Woodstock Wednesdays | Tim Grimm | Online Concerts | September 2, 7pm/CDT

Join us for Woodstock Wednesdays! Woodstock Folk Festival is excited to bring high quality music to our community and to enjoy and support performers who have worked with us over the years. If you are not on our mailing list, please sign up using the Mailing List signup in the right column of our website.

The Video premieres HERE at 7pm/CDT Wednesday, September 2. It will remain in our Gallery after the show if you would like to see it again or share it with others. Tim’s songs will touch your heart. Watch Tim’s YouTube channel to see and hear more of Tim’s music including WOODY’S LANDLORD, performed by “The Family Band”.

Featured Performer: Tim Grimm

Tim will also be performing at the Fox Valley Folk Music & Storytelling Festival, September 5 – 7. Tim will close the Saturday night Mainstage performance (at roughly 7:30 pm)

Tim Grimm is a bit of a Renaissance man in the performing arts world. He has for the past 20 years, blended his love for songwriting, travel, and the storytelling of acting (theatre, film and television).

Tim’s most recent recording- HEART LAND AGAIN revisits a renowned collection of songs from 20 years ago…. A STRANGER IN THIS TIME (2017), is a collaboration with his wife, Jan,and sons Connor and Jackson– the “Family Band”. In the Fall of 2016 this same group recorded the single- WOODY’S LANDLORD– which was the #1 song on Folk Radio for the year.

Tim’s previous recording, THE TURNING POINT, produced the #1 song on Folk radio in 2014– KING OF THE FOLKSINGERS. It was a particularly gratifying honor, given the song is a tribute to Tim’s friend and musical icon, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. Tim’s history with Ramblin’ Jack goes back 30 years– beginning with a bicycle ride that led to The Newport Folk Festival…. Tim contributing liner notes to Jack’s Grammy winning album, The South Coast (1995)… Jack’s recording Buffalo Skinners with Tim on Tim’s album, Coyote’s Dream (2003)….and now, most recently KING OF THE FOLKSINGERS.

After college (Earlham), Grimm pursed an MFA in Theatre at The University of Michigan and from there worked in Regional Theatre, settling in Chicago. In Chicago, in addition to his theatre work, he studied briefly at the Old Town School of Folk Music and began writing songs and performing. He put together a band, Tim Grimm and The True Hearts and released 2 cds–True Heart, Kind Mind and Broken Down Palace.

At that point, “Hollywood called,” and Tim put down his guitar and pen, and didn’t really pick them up for close to 10 years. After several years (1990s) working in Los Angeles (where he co-starred for 2 seasons on the NBC drama Reasonable Doubts, worked on Clear and Present Danger with Harrison Ford,  and appeared in several films and tv projects), Tim returned home to Indiana. 

Tim grew up in the woods and small town settings of southern Indiana, son of schoolteachers and grandson of farmers, and his return home was a conscious choice to live a life of significance rather than one of “success’.  He now lives with his wife on  80 acres close to where he grew up.

Tim’s songs are full of the rural rumblings that have shaped his life—rich with descriptive details, and sung with warmth and intimacy—recognizing the inextinguishable national romance with the idea of the family farm and the vanishing landscape of rural America.  He released the album, HEART LAND in 2000, and on the strength of that recording, was named 2000’s “BEST DISCOVERY in Roots/Americana Music” by The Chicago Sun-Times. His albums COYOTES DREAM and NAMES, led to his being named “2004 MALE ARTIST of The Year” by the Freeform American Roots DJs.

He has released 10 solo albums since 2000 (including the newest- THE TURNING POINT), and 2 collaborations- AMBER WAVES (with Jason Wilber) and WILDERNESS PLOTS.

In 2005, Grimm was asked to compose music and act in a production of THE GRAPES OF WRATH at Indiana Repertory Theatre and Syracuse Stage in New York. His song from the play–THE PEOPLES HIGHWAY, made it onto his next album, THE BACK FIELDS, which was subsequently named Americana Album of the Year by the Just Plain Folks Music Awards– the world’s largest independent music awards.

In 2007, Grimm put together a concept cd with several of the Midwest’s finest songwriter’s— Krista Detor, Carrie Newcomer, Tom Roznowski, and Michael White. The recording, Wilderness Plots, was drawn from the short stories of noted author, Scott Russell Sanders, and explored the settling of the American Wilderness in the Ohio River Valley Region between The Revolutionary War and The Civil War. Two PBS programs have explored Wilderness Plots– the first, a documentary on the story and song, and the second a full Wilderness Plots- In Concert (2012). Produced by WTIU in Bloomington, IN, both productions were nominated for EMMY AWARDS. Tim continued to write songs based on Sander’s writings and released the album, WILDERNESS SONGS AND BAD MAN BALLADS in 2011.

Tim has worked with Inishfree Tours for the past several years, bringing Americans, Dutch and Germans to the Emerald Isle for 9 days and nights of music, and day trips exploring 3 select Counties. Guests who have traveled with Tim encouraged him to lead groups elsewhere, and this has led to the annual- Turning Point Tour of The Netherlands, and and the creation of Beyond The Tartan Tours of Scotland.

Tim continues to be active in Regional Theatre as well– most recently in the Bicentennial production for this home state- FINDING HOME: Indiana at 200, for which he wrote an album’s worth of music, and appeared for 6 weeks onstage — as actor and with the Family Band.

“I scheduled Tim so that we can help promote the virtual Fox Valley Festival on September 5 – 7 (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday). Please support Tim Grimm and the Fox Valley Festival. More info is at FVFS.org. It will be live streamed to Facebook and YouTube. Juel Ulven, founder and director of the Fox Valley Festival was the recipient of our WFF “Woody” Award last year. Tim performed at our Woodstock Folk Festival in 2012. I have traveled with Tim to both the Netherlands and Scotland and his tours are outstanding.” ~~ Carol Obertubbesing, Woodstock Folk Festival President

Donations

Please visit timgrimm.com to purchase CDs and to learn about the amazing trips that will be scheduled by Tim at some future time. With gigs cancelled, performers need your support. Your donations and purchases are a powerful way to thank Tim for creating this Woodstock Wednesdays video.

You may also donate to the Festival via the Donate Button at the top of the right column on every page of this website.

We know you will enjoy Tim’s show!

We know you will enjoy the Fox Valley Folk Music and Storytelling Festival on September 5, 6, and 7. Tim Grimm will be performing. Other FVFS (Fox Valley Folk Music and Storytelling) performers that have performed at the Woodstock Folk Festival or concert include Scott Ainslie, February Sky, Reggie Harris, Sarah McQuaid, Lee Murdock, Claudia Schmidt, Trillium, and Jack Williams. Be sure to check back on the fvfs.org site to find the schedule which will be posted in coming days at fvfs.org