Portland, Oregon- Brian Granse released three singles in 2020, and in 2021 released Broken Glass, a tribute to George Floyd and commentary on racial injustice that he wrote in the summer of 2020. In March of 2020, Granse postponed the release of his EP, “The Longwall,” due to Covid-19 restrictions at live music venues. But finally, on 9/16/22, Granse will release “The Longwall.”
Granse writes often about the American landscape, including his 2020 standout single, Barstow to Reno, a working class tale that follows the hardships of a character’s life amid the post-recession landscapes of rural California and Nevada. As Glide Magazine puts it, “Granse’s strength as a lyrical storyteller is on full display as he transforms his own experience of witnessing a family of four in the parking lot of a small hotel while traveling through the east side of the Sierras a few years after the 2008 recession.”
Granse released Barstow to Reno as the lead single off the upcoming six-track EP, “The Longwall.” The Longwall is a re-centering of his music career, highlighting a deeper maturity and focus within the Singer-Songwriter/Americana genre. Granse’s delicate vocal tension captures the stoic, yet somber disposition of one man’s life, and the bleakness of hotel living brought on by underemployment. Barstow explores the endless search of the laboring class for a better tomorrow that never comes. Layered with haunting honesty and a lyricism that reflects an awareness of working class vulnerabilities, Granse’s past work in construction lends itself to the authenticity and feel of the song.
After a decade of gigging as a solo looper/songwriter around the Pacific Northwest and the broader U.S., Granse stepped away from music to become a teacher and start a family, all the while honing his songwriting and recording skills (recording and mixing the upcoming EP himself). The release is proof that good things take time. And as he puts it, “sometimes stepping away is actually stepping ahead.”
Despite the notable guest musicians from Portland’s local scene that appear throughout the EP, The Longwall is Granse’s passion project, having written, arranged, and produced all of the songs, choosing to sing and play live for most of the record in an effort to capture a genuine and authentic delivery of his parts. Granse acknowledges how challenging the record was, his hand seizing many days after hours of live guitar and vocal takes, pushing to achieve the sound he envisioned. Wearing deep string gouges into his fingertips, he finished each session knowing he had put in the work, sometimes stopping sessions for a couple of days to heal. Granse was reminded of his days spent swinging a hammer, saying that “it’s the unseen labor and grit in the daily grind that builds something special.” Barstow stands as a timeless recording, fitting a playlist ranging from 1960s Folk to modern Americana, a testament to the merits of hard work, and a tribute to those who rise at dawn to do the heavy lifting in America yet find themselves on the fringe, struggling to make rent.
In his 20s, Granse found himself paying the bills with regular gigs all over the Pacific Northwest: playing pubs, wine festivals, college campuses, ski lodges, coffeehouses, and just about everything in between, under the name American Nobody, which can still be found on streaming platforms and video services. He flirted with a few commercial songwriting jobs, receiving small advances from a publisher in L.A., but preferred writing from the heart and quickly stuck to his own material.
Granse ultimately found himself at a crossroads in 2009, while bowling alone in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Due to his own scheduling error on the tour, he had no performance that Friday night, alone in a town where he knew no one. Granse recalls feeling that life was evaporating under the drone of his own soundtrack, singing to the backs of strangers in brewpubs and sleeping in Motel 6’s. “Paying rent with a guitar and a notebook was a major feat, but the isolation caught up.” Granse began taking online classes while touring to complete a degree. Two years later, he married his girlfriend of five years. And three years later, they welcomed their son into the world.
Granse’s new life proves liberating as a creator. Now a public school teacher by day, Granse produces Hip-Hop in Portland working with youth at an alternative high school, where he teaches beat production, audio engineering, and songwriting, including a partnership with a local community college where his high school students earn college credit by taking his classes. Granse also teaches Social Studies with a heavy focus on social justice. And now, with renewed inspiration and focus, Granse is releasing more music, cramming 5 a.m. songwriting sessions into a coffee-fueled life. He continues to perform locally in Portland with occasional shows in the Midwest. Granse aims to land some performances at larger music events as part of his career reboot, with the sole aim of sharing songs with a larger, focused audience, connecting with dedicated lovers of Folk, Americana, and the Singer-Songwriter format, and calling upon his daily life to fuel authentic songs about the human experience.