Debut album, Hometown Tragedies, out NOW!
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We are proud to announce the release of our album “Hometown Tragedies.” Each song is a story based on real events occurring in our families, our community, our country, and the world. They tell of losses and experiences that represent our collective stories, things we don’t want to forget and things we shouldn’t forget. That’s the role folk music plays in our society. We tell the tale, share the story, think, learn, and become stronger and wiser in the process. And that builds resilience and hope. Who doesn’t need a little of that as we trudge through the darkness of winter to the light of spring? I know I do.
The album cover is Debbie’s painting “Debbie Sue’s Garden,” a depiction of our family garden. Many of you knew Debbie. For those who did not, she was my wife and the mom of our amazing children. She died of ALS on November 3, 2012.
NEWS!
September, 2024: After the Atlas Fire of 2017, Jim wrote the song Fire in the Wind. It has become a mainstay of Terry Family’s repertoire. In an unusual fusion of classical music and modern folk music, Jim has been invited to perform the piece with the Napa Valley Chamber Orchestra on September 29, 2024 at 2:00 pm at Crosswalk Church, 2590 First Street. NVCO is funded by charitable donations, and the concert is free.
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July, 2024: Jim wrote a song that was featured in a podcast. Rumble Strip is a podcast out of Vermont. Each episode is a slice of Vermont life produced by Erica Heilman, herself a citizen of Vermont where she lives with her husband. Erica won a Peabody award for her episode of Rumble Strip called “Finn and the Bell.” The episode explores the reaction of a mom (Tara) and a community, to the loss of Tara’s son. Jim wrote a song entitled “The Bell” after listening to the episode several times. Ultimately, Erica ran a follow-up episode in which Erica interviews Tara about the evolution of her grief. Jim’s song is featured at the end of the episode. Here it is: Tara — Rumble Strip. Click here to read the Story Behind the Song on our website.
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May 18, 2024: We enjoyed a debut performance at the White Barn in St. Helena. It is a wonderful listening room, or I should say hay attic, that has a significant history in St. Helena. We had a strong sell-out show. The White Barn was covered by Napa Valley Features, in connection with our performance. Here is the article and the full history of the White Barn including an interview with Jim and the White Barn manager, David Garden. Keep the White Barn in mind and check out their line-up when you want a night out. It is one of a kind.
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March 11, 2022: Jim just returned from Florida where he played a set in the Will McLean Music Festival including Mercy in the Storm–the song that won the 2022 Best New Florida Folk Song contest. Meanwhile we wrapped up our North America radio station promotion campaign, which for a group barely known outside of Napa, was a successful endeavor. Highlights included hitting the Folk Alliance International top albums chart for January and February, 2022, and the Folk Alliance International top songs chart for February, 2022 for The Walls Stand On and On. That song was also picked up by a nationally syndicated radio program out of Chicago called The Midnight Special, and was played on 102 stations throughout the country. That was pretty exciting. Many thanks to our representative Art Menius from North Carolina for guiding us through the somewhat archaic and particular world of folk music radio promotion.
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January 16, 2022: During our radio campaign, our promoter Art Menius, introduced us to Baruch Zeichner, the producer of the Paradigms Podcast bearing the tagline “Inspired inspiring people with visions of a viable future for life on Earth, including humans!” Baruch invited us to do a podcast with him and announced when we started the recording session that he gets 200,000 listeners. I don’t know how he knows that, but Graham appropriately replied “whoa, I guess I should have prepared more!” Baruch has a varied background including practicing as a psychotherapist.
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January 11, 2022: “…radiating sincerity in each word they sing. I’m certain the likes of Jerry Garcia would’ve enjoyed this band because of their laid-back bluegrass approach, a thin glimmer of honesty without any pompous or bombastic messaging. You don’t have to be a lover of folk music to appreciate the music conveyed here.”
READ THE FULL ALBUM REVIEW HERE
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Brooksville, Florida, January 1, 2022: For us, 2022 started a lot better than 2021 began. On January 1, we learned that our song “Mercy in the Storm” won first place in the 2022 Will McLean Best New Florida Song Contest. Our thanks to song contest organizer Donna Green-Townsend and all of the judges for recognizing this song and continuing the tradition of honoring Will McLean, the father of Florida folk music. The Will McLean Music Festival is in March, 2022. Here is a link to the story.
A year ago, we released our debut album “Hometown Tragedies” to friends and family. We are now re-releasing and promoting the album to folk radio stations throughout North America thanks to the good work of Art Menius. That campaign will start on January 11th and extend through February 28th, and will include a premiere of a video of Fire in the Wind on Americana Highways on January 17th.
We’re excited about these developments. Given how hard these times are, let’s take and rejoice in what we can get. So, get on the road to hope, and go where the sun is bright, the sea is green and the sky is always blue. That’s pretty cliché stuff, but I’m sticking to it.
Jim
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North Dakota, July 18, 2021: Terry Family appeared on The Great American Folk Show today. It is a radio show created and produced by Tom Brosseau and was broadcast on NPR affiliate Prairie Public radio. It was a great privilege to be asked to play. Here is the link to the show. We appear about 7 minutes in with a family conversation and a couple of songs.
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Napa, CA, June 23, 2020: In the summer of 1973, I was working as the Music Director at The Lair of the Bear, Camp Gold, a summer camp for families affiliated with the UC system. At the show we called the Hootenanny, I started performing Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road, a song that had recently been released by Loudon Wainwright III. It became a standard. I also met my Lair sweetheart Debbie who became my wife and the mother of James, Clark, and Graham. Of course, we returned to the Lair as campers and the kids started performing Dead Skunk, singing and playing their violins. They were such a hit they became known as the Dead Skunks.
One of my secret hopes has been that my grandchildren, Rowan and Maeve, would join their parents, Uncles and Grandpa in a performance. It happened a lot sooner than I ever imagined when we came up with the idea of reprising Dead Skunk for a virtual Lair Hootenanny to provide some semblance of normalcy for Lair campers experiencing the first ever cancellation of the Lair due to the pandemic. Now I’m a proud Grandpa as I provide you with the full Terry Family performing Dead Skunk featuring Rowan on piano and Maeve who steals the show with her kazoo.
Watch the video >
Jim
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Napa, CA, June 15, 2020: From the desk of the youngest Terry:
As most of you know, I'm a musician by trade. As most of you do not know, I've been working on an album off and on for the last 2 years. It is an homage to the acoustic music that has influenced and inspired me over the last 10 years. All tunes are composed, performed, engineered, mixed, and mastered by me in my living room.
I released "The Banjo is Missing" on June 15th, while starting a campaign to donate all proceeds from album sales through June 21st to Black Lives Matter, as well as the Napa/Sonoma LGBTQ Connection. I’m selling the album for a minimum donation of $5, or however much you want. You'll get a digital download of my album in return.
As of today, I'm closing in on $1000. I'm not setting a financial goal, but if I feel like rounding up, that will happen. If you’re interested in participating in my little endeavor, and would like some original music in return, visit musicgraham.bandcamp.com, give the album a listen, and purchase away. Don’t hesitate to share the idea with anyone you want either.
Wishing you all peace, good health, and perseverance as we navigate these uncertain times.
Graham
PS - I launched a new website with a sweet video too!
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Napa, CA, May 17, 2020: There is no question we are going through a hard time. Whether you are a glass half full or glass half empty type, the glass is cracked. But I like the pause we’re in; now we have the time to really think, and when do we ever have that? When our brains crack open, we can let a little light come through. At the end of the day, the little light is really a big bright moon with a smile on its face saying "life is precious”. If we come out of this weird time with that much, maybe it will all be worth it. Nothing brought that home to me more than the recent death of John Prine.
I bought John Prine’s first album in 1971 and nearly 50 years later, I still have it. Paradise and Spanish Pipedream became entrenched in our family repertoire, not to mention Angel from Montgomery. On April 7th, John Prine passed away under the light of a supermoon, the biggest moon of 2020. Author Margaret Renkl in a recent article connected those two events, one so beautiful, the other terribly sad, as if the supermoon was honoring Mr. Prine and shining a light on his music. Margaret described his music as the soundtrack of her life. I feel the same way. This is our tribute to John Prine. It is called Supermoon, inspired by the writing of Margaret Renkl and, of course, the music of John Prine.
Take care everybody. We’re thinking of you. If you get a little down, keep your eyes on the big bright moon with a smile on its face. It’s shining on all of us.
Jim
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Napa, CA, September 28, 2019: A few weeks ago we wrote with news that we were competing in the Grand Finals of the West Song Songwriters competition at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. We saw many great performances that night of some seriously well-crafted tunes. At the end of the night, we were moved and honored to be awarded Best Song of the Year for Dad's song, The Walls Stand On and On.
Our local paper, the Napa Valley Register wrote a piece about the the competition and award. Check it out here.
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Napa, CA, August 20, 2019: Dad came home from his songwriting retreat with Dar Williams and friends and, fully inspired, added a couple more West Coast Songwriters best song awards (“Gone” and “My Birmingham Home”) but more importantly walked away with Napa's Best Song of the Year for his tribute to Emmet Till “The Walls Stand On and On." We will be performing that song (and another of our choice) at the West Coast Songwriters "Grand Finals” on Friday, September 6th at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, CA. Other winners of Best Song of the Year throughout the greater Bay Area and Portland, Oregon, will present their songs as well. Hope to see you there!
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Napa, CA, Monday, April 29, 2019: After Dad's unplanned trip to San Rafael on April 2, he packed up his guitar and hit the road like a re-run of Crazy Heart, sans the bowling alleys, whiskey, and slimy motel rooms. For him, that means small venues in NorCal, red wine, and his comfortable bed each night. His song “The Walls Stand On and On” won best song at West Coast Songwriter venues in Vallejo, Napa, and Petaluma and best performance at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. It’s a good one and we’ll debut it at Blue Note Napa on May 7th so come on down. See you there!
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San Rafael, CA, Tuesday, April 2, 2019: On a whim, Dad went to the San Rafael West Coast Songwriters monthly contest with our friend Jay Gottlieb last Tuesday. It was a big night with nearly 20 songwriters showing up at Yet Wah, the Chinese restaurant that hosts each month's event. It's an unlikely location for a songwriter contest but they do it right–there's an excellent sound system and a dedicated sound engineer who fine tunes each song.
Dad took home best song of the month with his new tune "The Walls Stand On and On", a modern re-telling of the murder of Emmett Till, and as he puts it, "I got lucky...because one of the judges (Joe Tate) marched with Martin Luther King, and he was all over the song and the story." The other judge, Joshua Zucker, a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer, said, "Great tune. Excellent lyric. Maybe not a pop hit but that's ok. Guitar/finger picking sounds great." Dad's a folk musician, so there's no higher compliment than a song not being "poppy" and the finger picking being top notch.
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Napa, CA, Thursday, March 15, 2019: After about a 6 month hiatus, the Napa chapter of West Coast Songwriters was back in action this week. For the remainder of the year, on the second Thursday of each month, the contest will take place at Feast It Forward, 1031 McKinstry Street, in downtown Napa.
To say that Dad has accumulated a few new songs that he's itching to get out to the world over the past few months would be an understatement. He brought one of his new tunes, "The Walls Stand On and On", a modern re-telling of the murder of Emmett Till, to the contest this month and took home "Best Performance." Megan McLaughlin brought home to the top prize of Best Song with "Ruby Bridges." Congrats to Megan on her win! No doubt Dad will be back next month with a new tune and perhaps Graham or I will join him. Come on down if you're looking for Thursday night entertainment.–Clark
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Napa, CA, Thursday, August 9, 2018: About a year and a half ago, Dad joined an organization called the West Coast Songwriters. One part of this group, which spans most of the west coast of the US, puts on a competition series. There's a Napa chapter (and a dozen more chapters up and down the coast) that gathers on the second Wednesday of each month. Two judges amble in and then songwriters arrive. They play their tunes for each other and the judges, and at the end of the evening one of the songwriters walks away with the award for best song of the month and a chance to compete in the Napa playoffs in August. If you win the Napa playoffs, you go to compete in the West Coast Songwriters Grand Finals at Freight and Salvage in Berkeley.
That brings us to Wednesday night.
Earlier in the year we won twice (the max you can win) for The State I'm In and Fire in the Wind. This was our second playoffs and it's obviously been a goal of ours to make it to the finals and play the Freight. As you've now surmised, we won! Fire in the Wind took the top prize and we're headed to Berkeley on Friday, August 24 for the Grand Finals.
You're invited to join us. We'll play a song of our choice and then Fire in the Wind. The other winners from each chapter will debut their songs too. It will no doubt be a night of great and inspired music.
Doors are at 7, show at 8. Tickets can be found if you click here.–Clark
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The Napa Register recently interviewed Jim and featured us in their Emerging Artist Spotlight series.
Check out Zak Fennie's piece >
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On Monday, May 14 we took a trip back to the Empress Theater and the Vallejo West Coast Songwriters comp.
We debuted a couple new tunes, When Angels Fall (The Pathway Home) and Like A Stone.
For the second month in a row we took Best Performance honors. Our good friend Jay Gottlieb took top songwriting
honors with an a cappella song he wrote about the sinking of the HMS Victory in the English Channel in 1737.
Congrats to Jay on his new song and well-deserved recognition.
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On Monday, April 7, we played the monthly Vallejo West Coast Songwriters comp.
Each month lucky musicians like us can hop up on the stage of the wonderful Empress Theater and play a couple tunes.
It’s simply a treat just to be there. We debuted a couple new tunes: The Deli Man Died and Darlin’ Lou.
The Deli Man Died took best performance of the night but it was the Empress that won the evening for us.
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