Randy Granger is a New Mexico Singer Songwriter, Native
American flutist, Hang drum player and recording artist.
Grangers songs are "New-Southwest" Folk with a World Music
sensibility. CDBABY.COM and CNET.COM both chose his mu-
sic as "Editor's Picks" Deeply Soulful,' `Original,' `Vibrant,'
`Pure' is how listeners from around the World describe his mu-
sic that is somewhere between Sting, R.C. Nakai, Paul Simon,
Nina Simone and Dead Can Dance.
He's earned recognition for his songwriting, flute playing and
production recently as a finalist winning 2nd place at the 2007
Musical Echoes flute festival and competition in Florida and
"Best Folk Song" by the New Mexico Music Industry Awards, is
a 2007 nominee in several NMMIA and NAMMY categories. For
a list of some internet sites playing Randy's music check the
Buy Music page where you can buy CD's from CDBaby, Ama
zon.com, or download singles songs or the whole CD at iTunes.
Listen to the NPR "Soundclip' segment about featuring Randy
and his hang drum.
Randy's energetic yet peaceful music connects with listeners in
an authentic and emotional way. His music is used in films,
commercials, Internet Radio, websites, Hospice and hospitals.
He performs at music and film festivals, on Public Radio Sta-
tions, fundraisers, benefits, special events and concerts. His
style of emotive and melodic playing has been called `Desert
Folk' and `Emo-Southwest.' Reviewers have compared him to
Chris Issak, Carlos Nakai, Josh Groban and Emmylou Harris
with a dose of Lloyd Cole.
J. G. Randy, I've heard you play several different flutes. You
have quite a collection. Where do you find them?
R. G. I prefer flutes that are utilitarian and that sound good.
I am hard on my flutes and expect a lot out them. I've come to
rely on a few makers and developed good relationships with
them. You can find links on my website. I prefer Cedar flutes
because of the sound, fast playability and less expensive price.
I like to use different keys for different songs so have a variety
of keys.
J. G. You're also a poet, and a good one. Did that come
about because of a desire to put words to some of your music?
R. G. I think songwriting probably came before poetry for
me. I was in bands early on and we couldn't play other's songs
too well so we wrote our own and I was the de facto songwriter.
For some reason people started asking me to write songs for
special events. I remember writing a song about Princess
Diana that I sent to England. I really didn't get exposed to seri-
ous poetry until college when I started writing complex lyrics. I
thought I should learn more and started reading Yeats and
Keats, Dylan Thomas, Rilke, Gary Snyder, Sylvia Plath and
William Stafford. While at NMSU I took an advanced poetry
workshop with Joe Somoza. It was a very good experience
though I think I was probably pretty snarky and a little too full
of my own self worth, but I learned how to deconstruct verse
and use language in succinct ways. My songwriting certainly
improved and soon other musicians were asking to cover and
record my songs. My first published poem was in El Ojito
magazine. Since then I've been published in Lunarosity.com,
Las Cruces Poets and Writers Magazine, the Tarnara Journal,
Gather, corn and several online journals. My lyrics turn up in
the oddest places like a tribute page to Matthew~ Shepard. My
music blog on Myspace.com is read by thousands and my mu-
sic is sold on iTunes, Amazon.com and CDBaby.com. It is
great to see who is purchasing and downloading my music as
far away as New Zealand and Estonia. I had to look on a map
for that one. I majored in Journalism instead of music, though
I was active in the music scene and NMSU's Music Depart-
ment.
J.G. Reading poetry is probably one of the best things a
writer of lyrics can do.
R. G. I read poetry all the time. I love anthologies and collec-
tions. I still don't understand the poetry in the New Yorker
however. When I'm in town I try to attend all the readings Sin
Fronteras puts on as well as the NMSU readings. The open
mics and the Bean and Palacio are just great. You have people
reading for their very first time mixed with seasoned, published
poets. I like to read when I have a new poem. Going back and
forth between songwriting and poetry is nice because they are
so different in structure. I've probably written several hundred
songs and have only recorded about 75 or so. I need to get
busy.
J. G. I don't always understand the poems in the New
Yorker either! Tell me, how does a song come to you?
R. G. There is no set way songs come to me. Sometimes it is
the melody or a riff that just won't leave my head or a lyric that
just pops out when I'm messing around on my guitar. I write
for the Native American flute, percussion and the Hang drum
so I never know where the melody will end up. I even dream in
music and see lyrics on a page. Often bands are playing a song
or a film is running with music then I realize I'm dreaming and
that the music is being created so I try to remember the notes.
I look forward to when we can download our dreams to a flash
drive. My music is being used in more and more films, docu-
mentaries, websites and commercials including one for Mesilla
Valley Hospice where I volunteer my flute music every week.
I'm working now on scoring a film about Shalam Colony* with
Dr. Robin Riley.
* Shalam Colony was founded in 1884 by New Yorker, John B.
Newbrough and a group of his religious followers referred to as
Faithists. Six miles northwest of Las Cruces, its purpose was to
create a home for outcast and orphaned children, and to raise
them to be "the spiritual leaders of a new age." Newbrough died
of influenza in 1891 and Shalam Colony closed in 1901.
J. G. Maybe you would explain for our readers what a "Hang"
drum is.
R. G. The Hang drum is a fairly new instrument and was cre-
ated around 2000 in Bern, Switzerland. It is inspired by the
Steel Pan drums of Trinidad and the Ghatam, Gong and Udu.
It is shaped like a small UFO or two woks glued together. You
play it with your hands, fingers, palms or thumbs. It has seven
to nine notes on top and the sound is a warm metallic, ethereal
ring. I first heard the Hang at a music festival in Florida in
2006. I found someone selling his and I jumped on it. I'm glad I
did because they are now all but impossible to acquire and the
price of used ones is astronomical. National Public Radio did a
story on me and my Hang music for their Sound Clip series. I
was really pleased to share the music with listeners; however, I
get so many inquiries about the Hang that I set up a separate
web page on my site dedicated to the instrument. I'm incorpo-
rating the Hang into my own music as a solo instrument, with
percussion, flute, vocals and even poetry. Poet Wayne Crawford
read a great poem over the Hang as well as drums and flute. It
is a track called "Dancing at the Totem" on my newest release
called "Space Drum" which is available through my website. I
just love taking all these instruments in new directions. Really,
for me, it is all about expressing myself creatively.
J. G. What kind of advice do you give your students?
R. G. When I taught drums and guitar I would tell my stu-
dents that when they could express themselves on a
washboard they were musicians. What I meant was that in-
struments are tools for inspiration and expression and never to
become a purist about any instrument thinking it must be
played only one way. To me originality is always more interest-
ing than virtuosity though someone said that when you com-
bine skill with passion-expect miracles.
J. G. Randy, being English, I absolutely have to ask .
what happened to the Princess Diana song?
R. G. Never heard from the Palace about the Princess Di
song but my sister did call me when Di was killed and re-
minded me of the song.
J. G. Tell us something about your background . . . where
you're from. Granger is such an "English"-sounding name.
R. G. When I was a child my nickname was Pensivo which
means the "pensive one" in Spanish. My parents were first gen-
eration Mexican Americans and, at the time, speaking Spanish
was considered a detriment and we never learned it at home.
One question I get often is how I acquired my last name,
Granger, if I'm Hispanic. I always answer I got it from my fa-
ther and leave it at that. Our Native American ancestry had
always been rumored but not documented. It is a complicated
story about my mother's grandfather fighting the Americans in
the New Mexico territory and how bands of Apache, Kiowa, Co-
manche etc. hid in the mountains of Mexico and eventually
stayed. It was said he was a "Seer" with the Tarahumara tribe
of Mexico who accidentally killed his best friend and so fled
back into the US settling in the Mesilla Valley where my
Grandfather was a foreman with Stahman Farms before he
was shot in a poker game when my mother was two. My
father's history is much less clear and harder to explore. When
I began playing the Native American flute I decided to investi-
gate my ancestry. Through DNA tests I found that both parents
originated in the Chiapas area of Mexico descendents of the
Chol speakers who, as it turns out, are believed to be descen-
dents of the Mayan peoples. Also Apache, Dogrib and other
tribes were in the test. What these means to me is an ongoing
exploration. It does confirm that my bones, skin and identity
are connected to this land in an organic spiritual ways. My
songs now are usually set in the Southwest and deal with its
characters, land and spirit and are generally about the human
condition or specific stories. These are the lyrics to a song
called One Little Indian from the upcoming album "One Little
Indian" 2007.
ONE LITTLE INDIAN
I was there when the Earth took her first breath
I saw Grandmother Spider spin her web
The wind gave me my name
Not five-hundred years of shame
The elders say our time will come again
Now I'm one little Indian
Dancing to keep the lights on
One little Indian
Singing to light the sky
One little Indian
Dreaming of the old ways
Just one little Indian
Looking for the Red Road home
In my dreams I can see the way the World was
Morning fires, the Eagle and the Deer
The wind in my hair knows my name
Hears my prayers;
Beauty all around, before, behind
The S.U.V. tribe laughs, says hey
"Could you look more like an Indian
for my photograph?" I said I will when
You get those heads off my Black Hills
And put Geronimo on the fifty-dollar bill
Now I'm one little Indian
Dancing to keep the lights on
One little Indian
Singing to light the sky
One little Indian
Dreaming of the old ways
Just one little Indian
Looking for the Red Road home
J. G. Randy, that's beautiful. Thank you for sharing it. Tell
me, what are you up to next?
R. G. This month I'm traveling to Albuquerque to film a seg-
ment for Southwest Sounds.* It is a collaboration between
KOAT-TV, the New Mexico Music Commission and the New
Mexico Tourism Department that showcases musicians from
the state on Youtube.com as well as using the videos in pro-
motional materials and commercials.
J. G. Sounds like you're keeping busy. Randy, thank you so
much for taking the time to talk to us.
R. G. Thank you for being interested.
You can view clips from the series on www.youtube.com/
newmexicomusic
© Mesilla Valley Press, 2007
http://www.zianet.com/mvp
