One Man’s Story by Grant Glad is a concept record telling the tale of an everyday Midwestern man’s life over the course of 8 songs. The main character is an amalgam of the men that Grant Glad grew up with in Minnesota. These songs tell their story, in the most honest way possible. This album captures the little moment’s that make up a life; the first time going to deer camp at 13 (Gunpowder at Dawn) , drinking stolen booze in a car at 16 with a high school sweetheart (When It’s Gonna End), returning from the Army on leave at 21 to find that all of your high school friends are already unrecognizable to you (At Ease), being stuck in your hometown bar on the night before Thanksgiving in your 30’s (The Night Before Thanksgiving), finding love (Morningside), taking the kids to hockey practice on New Year’s Day (Gettin’ on Fine), and spending every Friday night taking your wife dancing at the local VFW to keep that spark alive until the inevitability of old age finally catches up with one of you (Dancing at the VFW). Grant approached this record as if it were a novel, influenced strongly by John Steinbeck, he began writing the album in the fall of 2020 and it took him 3 years to complete it. The idea for this project emanated from hopes to further explore the character from Glad’s regional hit Dancing at the VFW. He began working backwards from there until the story of the whole life was entirely fleshed out, bringing in help from friends as necessary to do justice to topics Grant didn’t have much firsthand experience with. This happened on both the songs At Ease and Gettin’ on Fine. For At Ease, Glad wanted to write about a military experience but wanted to avoid the pitfalls commonly associated with this topic, such as oversentimentality or political protest. To achieve this Glad recruited his friends Jon Attia and Matt Dumas, both military veterans, to help with the crafting of the song and ensure the result came out as one thing: honest. Whereas for Gettin’ on Fine, Grant recruited Minnesota songwriter Sarah Morris to assist with writing about the day-to-day quiet love of a long-term marriage and the little things that married couples do to show they care once the honeymoon is long over. While the attention to lyrical detail throughout this record is what truly makes it shine, Grant did not skimp out on the musicality in the slightest. He brought in artists like Ryan Young of Trampled by Turtles to play violin on “Gunpowder at Dawn” and Liz Draper, who has long played with regional star Charlie Parr, to play upright bass across the whole album to ensure that the music would rise to the occasion of telling these stories. Grant Glad poured all his life experiences and soul into this project, and it shows in the final product.

Released on 1/23/25

This is a compilation album of 9 of my favorite performances since I began hosting this show in 2022. This compilation includes songs you can’t hear anywhere else from local rising stars such as Clare Doyle, Kelley Smith, The Penny Peaches, & more. These are intimate raw performances and recordings that let the words breathe and the songcraft shine.

7 of these 9 songs are original tunes from the artists, and the 2 covers that bookend the album are examples of taking a great song and making it the performers own. These include Kelley Smith covering “Annabelle” by Gillian Welch and Drew Peterson covering “Souvenirs” by John Prine.