“It all begins at the Wedge”, Tyler reveals. “Sitting on the edge of a cliff, or beside the river deep at the canyon floor, guitar in hand; that is my happy place. I try to convey this image with music.” The opening track, The Wedge, sets the tone of the wonder & reverie of the Wild. “The thing about time spent in the Wilderness is that it really makes you appreciate family & home. Been Away Too Long, the second track on the album, is an homage to this sentiment.”

Tyler Grant grew up in the sagebrush hills of Southern California. As a teen, he was taken by music & followed this calling to the University, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). A rocker by nature (his early tenure in the Electric Waste Band earned him a spot in the San Diego Music Hall of Fame), Tyler was pursuing the Classical path when he discovered Flatpicking guitarists Tony Rice & David Grier. “It was a revelation. These players were performing Bluegrass Music on a Classical level. I decided to take my classical training & apply it to mastering the Flatpicking style of guitar. It was not only an exciting, community-driven style of music, but there was a cultural connection there. I knew I had an opportunity to excel in this genre.”

Shortly after graduation, Tyler moved to Nashville, where he spent years touring with Abigail Washburn, Adrienne Young & Little Sadie, and April Verch, before getting the call to join the Drew Emmitt Band (co-founder of Leftover Salmon), which subsequently evolved into the Emmitt-Nershi Band (featuring Bill Nershi, of The String Cheese Incident). These Colorado-based acts lured the Flatpicker to the Rocky Mountains, where he has lived since 2009. In 2010, Tyler founded the Cosmic Americana band Grant Farm, which toured steadily & released five albums before the “Great Pause” of 2020 forced an indefinite hiatus and a significant Pandemic Pivot.

After months of adapting to a career of livestreaming & online guitar workshops, Tyler got the call to join Adrift Dinosaur on a musical river trip. “I loved the experience so much that I signed on for every upcoming launch that I could, and even became a River Guide. Outdoor Leadership was always a dream of mine, and the experience has permeated my music.” These musical Expeditions became known as RiverWonderGrass, and Tyler is now a senior guide & regular performer.

This brings us back to Flatpicker. “There are pieces like Canyon Flatpicking, Where The Ocotillo Grows, & Sea Of Cortez which portray images of wild places, and songs like Coming Home to Stay, The Beholder, Turn The Page, Waning Moon, & Orange Street, which tell of the human experience of longing for home & personal connection. Rounding out the sequence, we have The Tuk-Tuk, Depot Guitar, & Goat Canyon Trestle which tell stories of more musical adventures in the realm of civilization.

This Flatpicker offers educational services to hundreds of participants on his online Flatpicking Academy on ArtistWorks.com (the premier platform for Acoustic Music Education), as well as TrueFire.com and semi-regular Monday Night Playalong Bluegrass Jams on his YouTube Channel. He can be found teaching in-person at workshops like Rockygrass Academy, Augusta Heritage Bluegrass Week & Steve Kaufman’s Acoustic Kamps. He performs regularly as a solo act, with his Bluegrass band, & Pickin’ On The Dead. Flatpicker  is his seventh solo album, and will be released on his own Grant Central Records label in March, 2025.

My old friend Tyler Grant is an incredible guitarist and keeper of the flatpicking flame. It’s always a treat to hear him play and this latest record is no exception. - Chris Eldridge (Punch Brothers)