Grover Anderson

You’ve probably never heard of Grover Anderson, but that’s okay because you’ve also probably never heard of Calaveras County. Isn’t that from the Mark Twain story about jumping frogs that you were supposed to read in school? No matter, it’s just another tall tale; one small slice of Americana in a 1.9 billion-acre pie. But, hold on a minute… Why did your English teacher want you to read that story in the first place? Why did a pillar of Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

You’ve probably never heard of Grover Anderson, but that’s okay because you’ve also probably never heard of Calaveras County. Isn’t that from the Mark Twain story about jumping frogs that you were supposed to read in school? No matter, it’s just another tall tale; one small slice of Americana in a 1.9 billion-acre pie. But, hold on a minute… Why did your English teacher want you to read that story in the first place? Why did a pillar of American storytelling from Missouri spend three months living in a cabin in Calaveras County? And who the heck is Grover Anderson? The stories of Calaveras County are still being written. We’ve got gold mines, so much wine, and generations of Mi-Wuk tradition yearning to be discovered. Our societal contributions include a Nobel Prize winner, a UFC Champion, and an Obama Fellowship recipient. When a tree falls in our forest, it’s national news. (Literally.) So when we offer you Grover Anderson, our resident songwriter and storyteller, you might listen up. At first glance, Grover looks like the kind of guy who’ll drip with earnestness and leave you aggressively “whelmed.” But, then you'll start listening to the stories he has to tell—the adventurers decimated by ambition, the desperate attempts by the broken to play it cool, the extended metaphors that aren’t as sweet as they initially seem. Sure, he’s got love songs—his signature one is called “Sick of You", and there’s another that’s probably not actually about bootleg liquor. Don't worry, he’s trying to lighten up on the murder ballads; his latest album All The Lies That I Have Told received rave reviews despite its relatively modest body count of 13. So, you're right that Grover’s quite earnest, but try to stay on your toes. Whether you find his writing wicked or charming, there’s no denying Grover is a product of Calaveras County, following in the footsteps of Mark Twain and Bret Harte. He often performs with his band The Lampoliers, anchored by longtime collaborators Josh Certo and Marshall Henry. (A “lampolier” is a soul-devouring demon who dwells in abandoned mines and is probably not a word that Grover made up.)  You might have seen Grover at Alaska’s Salmonfest, the Tucson Folk Festival, or headlining Hermitfest in the Sierra Nevadas. Perhaps you caught him opening for Birds of Chicago, The Charlie Daniels Band, or America. Or maybe you’ve been to one of his sold-out shows in Calaveras County. No? Oh, that’s right, you’ve never heard of him. Well, it's about time to remedy that! Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

…shrink me down again