MUSIC IN THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE


Grant Peeples
Florida Panhandle's Rising Folk/Americana
Recording Artist

Grant Peeples, a rising new Americana/Folk singer from Wakulla County, Florida, sings of catfish and flatbeds, sweat stains and retreads, and . . . okra and Ecclesiastes. His lyrical references include a package store across the highway from the poultry plant, where you can get a beer and a lotto ticket and then sit around outside by the dumpster, drinking and talking . . . and thinking about all the bridges you know you'll never get to cross.


With the declaration of his opening song, My People Come From the Dirt, Grant, who has recently been described as “equal parts troubadour and troublemaker”, identifies with the southern working class and southern poor – often one and the same. (As stated by Joe Bageant, an American author and columnist known for one of Grant's favorite books, Deer Hunting with Jesus, “Poor is poor, whether you have to work for it or not”.) Like all great poets and artists, Grant Peeples manages to find the true heart and soul of the experience and express it in ways which those from this background cannot help but identify. Yet, there is much more to him than that.


Grant, through his powerful songwriting and soulful performances, often softened by humor, leads 'his people' away from the many self-defeating precepts defining their culture and toward an enlightenment of sorts. He demonstrates both understanding and revelation with lines like “so, you always better watch your back, and don't you ever spare the rod, when you are standing there in the crosshairs of your angry and jealous God.” On other occasions, he can be found banging out the song, Jesus was a Revolutionary, and often cursing republican fat cat real estate developers for raping the land and destroying the economy. Not your usual redneck fare.


As of March, 2011, his new CD was in the top ten on the Folk charts and within the top twenty on the Americana chart and rising! Perhaps this rarely seen side of the southern working class culture has found its time, with Grant as its most melodic spokesperson.


Grant recently celebrated the release of his new CD (or as he says “Record”), Okra and Ecclesiastes (on Gatorbone Records, produced in Austin by Gurf Morlix) at a CD Release Party in Tallahassee for his favorite fans and supporters . . . and we were there to get some video for you.




For more info or to buy his CD, see GrantPeeples.com


Share |


For more videos, see NovemberStar Entertainment on Facebook

For more info or to buy his CD, see GrantPeeples.com