George Gritzbach, Consummate Musician

PrimeTime Magazine

Local favorite George Gritzbach has been part of the Cape Cod music scene for 40 years.  Composing, singing, playing electric, acoustic, and slide guitar, as well as the harmonica, George could be a one-man band, and sometimes is, although more frequently he plays with his band. George says, “The whole band -- Rich Hill, Mark Karras, John Menezes, and Ralph Rosen -- is really great, with all those different instrumental voices in conversation with each other.” 

They have played at many popular venues from Provincetown to Plymouth including the Beachcomber, First Encounter Coffee House (which George co-founded), the Chatham Squire, Harry’s, the Beach House, Cape Cod Canal cruises, and the New World Tavern.  He has performed down south and up north and as far away as Canada, England, and Italy. If you’ve enjoyed an evening at the Melody tent, you may very well have seen George who has opened for dozens of performers including B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Ziggy Marley and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

George grew up in an Italian family in New Haven, Connecticut, the oldest of four children, and discovered early on the power of music to touch his audience.  He remembers belting out a song for his parents when he was five or six and seeing the looks on their faces and realizing that it made them happy.

His father died when George was 14, a death that had a profound effect on him. He says he didn’t realize how much he was shaped by that loss. Instead of stepping up to the plate to be the man of the house, a common expectation of the time, George followed a self-destructive trajectory. He says of that lengthy period, “I got into some quicksand, but with time and hard work got out of it again.”

After college, George set off with his guitar, $30, and a change of clothes on a yearlong adventure through the south, searching for the blues and the music of Americana, and collecting the experiences that fed the musician he is today. A chance stop in Talcott, West Virginia, home of the John Henry legend, gave George the opportunity to play a song in the local post office/general store/bar one morning. He says, “The bartender, with tears rolling down his cheeks, was so touched by the song he gave me $3.00 to play it again. That helped build up my confidence.” George dedicated “Blue Bottom,” an early recording, to “The fine people of Talcott, West Virginia, for the long-standing inspiration.”

Always curious about what makes us tick, George, a graduate of the University of Southern Connecticut, enrolled in a Lesley University off-campus master’s program in psychology, which met one weekend a month on the campus of Cape Cod Community College, where this writer was a classmate. Except for an occasional course that might have included another male student, George bravely and good-naturedly went through a 3 ½ year cohort program as the only male with approximately 20 female classmates. The women appreciated the masculine perspective and he certainly got a lot of the feminine point of view.

Accountability and responsibility are big pieces of George’s makeup. He believes it is not what happens to you, but how you deal with it that makes you who you are, a belief he incorporated in his work as a therapist.

Like many other musicians, George considers the Rev. Gary Davis an inspiration and important influence on his music. George tells of appearing unannounced at Davis’ Jamaica, Queens, doorstep where he had the first of numerous two-hour lessons from the blind gospel, blues, and ragtime musician and minister. In addition to teaching, Reverend Davis offered preaching, companionship and apple pie, all for $5.  Other musical heroes are Robert Johnson, Earl Hooker, and Elmore James, known for their slide guitar playing. George, who plays Stratocaster, Telecaster, and Dobro resonator guitars, says, “Slide playing is what distinguishes me.”  George names Odetta as another really strong influence and says, “she helped me navigate the music business when I didn’t have a compass. She was a queen.”

George’s playing and vocals touch both the hearts and minds of his listeners. His voice is a rich combination of smooth and tangy. An inspired songwriter, he’s never been drawn to writing poetry or prose, although he and this writer, noticing a dearth of suitable books when working together on a class assignment, have co-authored a picture book for children of alcoholics.

George’s songs often reflect his philosophy, education, worldview, positive and negative experiences, and career as a therapist, all laced with humor. Lyrics on his latest CD, the well-received “Whoa Yeah!” (available at cdbaby.com and Amazon) include the lines “Life is all about how you see it, Is your point of view beat up or upbeat?” and “Love may be blind, but it ain’t deaf and dumb, too,” as well as the suggestion to “Forget your troubles, forget your sorrow, tomorrow is another day” because “the blues are dancing on the bay.”

Having given up his day job, George is once again fully focused on his music. His next CD, “Roots, Rhythm, and Blues,” will be available in 2016. Talking about the writing of his songs, George says he sometimes gets a flash of words – “something that begs to be said.” He thinks he used to have a tendency to overwork the songs, but, “you have to know when enough is enough, when to stop.”

Going to the gym is an important part of George’s day. “We are physical beings,” he says. “It’s got to be part of my day. It’s not a question of fitting it in. Other things have to fit around it. I love the way it feels and it asks so little, but gives me so much. I need to be in good shape to play gigs – load the car, drive, unload, tune up, play for several hours and then reverse the procedure. It takes a lot of energy.” He also finds that if he’s stuck on a song, the 45 minutes to an hour he spends at the gym can solve the problem.

When not writing, composing, playing, at the gym, or working around their new home in Falmouth, George, and his wife, Jo, a nurse, can be found in season on their boat, a 28-foot Albins. George describes the boat as “really solid, great for fishing.” They cook and sleep on the boat and enjoy trips to the Elizabeth Islands and Martha’s Vineyard.

 Although the lyrics to one of his songs includes the line, “I’d just like to know what junkyard has my heart,” it is clear that music has George Gritzbach’s heart, and we are the luckier for it.