Happy 70th Birthday, David Grisman

[Don Grieser]

Happy Birthday, Dawg! Thanks for inspiring all of us. I think you have the most lyrical and expressive tremolo I have ever heard.

A few years back I posted an ad in the classifieds here for late 20s mandocello. Among all the replies was one signed Dawg. I thought someone was having some fun with me so I wrote back asking, "Are you really THE Dawg?" and he replied, "Yes, I'm afraid so Don" and it was signed David Dawg Grisman. Easiest sale I ever made and his check had pictures of dogs on it too. I still smile when I think about that.

[KyleG_MandolinMuse]

Happy Birthday Dawg. Without a doubt, the single greatest influence on my mandolin playing and musical sensibilities.

[sully542]

I started bought my first mandolin in the mid 70's because I listened to you play with the dead. I stopped for a long time but picked it up about again 8 years ago.
I feel I owe you many happy returns. Be safe, be well, be blessed.
Happy Birthday.

[Glennly]

THE reason I picked up the mandolin in the first place. Happy birthday, and I hope yo keep making music for a long, long time

[TEvans]

Dawg. Your mandolin playing is inspiring to all of us. And your sense of humor and zeal for life can be easily seen in the way you put yourself out there with no fear of breaking down walls.

Thanks for your genre bending playing, and bringing that mandolin into so many of our lives. You're awesome.

[Daniel Nestlerode]

Happy Birthday David! And many happy returns of the day as well.
I have benefited from and been inspired by your playing. Two Soldiers was the first tune I learned on the mandolin. I was able to get to the Symposium in 2005 and 2006, and I credit those weeks of instruction as the catalysts that made me a proper musician.

Thank you very much!
Daniel

[ajpete]

Happy Birthday, many happy returns from Berlin!
I probably wouldn't play this wonderful instrument if it wasn't for your inspiration.
All the best
Pete

[barry]

July 22, 1994, I took my girlfriend (now wife) to the airport to catch a flight for the '94 Chicago Dead shows. Since I had a local obligations and could not go with her, I went to the Variety Playhouse to see David Grisman as a "consolation prize". I figured, "Well, he played with Jerry Garcia before, and I own the Garcia/Grisman album, it can't be bad."

Needless to say, it blew my mind. I went up to the foot of the stage. Watching him shake his head from side to side as he furiously coaxed an undulating groove out of that little instrument, all I could think was, "I've got to have one of those!"

Thank you Dawg for what will be a lifetime of enjoyment.

However, you probably do owe my wife an apology for all those Calton cases she is constantly tripping over.

Best,

Barry

[Dave Wrede]

Mr Grisman,
Thank you for joy you've brought all of us in this mandolin journey. I've only seen you once, at Big Mountain Ski Resort in Montana, but I've listened to your music almost everyday.

Happy Birthday!!! And Many More!!

Dave

[Marc Berman]

Happy Birthday David Grisman. Thanks for all the music!

[Perry]

Happy Birthday Dawg! And thank you for all the great music...a band I'm part of, The Flying Jalapenos once opened for David's bluegrass band at B.B. King's. Normally we plugged in but I convinced the band to play into mics.....twas the influence of the Dawg....

Great Tim O tribute above!

Perry

[Glassweb]

Butthead: "uh... it's who's birthday? oh! David Grisman? uh... he's pretty cool... uh, i think... uh hunh-heh-hunh-hunh!"

Beavis: "yeah! he's a dog... henh-henh... and he doesn't suck... hehn- hehn!"

[Steve Lavelle]

Happy Birthday Dawg! You've been a huge influence on my meager mandolin skills, but I also want to applaud and encourage all your work at Acoustic Disc. Thanks for recording all the great artists, and thanks for spending a minute at Floydfest to sign a disc and ask me about my mandolin. You are a class act.

[erico]

When I heard your mandolin in Not For Kids Only, I told myself that's how I want to play. So I put down my guitar, picked up a mandolin, and never looked back. Happy Birthday, see you in June. E

[J.Sloan]

Happy Birthday "Dawg" !!

[CES]

Happy Birthday, Dawg! Thanks for the music, and the amazingly cool way you represent it!! Much respect!!

[Nashville]

Met him just once back in '79 or '80. Saw DGQ in concert in Missoula, Montana and Mark O'Connor had just replaced Tony Rice on guitar. Concert was amazing of course, mind blowing. My best friend and I went backstage to meet with David Grisman. I was speechless and could barely utter a word since my universe had just shifted. And the first thing my friend asked him was "Are you and Jerry still playing together?"

Grisman's mood suddenly changed to a bit angry and he replied, "That #$#!@$$%#%, he owes me $5000 bucks and hasn't paid it back..." and he launched into a little rant about Jerry Garcia. Wasn't quite what we expected. But once he vented a bit then we talked a little mandolin music.

I am so thankful for everything he has done and every note he has played. Long live the Dawg!

[Mandophile]

Happy Birthday David,
For us, it all started decades ago with Rudy Cipolla, and way before that, with your youthful love for playing at Italian weddings! It's good to know that you've got the rootsy thing going on and that you've shared so much of it with all of us. Thank you for your lifetime of devotion to the mandolin, and your profound appreciation for the repertoire by giving it your own special flourish.
Best to you and Tracy,
from that Sicilian girl, Sheri Mignano Crawford
*photo from Rudy tribute--with the best of the best. Thank you for inviting me to play on the stage.

[NursingDaBlues]

Happy Birthday, Dawg! You've been the greatest influence on me and my mando buddies to make these beautiful instruments sing in ways that non-mando people could not believe possible.

[grassrootphilosopher]

Yeah,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY David Grisman! And many happy returns of the day.

It was in the mid 80ies when I got turned on to your music by my jazz loving cousin. It was Acousticity (out of print?). That was before I had even started to play guitar (had not even thought about playing the mandolin). I´ve come a long way and David Grisman´s music has been a trusted companion. From Muleskinner, Old & In The Way, via the original David Grisman Quintet record, Dawg Grass/Dawg Jazz to beautiful chamber music like Tone Poems, Tone Poets, Traversata (Beppe Gambetta & Carlo Aonzo), it´s been all good.

Cheers

[Charley wild]

Happy Birthday, David! What an amazing journey you have had, please continue!

[mmukav]

Happy Birthday to you, David. You have inspired me to play an instrument that is both challenging and inspirational. May you have many more Dawg, and "pick on"!

[Pete Braccio]

Happy Birthday, David!

It has always amazed me how some people act as catalysts. You have yourself to be one over and over again. How your path crossed early on with Sam Bush, Jody Stecher, Andy Statman, and Ralph Rinzer is amazing enough, but you also passed by a very young Don Stiernberg on the way to a lesson with Jethro. You were able to see what Mike Marshall had to offer when he showed up from Florida. You gave Ronnie McCoury his instrumental voice. The list goes on and on.

You have a truly significant effect on acoustic music even beyond the amazing music that you yourself have played. And thanks for that can not be expressed in words.

See you in June.

Pete

[desertnight]

I'll never forget the adrenaline rush I got the first time I put the needle to vinyl and EMD. The bass and mandolin groove grabbed me by the shirt and those first notes lifted me. (You all know the ones I mean!) A high school kid transformed. The Dawg's music has continued to inspire me to this day with his powerful tone, drive and timing, and compositions and improvisation and subtle beauty.

The Dawg has taken us all to new places and spawned generations of musicians to push their boundaries to their greatest abilities and to discover and develop their own original voices in acoustic music and beyond.

Thanks Dawg!

The Hard Road Trio
Tim May and Steve Smith

[Daniel Vance]

Happy Birthday David! It was your music with Jerry Garcia that introduced me to the wonders of the Mandolin. So thanks and here is to another amazing year.