Music has always been a cornerstone in Sam Grisman’s life. As one of three children of storied mandolinist David Grisman, the former grew up in a household where jam
sessions were the norm and a who’s who of guests, including Vassar Clements, John Hartford and Doc Watson would often swing by to make music and break bread.
Along the way, Sam Grisman learned stand-up bass while being exposed to a musical foundation steeped in folk, bluegrass and jazz, which would shape his own creative
leanings. It’s a bouillabaisse of genres currently being dished out by the Sam Grisman Project and will be served up piping hot at Landmark on Main Street.
With his group touring for three years, Grisman and his crew are the equivalent of Americana Johnny Appleseeds.
“The format is that we play acoustically to a condenser microphone, so we invite the audience to participate in the experience by being present in the music with us,”
Grisman explained. “We improvise constantly, kind of like your jam-band, jazz group or any sort of configuration like that. We also honor great songs of all kinds and try to
deliver them the best that we can. There’s nothing that’s off-limits in our band.”
He added, “We’ve probably played 600 or more different tunes in the three years over the course of 350 gigs or something like that. We switch up the songbook quite a bit, but you never know what you’re going to get. It’s an experience we curate to each specific location and each moment. I put a lot of energy into making set lists.”
In addition to the group’s namesake, the Sam Grisman Project (SGP) is rounded out by Victor Furtado (banjo), Dominick Leslie (mandolin), John Mailander and Alex
Hargreaves (fiddle), Nat Smith (cello) and Max Flansburg (guitar). With all the musical mileage the SGP has put under its belt, the collective finally got around to
releasing a self-titled, double-CD debut recorded from Jan. 5-7, 2025, at Tractor Shed in Goodlettsville, Tenn.
“Our band is made up of a lot of influences,” Grisman said. “I started putting together groups of my friends to play this music just because it’s made such a positive impact to my life and it’s the music I care about the most. Basically, I wanted to include a few Garcia/Hunter tunes that are really significant to me. And a couple of Dylan tunes
because I’m a huge Dylan devotee and think he’s America’s greatest poet and songwriter. I wanted to put some Old Time music in there because I feel like our band
play a lot of traditional material that’s underrepresented in the current musical landscape sometimes.”
One of the greatest treats Grisman experienced while recording his debut album was having a longtime family friend and respected bluegrass multi-instrumentalist, Tim O’Brien, guest on a few tracks.
“He came in for our last half day in the studio and it was such a joyous experience to get to do that with so many of my closest friends,” Grisman said. “Tim is also a dear friend and one of my all-time musical heroes. Just to have Dominick Leslie, Alex Hargreaves, John Mailander, Victor Furtado, Nat Smith and Max Flansburg in the studio with Tim and Logan Ledger—each one of us is a huge fan of Tim’s without making him uncomfortable about it. It’s enjoyable for these guys to see how much their music
means to people and we’re trying to honor that music.”
With there being a recording studio on-site and a steady flow of musicians flowing through his home when Sam Grisman was growing up, a job in the family business of
music was an inevitable outcome in the shape of his starting out on a quarter-size bass in first grade.
Of course, Grisman the senior loomed large, particularly when it came to his son soaking up Dawg music, the unique genre of jazz, bluegrass and folk stylings the
younger Grisman’s father came up with.
“I grew up in a space where my parents would have John Hartford, Mike Seeger, Tony Rice, Jerry Garcia, Doc Watson, Edgar Meyer and Zakir Hussain over,” Grisman said. “They would make music with my dad, but we would also have dinner and spend time together. It just normalized music in my life. I grew up feeling like everybody played music. It’s only in the last decade or so that I really grasped the enormity of what a blessing that is.”
The Sam Grisman Project will appear on Feb. 12 at Landmark on Main St., 223 Main St., in Port Washington. For more information, visit
www.landmarkonmainstreet.org or call 516-767-6444
