Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer are an American folk duo who released three albums from 1999-2001. The duo is comprised of Dave Carter, who wrote the music and originally sang on most of the tracks, but stea

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer are an American folk duo who released three albums from 1999-2001. The duo is comprised of Dave Carter, who wrote the music and originally sang on most of the tracks, but steadily turned singing duties over to his partner, Tracy Grammer, who also did instrumental work.

Their work deals with a number of themes, particularly ones involving Buddhist theology, Arthurian legend (and mythic themes in general), and the American west, often juxtaposed together in one song. For example, "Happytown," the first track of their second album, which contains the lines "parceval and valentino, ridin winged palominos/ willie in his el camino, on the run/ here in the shining city, here in the endless summer/ here in the cave of wonder, number ninety-two." Musically, their work often straddles both bluegrass and Celtic influences, as with the track "I Go Like the Raven" from their third album, which contains the line "down in the meadow, deep in the holler/ bullfrog sing to the bug-eye crawler/ slide to the rake, hop to the caller/ reel with the willow waivin." The song is driven by a strong fiddle line provided by Grammer that also straddles the line between Celtic and bluegrass.