A Conversation with Michael Grimm – HuffPost 5.13.11

Mike Ragogna: Hi Michael Grimm. I found your new self-titled album to be a good mixture of country and soul with a good measure of rock mixed in there, is that an accurate description?

Michael Grimm: You nailed it. (laughs) That’s a great way of describing it. The (major label) debut album, man, I can’t believe it. I’m pretty excited about it.

MR: And your producer was Don Was.

MG: Absolutely. Yeah, Don and I collaborated on this album. It was a great experience working with him, I learned a lot. He gets right in there–in the middle of the room with you, as opposed to other producers in the past. He’s literally in the sound booth with the rest of the band, which makes you feel he’s one of the musicians even though he’s not playing. He’s not just sitting behind the booth, you know? I don’t know–it’s very hard to explain. When you’re in there working with him it’s very inspiring.

MR: Nice. A lot of current artists seem to think that the engineer/producer combination is the ultimate, but personally, I prefer the old school of thought that has the two with different responsibilities and part of a team. It also adds to more objectivity.

MG: Yes, indeed. Bob Clearmountain mixed this album. He’s won many awards for his work, so we were very honored to have him with us on this project. But you’re right, it takes a lot of talented people to make this actually happen.

MR: Let’s talk about your song choice of “Gasoline And Matches,” which also was made popular by one of the True Blood soundtracks.

MG: The song was shown to me by Don Was. He was going through a few songs with me and I was throwing some at him as we were planning the album. I wound up loving the song–a husband and wife team wrote it, and I knew that I wanted to cut the song with Annie Wilson the first time I heard it. Don agreed, he was right with me. If we couldn’t get her, we would have moved on to Stevie Nicks, but I go back with Annie and have opened for Heart a few times over the years. We got to record the song in the same sound booth–you know, the old-school way of doing it–while we were looking at each other. It was really neat, I had a great time recording that song.

MR: It shows, and it’s a terrific choice for a first track. Now, you were the winner of the show America’s Got Talent. Let’s hear that story.

MG: I still can’t believe that, man. (laughs) It’s a dream come true.

MR: How did it feel when you won?

MG: It was bittersweet. I couldn’t believe it, I still can’t. I couldn’t believe that I made it all the way to the end with Jackie Evancho. But when I was standing there, I was thinking of how to congratulate her because I was sure she was gonna win. Then, when they said my name, I was a little worried about her because I really wanted her to win. I was rooting for her, I wasn’t really rooting for myself because I was just up there doing my thing, you know? But she’s doing well and what a great career she’s gonna have. It was a wonderful moment to hear my name, you know? I won something! (laughs) Maybe it all paid off after the years of struggling. I spent 20 years doing this, trying to get a record deal, trying to get a label to want my music and finally they listened. They voted for me, and it’s just a wonderful feeling.

MR: What was the process like getting on the show?

MG: Well, I went to the cattle call. Judy Alberti, the entertainment coordinator for Green Valley Ranch, one of the casinos here in Las Vegas, kind of pushed me to get involved in it. At the time, I was working for her at the Green Valley Ranch at a place called Hank’s playing the guitar next to a piano player. She was always a big believer in me, and she hooked me up with one of the people doing the talent round-ups at America’s Got Talent. So, I went to the cattle call and they didn’t go for it the first year, I don’t know why. Then the next year, they called me and I didn’t really have to go through the talent round. When I came in, I went pretty much straight to the stage and in front of the judges which I wasn’t aware of when it all began. I was actually playing guitar for Bill Medley at the time and I didn’t know what to do. So, when they called me, I flew from wherever I was into Hollywood and found myself right onstage in front of the judges. I had no idea that that was what was going on. It all happened really quickly in that second year.

MR: But once someone wins one of those shows, people generalize it as overnight success.

MG: Well, in little ways, I guess it was. Television is a powerful thing. My thought was that if I went to America’s Got Talent, they would allow me to do what I do as opposed to similar TV shows. That’s why I auditioned in the first place, and when I got on the show and I did what I do, I think America saw that I’ve been through the wringer. I could write the book on paying dues, you know? (laughs) I’ve been down the long road of trying to get my music heard and this was a great experience and a good route to take for my career. I was only hoping to get on there for a moment and be heard. Maybe I’d get a few fans if I was lucky, but it wound up paying off in bigger ways than I ever expected.

MR: It’s also refreshing when the talent lives up to the award that they’ve been given.

MG: Well I appreciate it, thank you very much.

MR: No problem, you rock. Let’s talk about some of the artists that join you on this album like Travis Tritt on “Simple Man,” right?

MG: Yes, sir! I grew up listening to Travis Tritt and he’s the reason why I went from country music to soul and rock ‘n’ roll.

MR: Is that because you heard some of that in his music?

MG: Well, I grew up listening to country, and when you grow up listening to country, there’s nothing else, you know? (laughs) That’s the way it is. When I heard Travis Tritt’s music, he was doing covers of Otis Redding and Lynyrd Skynyrd songs–stuff out of the realms of country. So, I listened to him a lot and really loved his voice. His music kinda taught me that it’s okay to sing all sorts of music, I needed someone to say it’s okay so that I could still keep the country music crowd. I mean, if they listened to him, then I could probably do something like that, you know? So, I went off and started singing soul and rock ‘n’ roll, singing some Lynyrd Skynyrd. When I was collaborating with Don Was on this album, we were thinking, “What would be a good song for me to sing with my idol?” That’s how we landed on “Simple Man,” and we had Greg Leisz playing steel guitar and a baritone guitar, Waddy Wachtel on guitar, and Kenny Aronoff…great musicians. The way that Don approached this was that he was writing sheet music out for everyone to give them the song structure, and they just kind of did their own version of it. Travis loved it when he heard it, and I was honored that he wanted to do it with me. It was quite an experience to sing with him.

MR: And speaking of rocking, you recorded “Stay With Me,” The Faces/Rod Stewart classic.

MG: Yes, sir. They did a great job with it. You know, I had the honor of playing with Ian McLagan on this album, who is the piano player for The Faces. When we were putting some ideas out for this album, we were thinking that we wanted to go the Amerciana route and I kind of said let’s go The Faces route and (Don) agreed. Then, all of a sudden, I saw Ian McLagan in the session, Don had called him up because he thought that we should just get one of the original guys in the session playing with us. So, since we already had Ian there, I said, “Let’s do a Faces song,” so we landed on “Stay With Me” and the band just rocked out. I enjoyed listening to them and we just had a great time on that song.

MR: Are there any other songs on this album that have a particularly interesting story behind them?

MG: Well, you know, I’m really most attached to the songs that I write because I was going through moments in life when I wrote them. “Suddenly You Are” is one of those songs that takes me back to the time that I wrote what I was going through, and it sort of speaks for itself. I was going through a time where I thought I could control my being in love. And then I found myself in love. It’s a common story, but the song puts it in my perspective. I had the privilege of collaborating with Kevin Hunter on the song who is a great songwriter – he used to be with a band called Wire Train.

MR: After winning America’s Got Talent, you donated the winnings to a very personal cause, right?

MG: My grandparents raised my sister and I, and I always wanted to get them out of the trailer that they were living in. I grew up blue collar, you know. My grandfather worked offshore to support us. I always wanted to get them out of that situation. Then, when Hurricane Katrina hit, my grandmother was actually living in a house, and of course the house was destroyed along with everyone else’s in Hancock County. That was ground zero for the hurricane, so it just demolished the whole city. I felt like if I won that show, I had to get her out of that situation because she was living in a trailer in the woods and she was just miserable. So, when I won the show, I was more excited about building the house than anything. I could afford to build it in a place in an area that she really enjoyed but could never afford. The framework is up now, so I’m sure it’s just a matter of another month or two and it’ll all be done and then they can move in and I can’t wait.

MR: Such a great story. What advice do you have for newer artists?

MG: Just stick to your guns, you’ll make it somehow. You never know what the road is going to bring, but if you just keep doing what you’re doing and don’t look back, you will find yourself where you want to be at some point. But you’ve got to make some decisions and you can’t just stay closed-minded because that’s called standing in your own way. I know that from personal experience…I’ve stood in my own way many times and made some bad decisions. But you learn from them and you pick yourself up and just keep going, no looking back. Just keep doing what you’re doing and you’ll get there.

MR: Michael, thanks for the time and all the best. What are your plans for the near future? Are you planning on touring?

MG: Well, I’m getting married in June to my wonderful Lucy, and right after the wedding, we plan on touring in July.

Transcribed by Evan Tyrone Martin