Chris Grooms is an American fingerstyle guitarist, singer and songwriter born August 31 1953 in Nacogdoches Texas.

Early Biography and Career

He started to teach himself the classical guitar in 1968 after hearing Mason Williams's "Classical Gas". In 1971 he discovered the music of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, and switched to the steel-string acoustic guitar. He played semi-professionally for a while around Texas, then returned to his studies, graduating in History. He taught English at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFASU) in Nacogdoches and took a Master's Degree in English. He also studied the folk music of the British Isles.

He released "Sweet Gypsy", an album of fingerstyle guitar instrumentals and original songs in 1978.

He is also known as an academic and author in the field of Welsh Studies.

Guitar Style

His early music was played fingerstyle on a Martin D-28 guitar using fingerpicks. He plays in the "celtic" style (see fingerstyle guitar) with a rich, often melancholic, sonority using non-standard ("open") tunings. In some pieces, he uses fast left-hand slurs which gives the music a banjo-like quality.

Discography

Sweet Gypsy (Transatlantic 1978)

Contemporary Folk Guitar (Cambra 1982). A compilation of various artists featuring two tracks from the "Sweet Gypsy" album.

External links

Chris Grooms's website

Academic site