Music
Press
“Grimm is another link in the chain of literate singer songwriters that sees a side to the story that we always miss. The songs are little novels that unfold slowly and then knock you off your feet when you’re not looking… A real find.”
- Village Records
“Coyote’s Dream” cement(s) his growing reputation as a fine songwriter rooted in the Woody Guthrie tradition…. As a songwriter and performer, Grimm has learned his Guthrie lessons well. His songs are uniquely his own, yet they seem instantly familiar.” - Sing Out
“ Grimm writes and sings in the tricky grey area between folk and country, where so many fall between the cracks, by turn evoking Woody Guthrie, whose 1913 Massacre he covers, and Johnny Cash….Grimm is a powerful enough writer and singer to reconcile these dichotomies on an album which, with it’s gripping rural story songs, can be compared to Nebraska, though Grimm, while often as dark as Springsteen, isn’t as pessimistic.” - John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music
“The Back Fields” will always be modern in the same way that Tracy Chapman’s music will never be “90’s music” and Hal Ketchum’s songs can’t strictly be termed “country.” Because it will never sound dated, naming a genre does Tim Grimm’s music a disservice. The banjo, harmonica and bluegrass inflections are beside the point. Even when the album sounds country, it’s either in a gritty or easy way….
Above all, “The Back Fields” contains the best trait of great country music: it makes the specific universal and the universal personal…..The sound and emotional hues of “The Back Fields” are— very plainly and tenderly—timeless.
- The Herald-Times, Bloomington, IN
“Tim Grimm always has been a first-rate journeyman songwriter and performer. With this CD he ascends to the next level….” - Rich Warren- "The Midnight Special"
Now let’s get this straight. Just because an artist covers "Blowin’ in the Wind" does not mean he sounds like Bob Dylan. Just wanted to get that straight from the start.
"Holding Up The World" is Grimm’s fifth solo album and his first for Corazong, and if the quality of his previous outings are only half of the songs here, then I’ve been missing out on a real treat. Isn’t it annoying when an album comes along from an artist that you’ve never heard of and you really like, only to find out they’ve been around for ages. But I suppose it now means I can explore some of his old stuff with the thought that it’s gonna be pretty good.
Recording songs live with just voice and guitar and then adding layers of instruments that fit the song, Grimm has delivered a mighty fine modern folk record.
The title track opens the album and you know what? It just gets ya! There and then, it grabs you and doesn’t let go. My god it’s beautiful. Instantly hummable, with lyrics that engage your thoughts and make you both sad and happy simultaneously. What initially seems like a love song to his wife, like all the best songs it also says something else. But what is it? “...Holding up the world, so many things get broken, when you’re holding up the world, you can’t protect your heart...”.
Grimm is a storyteller, up there with the likes of Crowell, Earle and Jackson Browne. He sings of families being lost, the loss of rural America, returnees from Basra, slaves escaping a horrendous life, floods, yearning, anguish and the reason why people faced with such adversity carry on whilst being totally empathetic toward their plight or feelings. He also brings in other music genres within the Americana field like some Appalachian on "Or Bust". Bit like Woody Guthrie.
Supported by Jason Wilber from John Prine’s band, and label mate Krista Detor, Grimm has restored my faith in today’s folk music. It was starting to wane, but this guy has bought it back.
I’m not going to single out any other tracks for praise. I can’t, because they’re all excellent. It’s taken me ages to get around to reviewing this album and that’s simply because I’ve been too busy listening to it.
Oh yes, he does do a version of "Blowin’ in the Wind". But it is a good one.
- americanaUK
"Absolutely one of the best albums I have heard. If Woody Guthrie were alive today he would be wanting to hear Tim Grimm live... an outstanding album." - WNMC- Traverse City, MI
“one of the most sincere and genuine roots songwriters in America…..one of the best albums (Heart Land) of the year” - American Roots Radio- Italy
"an immensely talented singer-songwriter...His rootsy ballads are filled with simple pictures of hardworking farmers and widow women fighting to keep their lives true to the land. His rich, experienced vocals put him right up there with the best in the genre." - Chicago Sun-Times
Discography
2009- Farm Songs -Vault Records
2008- Holding Up The World- Corazong Records
2007- Wilderness Plots (various artists)- Rosehill Records
2005- The Back Fields- Wind River Records
2004- NAMES- Wind River Records
2003- Coyote's Dream- Vault Records
2001- Amber Waves (with Jason Wilber)- Vault Records
2000- Heart Land- Vault Records
Photos
Bio
Tim Grimm has toured and recorded with his friend, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, appeared with Harrison Ford in the film Clear and Present Danger, and has shared the stage with writer and poet Wendell Berry. His recording, The Back Fields was named Best Americana Album in the 2006 Just Plain Folks Music Awards in Los Angeles (the largest and most diverse music awards in the world). Named 2000’s “BEST DISCOVERY in Roots/Americana Music” by The Chicago Sun-Times, and “2004 MALE ARTIST of The Year” by the Freeform American Roots DJs, his songs and performances have established him as a unique voice in Americana music. Each of his past 4 recordings have reached the top of the Folk or American-roots charts. Grimm walks the fine line between folk and country, while maintaining a strong footing in tradition. We hear the rural rumblings that have shaped his life, but we are also invited in to a bigger picture, as evident in so much of his work. Critics searching for comparisons most often cite Johnny Cash, Woody Guthrie and (Nebraska era) Bruce Springsteen. Tim is an award-winning songwriter, and actor on stage and screen . After several years working in Los Angeles (where he co-starred for 2 seasons on the NBC drama Reasonable Doubts and appeared in several films), Tim returned home to Indiana. He grew up in the woods and small town settings of southern Indiana, son of schoolteachers and grandson of farmers, and his return home was a conscious choice to live a life of significance rather than one of “success’. He now lives with his wife and sons on an 80 acre farm close to where he grew up. Tim’s songs are full of the rural rumblings that have shaped his life—rich with descriptive details, and sung with warmth and intimacy—recognizing the inextinguishable national romance with the idea of the family farm and the vanishing landscape of rural America. His recordings include Heart Land (2000), Coyote’s Dream (2003), NAMES (2004), The Back Fields (2005), Holding Up The World (2008) and Farm Songs (2009). In 2007, Grimm put together a concept cd with several of the Midwest’s finest songwriter’s—including fellow Corazong artist-- Krista Detor, Carrie Newcomer, Tom Roznowski, and Michael White. The recording, Wilderness Plots, was drawn from the short stories of noted author, Scott Russell Sanders, and explored the settling of the American Wilderness in the Ohio River Valley Region between The Revolutionary War and The Civil War.
Tim has performed in theatres and coffeehouses around the United States, as well as significant Festivals, including the Kerrville Folk Festival, Wildflower Festival, Fox Valley, the Pawtucket Arts Festival, the Indiana Festival at Conner Prairie. He hosted the Driftwood Valley Music Festival for 2 seasons in Indiana.
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