Grey Larsen

Grey Larsen is one of America's most highly regarded Irish flute, tin whistle and concertina players, and his accomplishments in the field are equally respected by musicians in Ireland and many far-flung corners of the globe.

Early on he sought out and learned Irish music directly from elder masters in America and Ireland such as Tom Byrne, Tom McCaffrey and Michael Kennedy. Over the years he has developed a unique personal sound, wedding the lyricism and nuance of the East Galway style with the varied currents of his wide-ranging musical life, which include a degree in music composition from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

In his concert appearances he currently chooses to focus intently upon traditional Irish music on flute, tin whistle and Anglo concertina. Through his past musical collaborations, however, many thousands of folk music fans worldwide know that he is also very accomplished in the traditional musics of America, French Canada, Norway and Sweden and that he is at home on half a dozen instruments. In 1975 Grey teamed up with Malcolm Dalglish and in 1982 formed the trio Metamora with Dalglish and Pete Sutherland, and later Martin Simpson.

Still more have enjoyed the recordings that he and those partners produced, records that have sold well in excess of 600,000 copies and have garnered the high praise of critics and music lovers alike. These include Banish Misfortune, Thunderhead, The Great Road, The First of Autumn,Windham Hill's Sanctuary, Morning Walk , A Winter's Solstice II and Sampler '88 , and his own solo album, The Gathering, which won an honorable mention from NAIRD (the National Association of Independent Record Distributors) in 1987.

In 1992 he formed a duo with French Canadian guitarist and singer André Marchand. Their CD, The Orange Tree, was released in 1993 on Sugar Hill Records and was chosen by CD Review Magazine as Runner-Up World Music CD of the Year. He is currently at work on a recording focusing on his Irish flute playing. He is also a veteran of such popular radio programs as A Prairie Home Companion, Good Evening with Noah Adams, and Mountain Stage.

Grey Larsen is not only a masterful performer in the Irish tradition, he is one of its most articulate and accomplished teachers. In a field without generally agreed upon pedagogical methods and models, he has developed a fresh and insightful way of understanding and conveying the intricacies of the music, which so many have found to be elusive and enigmatic. He currently presents a variety of in-depth programs on traditional Irish flute music at colleges, universities, music schools, and folk music workshops and camps. He is currently writing four books incorporating his innovative methods of teaching traditional Irish flute and tin whistle, all of which will be published by Mel Bay Publications in the year 2000.

Grey is also an award-winning record producer, a film composer and the Music Editor of Sing-Out Magazine, an international folk music quarterly founded in 1950 by Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and others. Many thousands of film-goers have heard his music featured in the score to Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange's 1989 movie Far North and in the popular children's cable TV movie Tuck Everlasting.

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Last updated on June 11, 2001
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