DAVE CARTER & TRACY GRAMMER

Our dear friend and management client, the acclaimed songwriter and performer Dave Carter passed away in July 2002 in Hadley, Massachusetts of a heart attack, while beginning the next phase of their summer tour schedule with his partner Tracy Grammer.                                                                     

Both professionally and personally I was captivated by the words, the melodies, and the aura of David, and I will not forget the journey we all took. I was proud of the success we achieved along that path together, and am enriched by the time spent representing the music of Dave and Tracy. He was truly a gentle soul, who saw beauty and magic in everything he found, and excelled in his efforts to treat the whole wide world around him with respect and grace. Tracy continues to explore the depth and multiple interpretations of his writing in her live performance and choice of recorded material.

There have been thousands of words written in Dave’s memory, and all as a tribute to his impact in the songwriting community. Although I would be humbled to contribute my own eulogy to the legacy of Dave Carter, I found the writings of others to be more widescope and ultimately more comforting to me. From the Los Angeles Times to the New York Times, from Portland to Boston to Philadelphia to Oklahoma and towns in between, many newspapers and journals told the sad news of Dave’s passing with great reverence and factual detail.

We had an excellent couple of years traversing our way from the very top of the Folk and Roots communities and building a real audience in the adult rock and pop world which provided more and better opportunities to play the songs.  

In addition to heavy airplay across AAA, Americana and folk radio stations, the duo was highly celebrated by the press. The Boston Globe declared that “If the voice of modern folk is changing – it is going to sound a lot like Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer.” The flood of praise resulted in a full calendar of concert dates and an invitation to join folk icon Joan Baez on her spring 2002 east coast tour as both featured artists and band members.

Dave’s songs have been covered by hundreds of artists, in the earliest years by The Kennedys and Vance Gilbert and more recently a duet between Willie Nelson and Judy Collins.  

As is always the best case, our success was very much driven by the support of Signature Sounds Recordings and Jim Olsen and his staff, and the original Fleming Tamulevich Agency for US and Canadian touring.  

Rest in Peace.