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SFMS presents Tracy Grammer
Tracy Grammer
Tracy Grammer - photo by Photo provided

The Savannah Folk Music Society will present Tracy Grammer in concert at 8 p.m. on Sept. 20. The concert will be at the New Day Fellowship Church, 6500 Habersham St. (next to the “Y”) in Savannah. Tickets will be available at the door beginning at 7 p.m. for $10 general public, $8 for SFMS members and $5 for children/students.

Grammer was a featured artist at the Savannah Folk Music Festival in 2006. Born in Homestead, Fla., and raised in southern California, Grammer comes from a musical family. Cousin Leo Fortin played double trumpets in Lawrence Welk’s band, while her grandmothers and mother played keyboards and accordion. But it was her guitar-playing father who was her first true inspiration.

“When Dad used to get out his lap steel and electric guitars, we’d invite the neighborhood kids over and sing country songs,” she said. “I’d sit across from my dad and read the music upside-down so I could turn the pages for him. I developed an ear for harmony early on and hardly ever sang the melody, and it drove my little brother crazy.”

At the age of 9, Grammer began choral and classical violin studies and led regional and school orchestras until she left home for the University of California, Berkeley. Once there, she gave up music while earning an English literature degree and serving as an administrator and graphic designer for the university.

During a semester off, Grammer’s father introduced her to Curtis Coleman, formerly of the New Christy Minstrels. Coleman invited her to perform with him at local pub and coffeehouse shows.

In January 2006, her much anticipated solo album, “Flower of Avalon,” showed up on "Best of" lists and listener polls around the country, and was the No. 1 most-played album on folk radio across the U.S. for 2006.