The Sagebrush Hills and Soft California Sun of Tyler Grant

For National Flatpicking Champion Tyler Grant, it’s clear that natural landscapes drive him to pick out his thoughts and feelings on an acoustic. He grew up in southern California, lived in Nashville, and currently calls Colorado home. It’s the Southwestern region, however, that beckons him.

“I learned to love the hills and forests of the Mid-South, and I truly enjoy the Smoky Mountains and the Appalachian Range,” Grant explained. “But growing up in Jamul, California – the 'Deep South', as I call it – I feel a connection to the wide-open vistas of the Southwestern U.S. I visit my Southern California home often.”

Grant was downright poetic when describing what grabs his heart.

“My happy place is sunset time out on the patio with my guitar, overlooking the sagebrush hills, feeling the last warm streaks of the soft California sun,” he said.

“These are classic country and rockabilly songs that my dad, who was from Texas, used to sing and play for us,” he reminisced. “Being a fourth-generation Jamulian and growing up in the house my great grandparents built – with my mom’s other grandparents right up the road – I feel strong ties to home and family, which is unavoidable in my songwriting.”

That songwriting is on display in his recent album release. The title of the record – Flatpicker – is utterly apropos for a musician who became the 2008 Walnut Valley Festival National Flatpicking Champion and who has also held top wins in the Colorado State Championship at RockyGrass (2003); the MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Championship (2009); Wayne Henderson Festival Guitar Contest (2005); and the New England Championship at Ossipee Valley Festival (2005).

Over the years, Grant has worn many hats. He spent years touring with Abigail Washburn, Adrienne Young & Little Sadie, and April Verch. He joined the co-founder of Leftover Salmon as a member of the Drew Emmitt Band (which would later evolve into the Emmitt-Nershi Band, featuring Bill Nershi of The String Cheese Incident). In 2010, Grant also founded the “Cosmic Americana” group Grant Farm, which released five albums and toured widely until the pandemic.

The singles from Flatpicker—Grant’s seventh album—dropped in March. They include “Goat Canyon Trestle,” “Coming Home to Stay,” and other tracks that rely upon motifs and imagery of natural spaces that hold personal meaning.

Grant strives to immerse himself in nature, and alongside flatpicking, getting out there in the wild is something he said he yearns to do.

“I'm a natural-born hiker, and my family grew up camping. Since the pandemic, my musical spirit has been heavily influenced by my pivot into river guiding and the floating music festival, which we call RiverWonderGrass,” he explained. “I've always been interested in outdoor leadership, and the combination of this with music performance was right up my alley.”

“The river and canyon influence shows up on this album and will be the main focus of my next release, which is a complete suite of pieces based on the RiverWonderGrass experience.” The recording will be titled “Suite Lodore” and will be “named for the Canyon of Lodore, which we guide folks down in Dinosaur National Monument.” He said the scenery there is “breathtaking,” and wanting to represent this in his music, called to him “with the force of a Class IV rapid.”

When not riding the rapids or making music, Grant is still…well…making music. He teaches lessons via his Flatpicking Academy, found on the music lesson platform, ArtistWorks. He said it’s a series of short lessons “arranged in a step-by-step curriculum that starts with the very basics and works through essential concepts and techniques for bluegrass guitar, as well as ways to branch off from that into other styles, as I encourage players to do. The concepts are weaved into standard songs and instrumentals, giving participants a useful repertoire to take to bluegrass jams or perform on their own.”

Bluegrass fans wanting to take in a Tyler Grant class – or, a live performance – will be able to find him at Augusta Bluegrass Week in Elkins, West Va., where he’s been teaching guitar each year since 2005 (July 13-18); Rockygrass Academy in Lyons, Colo. (July 20-24); Rockygrass Festival (July 25-17), where he’ll perform on Sunday with Charlie Rose and other musicians; Pickin’ on the Dead RiverWonderGrass Expedition on the Green River/Gates of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument (Sept. 6-9); or Campout for the Cause Festival in Salida, Colo. (Sept 19-20). 

“Music is a language that takes work to get into, but once you are in there, the power of expression is greater than any spoken language,” Grant summarized, about why music is his chosen means of sharing his thoughts and feelings. He said music has done so much for him personally, and he wants to spread that to others. He has a “contribution mindset” about it, which is why he spends his life both performing and teaching.

 “At our best, we musicians are a direct conduit to the divine, channeling the flow of the connected universe,” he summarized. Thankfully for bluegrass fans, the flow of the infinite often moves through stunning vistas, rugged adventure, and well-plucked strings.