The second book of Sid's Dylan trilogy, this one on Bob's Rolling Thunder Review/Renaldo & Clara years, is called SHELTER FROM THE STORM and is in bookstores NOW. It is also available at Amazon Books online. It has new interviews with Roger McGuinn, Arlo Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, writer Larry "Ratso" Sloman, Kinky Friedman, Desire/Hard Rain engineer Don Meehan as well as many other notables. Please check it out!
The first song here, the first of a trilogy of Songs About Sid, is by Alvaro Parlismo in Perugia, Italy. Find out more about his fine music at MySpace Alvarosky_Sigillato Parlismo, a link is found below!
Sid Griffin is now on Twitter. Sign up and hear all the latest Sid/Coal Porters news! My Twitter site is SidCPsGriffin
The Coal Porters new CD is called DURANGO, was recorded in Colorado USA in April 2010 with the great Ed Stasium producing. It is NOW AVAILABLE both as a CD in shops AND as a digital download. For more info keep tabs on MySpace Coal Porters.
The LONG RYDERS back catalog, including our two Island LPs, is NOW AVAILABLE digitally via Amazon USA and those same two Island LPs plus the Prima reissues should be available on iTunes.
"Hey, Sid Griffin" is by Invisible Republik who used to be The Heyze and are from the north of England. Their own MySpace link is below in the Friends section. "Sid" is by a wonderful Toronto band called Shortwave who I heartily recommend to all! Check 'em out via MySpace Shortwave!
The Ballad Of Frankie Lee & Judas Priest is a Dylan song from JWHarding upon which I improvised a finale at a Feb 2008 Basement Tapes reading/gig I did with the great Rod Clements of Lindisfarne fame.
I Tell Her All The Time (1966 re-mix) is me live in Spain January 2008 and the remix is by my pal Tony Poole of Starry-Eyed & Laughing, a fine band up right there with the Sons Of Adam and the Blues Poets. Thanks, Tony!
Sid Griffin is the proud author of the 94,000 word book MILLION DOLLAR BASH: Bob Dylan, The Band & The Basement Tapes (Jawbone Press, USA/UK). The book tells what Dylan was up to from his motorcycle crash on in July 1966 to the release of John Wesley Harding eighteen months later and also deftly explores the Hawks morphing into The Band during 1967. With interviews from Robbie Robertson, Ronnie Hawkins, Roger McGuinn, Manfred Mann, Band producer John Simon and many others MILLION DOLLAR BASH is an exhilarating ride. Reviews have been terrific with one critic writing, "this book maybe Griffin's greatest single work, his greatest contribution to contemporary culture from his lifetime spent deep in the archives."
Sid's mighty Coal Porters bluegrass band's last CD was Turn The Water On, Boy! which received killer reviews in Word, Uncut, Mojo, Maverick, Q, Classic Rock and The Sunday Times! You can hear AND SEE the Coal Porters via BBC and S4C TV clips at last summer's festivals on their own snazzy MySpace site!)
Author Griffin was a proud member of the Long Ryders who performed their first US gigs in 23 years January 9/10, 2009 in Atlanta.clips of which are uploaded on YouTube! Today he lives in London, England where he plays bluegrass mandolin with the aforementioned Coal Porters and writes for a living. Griffin wears many hats, some of which fit better than others, none of which are beige. Yet.
Sid Griffin edited footage of the Long Ryders 2004 reunion tour for commerical release and the DVD Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion is now available in Europe & the USA! In Europe it is distributed by Proper Music and in the USA it is distributed by Burnside. The CD of that Long Ryders tour is already released via Prima Records and is entitled Live 2004: State Of Our Reunion.
In addition to all this he is still playing the occasional solo acoustic show and has performed a series of MILLION DOLLAR BASH readings/lectures/performances so these are busy times indeed for the artist referred to by BBC Radio One as "a rock'n'roll Renaissance man" and by Ireland's Hot Press as "The Great Enthusiast".
Sid Griffin, Long Ryders and Coal Porters music is available via Prima Records CDs or your favorite MP3 download site such as iTunes, Amazon and eMusic. Check out the IODA website for a host of Sid, Ryders and CPs' downloadable music!
In addition to those tasks Sid Griffin was Resident Musicologist on Mark Radcliffe's excellent BBC Radio Two show, remains a frequent guest on the Radcliffe/Maconie show, was consultant and interviewee on the Mark Lamarr's recent BBC Radio series Redneck Music and was picked by BBC 6 producer Frank Wilson to help with the upcoming Bob Dylan radio documentaries.
Sid is also a freelance journalist having written for The Guardian, Mojo, Q, Variety, BAM, The Los Angeles Times, Country Music International, Ruta 66, Music Week and a host of other publications. As a rock'n'roll archivist he has overseen reissue projects for the Everly Bros., Long John Baldry, Dolly Parton, Arthur Lee, Nils Lofgren, his friend the late Gene Clark, Michael Nesmith, the Flying Burrito Bros., Gram Parsons, Phil Ochs, his old band the Long Ryders, Joe Ely, Steve Young and his dear sweet pal the late, great Ronnie Lane. Sid has written liner notes to over 60 reissues and a dozen new releases.
And yes, Sid was once a DJ on Mean Country Radio 1035AM, hosting a very popular Thursday night bluegrass show and a Saturday afternoon C&W honky tonk show. He makes a mean banana walnut pancake. He can make a cheese & mushroom omlette to die for. He can juggle too. Really!
Yet it is for his activities as a musician and songwriter that Griffin is best known. Having founded and named the Long Ryders back in 1982 Griffin was their ringleader during their long hard ride and he wrote and sang the band's biggest single, "Looking For Lewis And Clark".
A few years after the Long Ryders disbanded Sid relocated from Los Angeles to London, taking the name of his new band with him: the Coal Porters. Based in London since February 1992 the Coal Porters started out as a Long Ryders Mk. II but are now an all acoustic five piece playing uptempo folk and bluegrass.
In addition he started Western Electric, the alt-country band to beat all alt-country bands. Their debut album in the year 2000 was Mojo magazine's Americana Album Of The Month. Best described as "Portishead meet Wilco" Western Electric is the world's first Country & Eastern band, crossing straight C&W with psychedelia to great effect.
His work as a record producer has led him to produce tracks for Lindisfarne, Eric Burdon, the Flying Hendersons, France's indie heros Les Bayrues and young alt-country diva Esther Mae. His production of the 1998 Lindisfarne studio album, "Here Comes The Neighborhood", helped give the classic Geordie band what many consider their best release yet.
And during all this Griffin has been performing as a solo acoustic troubadour, at first in support of his two solo CDs "Little Victories" and the more recent "As Certain As Sunrise". These CDs are readily found in the shops, can be ordered or downloaded easily from many sources and if heard will reside in your heart forever.
If it seems like a full schedule that's because Sid Griffin has a full life. This is a man whose best British friend says "Sid Griffin isn't happy unless he is doing five things at once". Griffin is always involved in one project or another be it a new album, a tour, a book, research for a CD reissue or working with the BBC on a TV documentary such as the acclaimed Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel.
He lives in north London with his daughter Esther Mae Griffin, his rare guitar collection, a rare Beatles 78rpm from India and a frog named Juan Marichal. He has never met Linda Evangelista, Heidi Klum or Marisa Miller but in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in October 1974 when Sid had very long hair he shook the hand of bluegrass hero and ace mandolinist Bill Monroe who was cordial to chat to yet kept calling him "Sue Griffin".
The Coal Porters on Facebook
www.sidgriffin.com
Coal Porters - Ooh La La
Sid Griffin Interview - Sesiwn Fawr Festival, Dolgellau, Wales 2008
Sid Griffin - Million Dollar Bash
Sid Griffin - When I'm Out Walking with You
Sid Griffin - Jimmy Reed
Sid as a Simpsons character
