Bob Gramann likes songs that say something new or look at something old in a new way – songs that make the listener focus, reflect, and react. His songs aim for that spark of insight, that “Aha!” of listener satisfaction. Current events and human priorities give him ample material for reflection and satire, and Sing Out Magazine called him “witty and insightful.”

During the past two decades, Gramann has earned respect as a songwriter, presenter, and guitar maker in central Virginia. He was voted Fredericksburg’s Best Acoustic Act for 1995 in the town newspaper’s poll. Gramann maintains his notoriety by performing songs with local historic settings and political barbs in Fredericksburg and throughout the mid-Atlantic states (in 2006 he played at the Central Ohio Folk Festival as well as the prestigious Washington Folk Festival in Washington, DC). He also produces the monthly acoustic concert series Fredericksburg Songwriters’ Showcase, begun in 1993 with Peter Mealy. Behind the scenes, he serves on the board of the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts.

Gramann makes the instruments he plays, and boasts a list of celebrity compliments for his steel string and classical guitars. He also sells his handmade guitars through Picker’s Supply in downtown Fredericksburg, at NERFA, at Acoustic Axis in Alexandria, and on his website. His open back banjo, completed in 2003, is especially useful for songs with political themes.

Four CDs of Gramann’s original songs (Mostly True Songs, That Squirrel Song, See Farther in the Darkness, and Granddad Planted Trees) are available in select record stores and from his website. The most recent, Granddad Planted Trees, includes some of his favorite topics: science, politics, and human short-sightedness. The title song is both politically astute and comfortably traditional in sound. It draws the listener into a melodic and comfortable nostalgia that is torn by the need to reconcile persistent images from 9/11. Among his honors are a surprise WAMMIE nomination and play on NPR’s Car Talk. His song “Sara Sing” is included on the FOCUS compilation Capitol Acoustics III CD. The Washington Post’s Eve Ziebart saw him as “a where’s-my-Whole-Earth-catalogue sort of New Guy who’d rather be kayaking than fighting the good lawn fight.”

An avid canoeist and conservationist, Gramann is especially proud that his musical urgings raise public awareness of river and environmental issues. Sometimes it is a long process. His song “Rappahannock Running Free” first called for the removal of an aging dam 13 years ago. In February, 2004, Gramann had the honor of singing this song to a crowd of thousands just minutes before two major explosions breeched the dam’s foundation. “I performed for the world,” says Gramann of the CNN and network coverage of the event.

Page put together (with info & pics from Bob Gramann ) by Ernest Ackermann.
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