Graymatter: Back Stage Recordings

The audio recordings here are informal performances by Graymatter—our musical journal, so to speak. Whether it's back stage warm-up songs, or rare gems caught in rehearsals, jam session rarities, or bootleg live recordings, we hope you enjoy this impromptu record of our musical lives. Check out Graymatter on SoundCloud for more audio recordings.

Here is Dave's song "Why Don't We?" recorded November 6, 2013, with tasty ragtime guitar pickin' by Dave, 2nd acoustic guitar by Barry, guitar riffin' by Brad and brush drum by Bev, with Brad and Bev joining in on the vocals.

Here is Barry's "Footsteps," from a Novemeber 8, 2013 performance at Turntable in Jamestown NC. Enjoy the excitement of the crowd at this tight performance. Pretty sure you can hear the audience singing along to this original. Captured live from a mobile recorder placed on the mantle in this charming old home turned venue. Lots of ambiance!

Brad belts out his song "Live With The Lies" on a second example of Graymatter captured live at Turntable. The band kicks in New Orleans-style with tenor banjo dueling with electric guitar, plus drum and acoustic guitar, with the whole band harmonizing, and the intimate crowd clapping along.

Here is Dave's song "Hidden Road", a third song from Turntable. Brad plays electric lead and Bev and Brad add the harmonies.

Check out Graymatter on SoundCloud for more audio recordings.

About Graymatter

Our story began with five children and a musical dad.

The Gray family had been singing and strumming various instruments together as long as anyone could remember. Bev and her younger brothers Barry and Brad and two more siblings (Hi Barbara and Ben!) soaked up the folk music of the 1950s and '60s that their father played and sang to them.

One fateful day in 1974 Bev brought her new boyfriend (now husband) Dave home for dinner, and he's been hanging around ever since. Dave likes to say he's the lucky one, since he married into this deal.

The four members of Graymatter have been in various bands together. Bev and Dave sang as a duo in coffee houses in high school and college, impressing judges as finalists for 2 years in the Mountaineer Talent Search at ASU in the late '70s. Dave, Barry, and Brad formed their first band, The Passaic River Ramblers, in 1979 while Barry and Brad were still in high school. The trio went on to found the first incarnation of Graymatter in the 1980s. Later Barry and Brad were in a series of electric bands, the last of which Dave returned for. That band featured Brad on electric guitar, Dave on bass and Barry on drums. In recent years, the three guys picked up their acoustic instruments again and reformed Graymatter, and in 2011, Bev joined us to complete the musical circle.

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Back Stage Recordings