Grin - Biography
By Bob Fagan
Grin was a short-lived band that came out of the Washington, DC area in the early 70s. It is remembered chiefly for its bandleader, Nils Lofgren. Lofgren moved with his family from Chicago to Maryland when he was a teenager. Trading his first instrument, accordion, for electric guitar, he formed Grin with drummer Bob Beberich and bassist Bob Gordon.
The band was a popular local attraction in a music scene that spawned the careers of musicians such as Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady of The Jefferson Airplane, as well as legendary telecaster masters Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan. Grin might have gone no further than local stardom but for the intervention of Neil Young. Lofgren attended a Young concert in DC, and managed to make his way backstage. Young listened to his teenaged fan (Lofgren was only 17 at the time) talk about his songs and band, and then handed his guitar to Lofgren and told him to play. Impressed by Lofgren’s material and guitar skills, Young got back in touch with Lofgren a few days after the concert and told him he had gotten him a deal for his band with Atlantic Records. He also invited Lofgren to join the sessions for what would become his breakthrough album, After the Gold Rush (1971 Reprise), which would become Rolling Stone’s Album of the Year and make Young a superstar in his own right. Perversely, Young had Lofgren play piano, an instrument he had never played before.
Grin’s first album (Grin, 1971 Epic) was produced by Young’s collaborator David Briggs. The record revealed a strikingly mature band with a wide range of styles and sounds. Likely influenced by the similar shifts in style on After the Goldrush, the album moves from acoustic ballads to laid-back country rock to hard rock. Young and his backing band Crazy Horse perform backing vocals on several cuts. (Lofgren would later briefly join Crazy Horse for their first solo album.)
Grin’s second album was released later that same year (1+1, 1971 Spindizzy). The cover photo of Lofgren and band listing (Nils Lofgren/Grin) made abundantly clear what most fans had already sorted out: that Lofgren was the primary talent in the band, writing and singing nearly all the material. The album is divided into a “rocking side” and a “soft side.” The rocking side features the beautiful semi-acoustic” White Lies.” The soft side shows Lofgren’s poetic and dramatic lyrics to fine effect. “Hi, Hello Home” is a country-rocker reminiscent of The Buffalo Springfield, while “Just a Song” could be an unreleased Young/Jack Nietzsche collaboration along the lines of “Expecting to Fly.”
All Out (1972 Epic Records) found the band expand from a trio to a quartet, with the addition of Lofgren’s brother Tom on guitar and vocals. The material is not as compelling as the previous two releases; standout track “Rusty Gun” features Nils double-tracked on accordion and some blistering acoustic guitar runs. Kathi Mcdonald, the well-known session singer who had briefly sung for Big Brother and the Holding Company following the death of Janis Joplin, appears on one track.
Gone Crazy (1973 A&M) was the fourth and final Grin LP. Always a favorite with critics, the band never found chart success, and Lofgren decided to move on toward a dual career as a solo act and a sideman. As a sideman he found great success, recording and performing regularly with both Young and Bruce Springsteen. He also toured and recorded as a solo act, often with brother Tom Lofgren in tow on guitar and vocals, and occasionally gaining radio airplay with such favorites as “Keith Don’t Go” (a tribute to hero Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards) and “I Came to Dance.” His most recent release is a solo acoustic collection of Neil Young covers (The Loner-Nils Sings Neil 2008 Vision).
