Three Lobed 21st Festival!

Hard to believe this is on the horizon in less than two weeks! I am beyond excited to celebrate 21 years of Three Lobed Recordings among such fine company! Massive gratitude to Cory Rayborn, who keeps things chugging along with so much heart and genuine support! It’s going to be a heady three days…

With love,

DPG

Ticket / info

Furniture Music II featured on Aquarium Drunkard’s latest roundup of 21st Century Guitar!

A welcome surprise to find my latest included on Aquarium Drunkards New Transmissions roundup of 21st Century Guitar Music! Honored to be among such a wonderful and varied collection of musicians.

And on a related note… Furniture Music II, originally a Bandcamp-only release, will be available on all digital streaming services starting January 7th c/o Three Lobed Recordings / Red Eye Distribution.

Wishing all a great start to 2022 with good health, joy and creativity!

DPG

Furniture Music II review via Foxy Digitalis

Warmed to receive such thoughtful words on Furniture Music II via Foxy Digitalis. Brad Rose, an interdisciplinary artist/musician and principal writer/editor of Foxy D, has deep roots in the extended community so it feels extra special to know he connects so personally to this music.

Head on over here to explore the sights content and if you’d like to support its continuance, please consider donating to their Patreon page.

Full review:

“Whenever I listen to Danny Paul Grody’s Furniture Musicreleases, I laugh a little at the idea of these utterly fantastic pieces blending into the background. Grody is such a good guitarist and his ability to craft music that grows in stature through repeating themes and melodies is special, but it’s the essence of these songs that keeps them centered. Furniture Music II is a glowing invitation to let the long shadows linger a little longer and hold onto the small glimpses of what is possible for all days.

Written during the dark days of the pandemic, these straightforward, lovely songs offer clarity in a world where there isn’t much of it. Grody’s unadorned, straight-ahead style feigns simplicity, but in truth, this music is swimming with a thousand emotional undercurrents, intertwined and held softly. “The Hum of an Empty House” takes short steps tiptoeing through the magical, elusive quiet. Grody’s arrangement rocks back and forth with momentary lulls where the whisper of his breath is audible, enhancing the intimacy and warmth. On “Clearing” the silence is filled with rushes of activity as the resonance in the strings infuses the moment with light. 

Each piece on Furniture Music II holds its own space. It’s as if each is a room in our homes with its own character and emotion. Washes of drifting memories permeate “The Longview.” Quickening the cadence, Grody adds an urgency to the fingerpicked exultations. It’s like a running monologue in the back of my mind, reminders of the days lost as I try to find solace in the fact I’m still here and will be able to create new moments in the future. Sometimes it’s too much and in acknowledging that, Grody slows down and takes a deep breath on closer, “Holding Pattern.” Crisp notes sing into the emptiness, filling the spaces between us with comfort and mirth.

Maybe this is background music in the way it saturates the familiar moments with an added weight. The inquisitive opening chords of “Returning Light” suggest the beginning of a cycle, whether it’s a day, a week, or a lifetime. We repeat so many patterns and motions that they can lose meaning; putting our child to sleep every night or seeing the sun each morning becomes mundane even though each instance still matters. Grody’s music reminds us to search for the secret beauty in those moments and, as Furniture Music suggests, weave it into every moment we can.” – Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis (published Dec. 16, 2021)

Growth and Transition sound walk in San Francisco

Greetings! For those of you living in the Bay Area – I’m very honored to take part in this collaborative sound walk with artists Rumi Koshino and Fereshteh Toosi as part of Soundwave Festival featuring music from my Longform Editions contribution, “Sunrise, Looking East.” Please come check it out if you are able!

Project description:

Growth is a sound art experience that begins at the 1969 Ruth Asawa mosaic of the same name at 580 Capp St. It’s a series of guided meditations situated in the urban landscape of the Mission. Participants are invited to slow down, listen, reflect on the past, and contemplate our collective responsibility to future generations.

Proceed to each stop from west to east. This experience will take approximately 50-60 minutes. Wear comfortable shoes, use headphones, and please stay alert to traffic and other hazards while you walk.

Produced by Rumi Koshino and Fereshteh Toosi as part of the Oil Ancestors project, with music by Danny Paul Grody.

Art by Rumi Koshino

THREE LOBED RECORDINGS 21st ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL!

Very psyched to announce I’ll be heading east this coming April for Three Lobed Recording’s 21st anniversary festival in collaboration with WXDU 88.7 FM, Duke Coffeehouse, Duke Arts, and Duke Performances! This marks my first solo performance in nearly two years, which is wild and yet not surprising given our pandemic reality. I’m honored to be a part of the Three Lobed family of artists and excited to celebrate three nights of exploratory music amongst an incredible lineup!

A note about the fest from Three Lobed honcho and all-around solid dude, Cory Rayborn:

Once upon a time we were going to throw a three day festival with our friends at duke performances and WXDU to celebrate the kickoff of TLR’s 20th anniversary. it would have been in october 2020 and, well, a few things came together to make that unworkable. the world is starting to look a little more open and workable and we’re trying again, this time in the form of the three lobed 21st anniversary festival from april 14-16 2022 in durham NC. look for a memorable three day weekend containing sets from (in no particular order) the gunn-truscinski duo, body/dilloway/head, sunburned hand of the man, pelt, steve gunn (solo), meg baird & mary lattimore, daniel bachman, marisa anderson & william tyler, 500mg, lee ranaldo with films by leah singer, wet tuna, danny paul grody, the orcutt/corsano duo and some more performances that we aren’t in a position to list quite yet. additional information (day by day breakdown) and tickets are available at the link in the bio. join us, won’t you?

Furniture Music II

Announcing the release of Furniture Music II this Friday, Nov. 5th via Bandcaamp! The music is meant to be a companion to the OG of the same name and extends my interest in unadorned 6 and 12-string acoustic finger style guitar. I hope these tunes can offer you some respite as they have for me during the uncertain times of the pandemic and beyond.

As always, thank you for taking the time to listen!

With love,

DPG

New Music! Maples, Ash, and Oaks: Cedars Instrumentals, by Field Works

Hello folks,

Hope you are well. It’s been a minute. Hard to tell if this little website has much reach these days with so much being shifted to social media platforms but I’m still trying to update music goings-on as they come…

I’m thrilled to share the release Maples, Ash, and Oaks: Cedars Instrumentals, by Field Works. “Based on the original Field Works album Cedars, this new suite of instrumental music brings the listener even deeper into the forest. For this special limited-edition release, Stuart Hyatt deconstructed each track from Cedars and rebuilt them one layer at a time. He removed the narrators’ voices and invited Julien Marchal to introduce piano as the new protagonist. The 15 new tracks are named from each line of the new poem, Deciduous, by Cecily Parks. The musical frameworks are based on the Field Works album Cedars, created by Marisa Anderson, Fadi Tabbal, and Stuart Hyatt – and performed by Julien Marchal, Youmna Saba, Dena El Saffar, Danny Paul Grody, Bob Hoffnar, Stuart Hyatt, Tomás Lozano, Nathan Bowles, Alex Roldan, Fadi Tabbal, and Marisa Anderson. The forest soundscape was recorded by Harrison Ridley in the Welsh countryside.”

I’m really proud to have contributed music to this extended work and its original companion, Cedars. Please have a listen and maybe even grab a physical LP (how novel, I know!) for yourself:

As always, thank you for listening and supporting!

Love and light,

DPG

Introducing Field Sessions!

Very excited to introduce the first batch Field Sessions in collaboration with friend and cinematographer, Ian Albert! The intention of this ongoing series is to capture live recordings in natural settings and unusual spaces throughout the San Francisco / Bay Area. These first pieces were filmed at the majestic Mile Rock Beach at Lands End in SF. It’s been a lot of fun to dive in and take full advantage of the beauty that surrounds this place I’m lucky to call home. I hope you enjoy what you see and hear. New pieces will be added to my Youtube channel playlist, so please keep an eye out for more to come…

As always, thank you for listening!

DPG