Songs & Stories of the American West

"Songs & Stories of the American West" is a journey in concert through the historical west, the contemporary west, and the mythological west, with songs and stories that educate and entertain. Drawing on over fifty years’ experience of writing songs and playing music, and an academic background in ethnomusicology, Grombacher’s work explores the boundaries of musical genres, and he frequently mixes traditions: cowboy songs written as rumbas, polkas or “Cajun” songs; a piece, inspired by a photograph, that combines spoken word verses and a melodic chorus; a blues-rumba written in the obscure “chiastic” form; and songs written in Spanish and English.

Kerry Grombacher plays guitar and mandolin, and writes and performs contemporary folk and western songs. A modern-day troubadour, his songs paint vivid portraits and tell fascinating stories that are set in the landscape that stretches from New Orleans to the desert Southwest and north to the Hi-Line of Montana and the Pacific Northwest. He’s performed on stages as varied as the Durango Cowboy Poetry Gathering, the Newport Folk Festival, the Arizona Cowboy Poets’ Gathering, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He played a concert at the Sands Motel on old Route 66 in Grants NM, where a room is named for him, and his “Highway 281 Troubadour Tour” traversed the 1800-mile highway across the Great Plains from the Canadian border to Mexico.