Noted Colorado guitarist and vocalist Tyler Grant is preparing to release his seventh album, appropriately titled Flatpicker, on March 28. With that project in mind, he has created a gorgeous music video for one of the tracks, a true story song called Goat Canyon Trestle.
Grant has been a performer in bluegrass music for quite some time. Growing up in California, he was initially attracted to rock guitar, but discovering artists like David Grier and Tony Rice turned him into a flatpicker. Moving to Nashville after graduating with a music degree from CalArts, he worked for prominent acts like Abigail Washburn, Adrienne Young & Little Sadie, and April Verch. But he became a Coloradan when he took the gig with the Drew Emmitt Band, which morphed into the Emmitt-Nershi Band where he now plays bass. He is also a popular online instructor with ArtistWorks and TrueFire.
Goat Canyon Trestle is an actual place, the largest wooden railroad trestle bridge ever built, which still stands in the Mojave Desert in eastern San Diego County. No longer in use, trains ran across the bridge from 1933 until the mid-1970s. Tyler says that what makes this trestle unique is the fact that it was made of redwood from Humboldt County, CA, as steel would warp and bend in the extreme desert heat.
The song tells the story of Goat Canyon Trestle, with the accompanying video shot at the bridge. Tyler and his sister, photographer and videographer Jessie Bell, hiked up to the trestle where she filmed him playing through this documentary-type number.
With Grant playing guitar and singing lead, support came from Andy Thorn on banjo, Dylan McCarthy on mandolin, Andy Reiner on fiddle, and Adrian Engler on bass. Michael Daves added harmony vocals.
Have a look/listen…
Goat Canyon Trestle is available now from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers will find the track at AirPlay Direct.
