Right? Yes. And they were
both, from gospel backgrounds.
Yeah.
Chris (28:59):
Yeah. Jackie Labranos of Melbourne.
tami (29:01):
In Melbourne. Got all of them.
Dennis (29:03):
All from the gospel families. Yeah.
Chris (29:05):
But that's how I got started, like, knowing, you
know, Jay Garcia's music wasthrough, Jay Van. I didn't know
who I didn't know who Gay forDead was because I thought it
was a, a metal band.
Dennis (29:16):
Sound right.
Chris (29:16):
Sounds like it.
tami (29:17):
So I yeah.
Chris (29:18):
I was in tenth grade when I was, you know
tami (29:20):
Really?
Chris (29:20):
I was like, found out about it. I I need to know
something.
Dennis (29:24):
So so
what you're saying is you're listening to the Jerry
Garcia band music.
Chris (29:27):
Oh, before. I was just for a day for dead. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Because it was more soulful andgospel y because
tami (29:33):
Right. Those people love it. So we were talking about
sorry about how because Denniswas a deadhead, you know
Dennis (29:38):
I grew up in San Francisco. I had no choice.
Yeah.
tami (29:40):
But when Jerry stumbled upon it.
Chris (29:42):
I mean, you're yeah. You're lucky.
tami (29:44):
Yeah. But when Jerry started, you told me that
everyone was like, the dead isout, Jerry. Right?
Dennis (29:48):
Not when he started, but at the end, so I stumbled into
the dead at Golden Gate Park ata free show in 1975. My friends
from high school said, hey,there's a free show Sunday. You
wanna go? And it was the theGrateful Dead and Jefferson
Stars. Pretty amazing.
And I had no idea what I wasstepping into. But okay. So then
we stick with the dead. Love theyears, winterland, and and on
and on. And then there was atime probably in the late
(30:11):
eighties something we said, theit was a joke, but, we started
seeing the Jerry Garcia band.
Somebody one of my friends says,the dad is out and Jerry is in.
Because we were so enthralled bythe Jerry Garcia band. Yes.
Chris (30:24):
I mean, you know, I I love the I love I love the
Grateful Dead. I love them, youknow, but I learned from them. I
always do. But, the JB was thisis my gospel. It's my church.
Yeah. Which is the dead too.It's my church as well. Yeah.
Dennis (30:40):
That's right. So Yeah.
tami (30:41):
Do you have any other projects going on?
Chris (30:44):
Right now, I have my own stuff that's gonna come out
pretty soon.
Dennis (30:49):
Now tell us about it as much as you can.
Chris (30:51):
I will. It's called this this Chris is under my name,
Chris j English, and it's morelike funk so with horns and
Oregon. And I I wrote a lot ofthe tunes, and I play a lot of
the instruments in the in theband, and this should be out in,
like, two two months. And I'mreally forward to it. And
Dennis (31:10):
Is that something you can perform live to to support?
Chris (31:13):
Amen. Yes. I love real music. I love routine music, and
it's all real instruments. So,yes, it will be definitely,
lively.
Dennis (31:20):
We're not
Chris (31:20):
very lively.
Dennis (31:21):
Oh, you will? Will that be on the East Coast or or
wherever you can do it?
Chris (31:24):
Wherever I can do it, especially, like, when I have
days off with Sam Grisman, Iwould make sure I, like, can
play with, like, one show andhave musicians in probably
different states that can knowmy music or something. Yeah.
tami (31:33):
Yeah. And I
Chris (31:33):
can just keep the the music going. Yeah. You know?
tami (31:36):
Or if you I have a feeling you you played other
instruments. What what can sharea little bit about that.
Chris (31:41):
I play, like, guitar and bass and Oregon.
tami (31:45):
Wow.
Chris (31:45):
I used to play saxophone.
tami (31:47):
Oh. Oh.
Dennis (31:48):
That I wanna hear. Wow.
Chris (31:49):
Yeah. Yeah.
tami (31:50):
Wow. So that's awesome.
Dennis (31:52):
Yeah. I wanna ask one more question about last night.
Tell the, you know, again, thetrue story from inside the band.
And that is, at what point didyou know that the Billy Strings
would be joining you that lastnight?
Chris (32:07):
I didn't know. You did not? I just knew that Alex
Hargrave was coming because we,like, we are close friends with
Alex. Yeah. And Sam grew up withAlex Hargrave.
So, like, we knew Alex was gonnabe there that place with Billy.
And, and then we saw Billy onthe side stage doing, like, a
couple of songs that we wasplaying and he and we took that
(32:28):
five minute break.
Dennis (32:29):
And that's what that
tami (32:30):
song was. Wow. We was trying to I was like,
Dennis (32:33):
what are we doing?
tami (32:34):
You haven't asked anybody yet, but
Dennis (32:35):
Well, no. It's so cool. And that's so cool.
tami (32:37):
I mean, you know
Chris (32:38):
It's unexpected. I mean, I was like, I wasn't shocked or
scared or anything. I was justlike, ah, it's about to happen.
Dennis (32:44):
So let's do it. And the smile, like I said before we
said, was interviewed, the smileon your face was
tami (32:49):
Oh, gosh. Yeah. But But,
Dennis (32:51):
so because Sam had told me a couple of nights earlier,
he said, look, I got Alexcoming. I got Peter Rowan Yeah.
On the bill. Billy's playing upthe street. I got it all set up.
And I thought he was
tami (33:03):
I was He thought he was hinting like that. I'm not sure
Dennis (33:05):
he was hinting. He better or or he that he really
felt that he didn't know, and Idon't think he knew either.
Chris (33:10):
Wait. I mean, I I don't think he knew either, but we we
had, like, a we had, like, a,you know, a
Dennis (33:15):
Sneaky suspicion.
Chris (33:15):
A suspicious. Yeah. And it was awesome to have Dominic
Leslie who plays a Miley Tuttleas well on the on the on the
Mandolin, and those he's goodfriends of all of ours as well.
So it was awesome. It's like abig family.
tami (33:27):
Yeah. You know,
Chris (33:27):
by Do
tami (33:28):
do you
Dennis (33:28):
have a Leslie that plays with the project, his brother?
tami (33:30):
Or is that
Chris (33:31):
Well, Sam Leslie is yep. He plays with us every once in a
in a while, and, like, we switchit up, Max Max Franzberg and
Mhmm. Victor and yeah.
Dennis (33:39):
And the Leslie's what? They're in North Carolina, South
Carolina?
Chris (33:42):
The Leslie's are in Colorado. Oh, Colorado. Oh, man.
Dennis (33:46):
This is an eclectic abandoned mini walls.
tami (33:48):
Right? I know.
Chris (33:49):
So many ways we got we got people that's that's Yeah.
Yeah. That's everywhere aroundthe the the the the the country.
So Yeah.
Dennis (33:56):
So you you have a pretty good tour coming up. I saw what
any of the venues that you'regonna go to really excite you
and say, wow, I gotta get toplay there?
Chris (34:05):
I just love every everyone because everyone is
different. I'm I'm lookingforward to playing, Red Rocks
whenever that happens. Yeah.Okay.
tami (34:16):
Yeah. Did you make it to the sphere?
Chris (34:19):
I did not make it to
tami (34:20):
the sphere,
Chris (34:20):
and it was, like, right before my birthday. And I I
couldn't make it because we hada show. You're the same.
tami (34:26):
Yeah. It's just going on. That's okay.
Dennis (34:28):
Yeah. What about, the Brooklyn Bowl? Would that would
that be a cool spot for you?
Chris (34:31):
Actually, I love the Brooklyn Bowl.
tami (34:33):
Yeah. I don't know.
Chris (34:33):
Think it's kinda We put the one in New York and the
Brooklyn Bowl in New York. Yeah.Not the one here yet. Yeah.
Dennis (34:40):
Yeah. There's one I thought I saw one coming up,
Brooklyn Bowl coming up for youguys.
Chris (34:44):
Actually, yes. We do
tami (34:44):
have a
Chris (34:45):
well, that's true. In New York? And in
tami (34:47):
New York
Dennis (34:47):
I did your website.
Chris (34:48):
And New York. Do you know the website better than that? My
my show's better than that,which is great. That's right.
Hey.
Dennis (34:54):
I have to know something. I
Chris (34:55):
love it. I mean, I try to.
Dennis (34:58):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I can't play the drums, saxophone,
or guitar.
tami (35:01):
I can't.
Dennis (35:02):
So she can play the drums a little bit. But yeah. So
Oh.
tami (35:04):
Well, I play the jambe. I started doing COVID. You know?
What else am I gonna do?
Chris (35:09):
I met so many great musicians during COVID.
tami (35:12):
Well
Chris (35:12):
And
Dennis (35:13):
Bella. Do
tami (35:13):
you know Bella what Bella's last
Dennis (35:15):
Bella Raine.
tami (35:16):
Bella Raine.
Chris (35:16):
Okay.
tami (35:17):
Yeah. She started doing COVID
Chris (35:18):
playing that
Dennis (35:18):
guitar. Bella Raine, seventeen year old, guitar
player, and Sam played with herthe other night.
tami (35:24):
I know. But she actually told us.
Chris (35:26):
That's so cool. What? A lot of people a lot of people
came out from, you know, camecame from out of, you know, the
the COVID ass. Yeah. Yeah.
tami (35:35):
You know? Gives you some time to think.
Chris (35:36):
Yeah. Yeah.
tami (35:37):
And create.
Chris (35:38):
That's pretty cool. Yeah.
Dennis (35:40):
Are you gonna hang out the rest of the day here?
Chris (35:42):
Yeah. Sam Sam is playing bass.
Dennis (35:44):
Oh, that's right. Yeah.
Chris (35:45):
Of course you are.
tami (35:46):
Yes. So now it's that. We're stuck over here. What's
Dennis (35:49):
going on? No. We knew that. Sam and poor Phil has
COVID.
Chris (35:52):
My little
tami (35:52):
You know, Elliot.
Dennis (35:53):
And Elliot has COVID. But but Graham did, assure us
that, he's doing well.
Chris (35:57):
He's doing well. And I talked I talked to Graham and
yeah. Yeah. He's doing good. Hesaid his pops is doing a little
bit better.
Yeah. Yeah. So he's gonna keepup the
tami (36:07):
Well, I'll give you a little advice. So some advice
given to me last night was zincspray.
Chris (36:11):
Oh, I got some.
tami (36:12):
I have some. Okay. Well, you were the last to know about
zinc spray. I'm like, I'm goingto the store today.
Chris (36:17):
Yep. I have some. You do. It's pretty cool. Yeah.
tami (36:19):
Okay. I'm not.
Dennis (36:20):
Yeah. I would, I I think Sam and I asked him this. I
said, I'm thinking you'reprobably excited as hell, but
nervous as fuck. Yeah. Or orvice versa.
Chris (36:30):
Oh my god. Yeah. He was telling me he was nervous as
hell. And I was like, dude, it'slike Phil Phil Phil is, a nature
of on the bass. So he'severywhere on the bass.
He never plays the same he neverplays the song. Yeah. You know,
at the same. It's always the youknow, it's always different
whatever song it is. So I I saidmake it your own, dude.
(36:50):
You know?
Dennis (36:50):
So you're making
tami (36:51):
it And he will.
Chris (36:52):
And he will.
Dennis (36:53):
Yeah. He will in about five minutes. Guess we're about
to go see that.
tami (36:56):
Thank you so much. Oh, thanks so much. It was such a
pleasure to meet you. Oh, I want
Dennis (37:00):
to keep you on. I wanna keep up with following you sweet
trip too.
max (37:03):
Yeah. Maybe we'll
Dennis (37:04):
see on this.
tami (37:05):
We like to follow-up sometimes and, you know, when we
see an ad
Chris (37:07):
I love that.
tami (37:08):
Archive as much as we can.
Chris (37:11):
Please do. Yeah. Yeah. Let's hang up. Yeah.
We'll nice.
tami (37:13):
We'll have
Dennis (37:14):
a hang of this
tami (37:15):
after this.
Dennis (37:16):
Yeah. Absolutely. Very nice. Alright. Chris.
Right. Chris English, thanksagain. Thank you
tami (37:20):
very much.
Dennis (37:21):
Cheers. Bye bye.
Thanks for listening to Tales from the Green Room, a
presentation of Mount Tam Media.You can hear more spontaneous
stories from the secludedconfines of green rooms on our
next episode. To experience allMount Tam Media productions,
including the Woman Are Smarterpodcast, log on to
mounttammedia.com. We'll see youat the next show.
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