ENCINITAS —Tom Griesgraber, guitarist and master of the Chapman Stick, is on the ballot for this year’s Grammy Awards for his album, “Unnamed Lands,” with guitarist Bert Lams. Griesgraber is an Encinitas native. Lams is from Belgium.
The album was also voted one of the “Top 25 of 2013” by Echoes Best of 2013 Listener poll.
The album is up for nominations under:
— Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
— Best Instrumental Composition, “Rebecca” from “Unnamed Lands”
— Best New Artist Tom Griesgraber and Bert Lams
— Album Of The Year
They are also up for consideration under Best Packaging, Best Engineering and Best Liner Notes (categories determined in part by craft committees). Greisgraber studied in Encinitas under master guitarist Peter Pupping and is a graduate of Berklee School of Music.
A new mini-documentary video, “A Journey Through Unnamed Lands” is available at thossounds.com. The video is a brief history of The Tom Griesgraber/Bert Lams duo and the making of the album “Unnamed Lands,” as part one of a new series.
Griesgraber’s bio describes his playing of the Chapman Stick as “having acoustic guitar or piano-like moments, funk rock bass lines, ambient synth and soundscape textures, rock guitar leads, jazz solos and even small bits of percussion sometimes all happening simultaneously.”
Griesgraber discovered the HYPERLINK “http://www.stick.com” Chapman Stick, taking up the unique, 12-string instrument after watching a performance in 1997. Developed by musician Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s, the Chapman Stick used by Griesgraber combines six guitar strings tuned in fourths with six bass strings tuned in fifths. Notes are “tapped” rather than strummed. Griesgraber decided to put his creative career on hold, set aside the guitar, and focus on the still mostly unexplored territory of the often unrecognized Chapman Stick.
“Logically that decision didn’t make much sense,” says Griesgraber. “It really felt like starting over, but I just knew I had to do it. I believe every one of us has a purpose in life and if we concentrate on doing what we feel called to do, no matter the risks, things work out for the best.”
For more information, visit thossounds.com. Connect with the duo at HYPERLINK “https://www.facebook.com/BertLamsTomGriesgraber” facebook.com/BertLamsTomGriesgraber
