Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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GROSSMAN, Stefan

(b 16 April '45, Brooklyn, NY) Virtuoso revivalist guitarist. Became student, champion and biographer of Rev. Gary Davis; also studied with Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Son House, Mance Lipscombe, Fred McDowell: studied their techniques as all-round entertainers rather than as pure bluesmen, playing ragtime as much as anything, and has dedicated himself to keeping that music alive. Played in Even Dozen Jug Band with Peter Siegel, with the Fugs '66, Mitch Ryder '67; worked in UK and lived in Rome, recording and publishing books on ragtime guitar, several albums on Transatlantic (CD Best Of compilation on Essential '97), instruction tapes on Happy Traum's Homespun Tapes; then he formed the Kicking Mule label with Ed Denson, recording acoustic fingerpickers incl. himself: LPs and cassettes on Kicking Mule incl. Acoustic Music, Bottleneck Serenade, Memphis Jellyroll, Hot Dogs, Country Blues Guitar Festival, others incl. Under The Volcano with John Renbourn. CDs on Shanachie are Love, Devils And The Blues '89, Guitar Landscapes '90, Black Melodies On A Clear Afternoon '91 (two-CD set), Yazoo Basin Boogie (reissue from Kicking Mule), Shining Shadows '92.