While Cory Grinder plays old school country music now, he didn’t group up listening to that style of music. He heard country-pop on the radio but didn’t care for it at all. He played violin at a young age but wasn’t crazy about classical music. In high school in the early 2010s, he started to discover gypsy jazz and bluegrass and country music like Hank Williams, material he was never exposed to as a child.
“I would goof around with friends, and we would busk,” he says via phone from his Akron home prior to heading into the studio to work on some new tunes. His latest album, And More, arrives next month, and Cory Grinder and his backing bank, the Playboy Scouts, play a release party on Friday, Nov. 14 at the Beachland Tavern.
At that time, he met the local country/bluegrass outfit Johnny & the Apple Stompers. They inspired him to start listening to old school country music and bluegrass.
“I was starting to listen to that music at the time anyway,” says Grinder. “But it fast-tracked my exposure to that style of music. Hank Williams really led the way in the songwriting department. Fiddle playing and bluegrass and old-time Appalachian jams and things like that were really inspiring. At that point, I wasn’t writing music myself, but I started hanging out with great writers.”
Grinder would join Johnny & the Apple Stompers and would also play with the local honky-tonk act Rodney and the Regulars.
“When those groups fizzled out, I was hooked on it and tried my hand at writing music,” he says. “I never really thought I would be a songwriter, but I have now recorded at least 60 of my originals. I guess I am a songwriter.”
He recruited a few of those former band mates to join him in his band, and he would go on to release Cahoots and Other Favorites in 2018, Honky Tonkin’ Beauty Supreme in 2021 and Snacks in 2022.
For And More, he wanted to try a different approach to recording and went to the Electric Company in Akron, a studio built into an old hospital.
“I met with Robert Keith there, and he really loves recording,” says Grinder. “He’s super enthusiastic, and he pushed me to record to one-inch tape. Sometimes, musicians fantasize about that because it feels like an old school way. What I found that was really cool was that everyone was really in-the-moment and really there. Everyone was really in it. That was such a cool feeling. From top to bottom, everyone put their best foot forward. It was a really cool experience and a step forward with the sound, for sure. The writing was getting strong, and I loved getting into a big room with the guys and record most of it when we were together.”
The record begins with a somber tune, “On Time,” and then picks up with “Feeling It Too” before embarking on a honky-tonk and old school country roller coaster ride.
“I think a lot about the way an album flows,” says Grinder. “I love an album as a piece of artwork. The world has moved back to a singles world. Even with albums I like, I don’t want to hear this song without hearing this song first. A lot of thought goes into it. I would love to do a concept album where the songs go right into each other. You really prevent yourself from getting any radio play.”
The record features the distinctive guitar work of Anthony Papaleo, pedal steel from founding member Tebbs Karney, and vocal contributions from Grinder, Karney and local musician and producer David Mayfield. Karney even sings lead on “The Lights of Angel Falls,” a Grinder-penned ballad.
“Anthony and Tebbs have played on every album I have made,” says Grinder. “Anthony will locally play with me. Tebbs will go on the road with me to do shows. They’re both on the next one too. When I made that first record and wanted them on it, I thought if I could put them in a room together, it would be magic. That approached has worked ever since.”
The album will come out on vinyl and be for sale at the upcoming Beachland show.
And while the album features Grinder’s latest collection of tunes, loyal fans already know many of the songs. He’s road tested them during live shows he’s played for the past several months.
“People have been hearing a lot of these songs for year,” he says. “Now, they’re finally getting the recorded versions.”
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