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Adam Granger has played the guitar since 1959, having taught himself in
his native Oklahoma. He started teaching and performing
professionally in 1962. After playing in the obligatory folk and
rock and roll groups around the state of Oklahoma, he took up 5-string
banjo, which he learned from world-class banjoist Alan Munde in 1967.
He played banjo and electric lead guitar in Arkansas, Oklahoma and on
the road out of Nashville through 1972. Adam then moved back to
Oklahoma, where he played guitar in the infamous bluegrass band The
Upper Middle Grass.
In 1974, Granger moved to Minnesota, where he became a charter member of
the Powdermilk Biscuit Band, the first house band for Garrison Keillor’s
A Prairie Home Companion. During that time, he also wrote for
the show and, on five occasions, substitute-hosted for Keillor.
Upon leaving the Companion, Adam played for eight years in The
Eclectic Brothers, an acoustic swing trio. Following that, he
cohosted, with Pop Wagner, the award-winning television show The
Cedar Social, which featured local folk, bluegrass, ethnic and jazz
performers, for eight seasons.
Adam has done lots of emcee work, primarily at folk and bluegrass
festivals and fiddle contests, but including concerts, talent contests
and variety shows. In 2001, he toured Great Britain with
mandolinist/banjoist Dick Kimmel.
For the last decade, Adam’s creative focus has been on writing and
performing original material, and on writing books and articles on music
in general and the flatpick guitar technique in particular. His
company, Granger Publications, publishes his work. He has written
hundreds of scripts, articles and comedic sketches for, among others,
A Prairie Home Companion,
National Lampoon magazine, Recycled Greeting Cards and Bluegrass
Unlimited magazine. He has been a columnist for
Flatpick Guitar Magazine since its start in 1996. His book and
CD set,
Granger’s Fiddle Tunes for Guitar, is the largest collection of
fiddle tunes in guitar tablature in the world.
Adam Granger has taught rhythm and lead guitar, stage presence,
songwriting and ear training for thirty-five years. He teaches at
music camps around the country, including the Puget Sound Guitar
Workshop; Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas; Steve
Kaufman’s Flatpick Guitar Camp in Maryville, Tennessee; the Stringalong
Weekend in Milwaukee; The British Columbia Bluegrass Camp;
and the Peace Gardens International Music Camp. He has offered
private instruction at Minneapolis’ Homestead Pickin’ Parlor since it
opened in 1979 and also teaches at his St Paul home.
Adam has recorded eleven albums, including four of original material,
and has composed scores for over a dozen television documentaries and
several films, including the recently released animation “My Art
School Summer”. He has composed and performed scores for a
number of stage productions, the most recent being Kevin Kling’s
Lloyd’s Prayer and The Laramie Project, at Minneapolis’
Illusion Theater.
Adam Granger is a Minnesota Bluegrass Guitarist of the Year and has
served as a judge at the International Flatpick Guitar Contest in
Winfield, Kansas, and currently serves as head judge for the Minnesota
Flatpick Guitar Contest. He is the music director for the First
Saturday Contra Dance in St Paul, Mn.
Adam continues regular appearances on A Prairie Home Companion,
his most recent being in spring of 2009. It was his 161st
appearance on the show. He was a frequent guest host of MPR’s
Morning Show with Dale Connelly and Jim Ed Poole, and appeared as a
musical extra in the 2006 Robert Altman movie A
Prairie Home Companion.
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