Caffé Lena is excited bring Grayson Hugh and Polly
Messer back for a return concert, this time with the
addition of Tim McDonald. With the appearance of The
Grayson Hugh Trio at Caffé Lena on Saturday, March 13,
2021, there is a rare opportunity to hear and see some
world class music in an intimate acoustic setting.
“In a world where music is often a brittle artificiality, the
music he makes is hard and strong, convicted and
convincing. And true. Most of all, true. It's there in the
gritty lament of his voice, in the roughhouse eloquence of
his piano, and the atmospheric poetry of his words.
And his lyrics! If you love words, if you’re one of those
people for whom heaven is a rainy day and a good book,
then know this: Hugh doesn’t write words — he writes
pictures. He has that thing Sam Cooke and Ray Charles
had, that thing you still hear sometimes in Bruce
Springsteen, that lonely, train whistle in the dark thing,
that yearning, keening thing that gets right to the heart of
what it means to be alive, what it means to be a human
being.” - Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald, March 8, 2010,
Winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
Grayson Hugh is an internationally-acclaimed singer/
songwriter. His debut release "Blind To Reason" (RCA
1988) earned two gold records, in the U.S. and overseas,
and garnered several international radio hits.
Performing at Caffé Lena is especially meaningful for
Grayson. Beginning in 1966, at age sixteen, his earliest
solo concerts were, in fact, at coffeehouses. In addition to
countless church basements throughout New England,
Grayson has brought his unique blend of blues, bluegrass,
folk and country to well known venues such as Club
Passim in Cambridge, Massachusetts and The Bitter End
and Gerde’s Folk City, both in Greenwich Village, New York.
His second record "Road To Freedom" was called one of
1992's top-ten albums by Billboard Magazine. Two of his
songs from that record were featured in Ridley Scott's hit
film "Thelma & Louise" in 1991. In the same year Hugh
was asked to arrange & record a version of Bob Dylan's "I'll
Remember You" for the end-title song to the film "Fried
Green Tomatoes". Using Eric Clapton’s band to back him
up, the result was a gospel-style performance featuring
Grayson singing and playing Hammond B3 organ, “a
performance that could raise the dead" (The Cleveland
Free Times).
Grayson joined the faculty of Berklee College Of Music in
Boston, where he taught songwriting from the late 90’s
through 2003. During his Boston years, he was
commissioned to compose and record scores for modern
dance choreographers. Through his collaborations with
Rebecca Rice of The Boston Ballet, Bennett Dance
Company and Prometheus Dance, he was the recipient of
three Meet The Composer grants (New England
Foundation for the Arts).
In 2010 Grayson released his eagerly-anticipated "An
American Record”, co-produced by Polly Messer. His 2015
record “Back To The Soul” was on the Official Ballot for a
2015 Grammy in the Best Americana Album category. He
is currently working on a new record called “Save Your
Love For Me”, featuring his songs in a more country style.
For this album Hugh recruited Pete Kennedy on guitar, mandolin and banjo, Bob Dylan’s bass player-musical
director Tony Garnier, Texas Music Hall of Famer Cindy
Cashdollar on dobro and lap steel guitar and long time Jim
Messina band member Gary Oleyar on fiddle and
rockabilly guitar. Grayson Hugh & The Moon Hawks
drummer Tyger MacNeal and singer Polly Messer also are
on the record.
He is also contributing songs and an original score for the
upcoming Hungarian film “Captain Flame”, written and
directed by Balázs Hatvani. Grayson and Polly traveled to
Budapest in June of 2019 where, with Balázs and his crew
from Cinelabyrinth, they filmed two music videos for
Grayson’s contributed songs.
Polly Messer began her career as a singer with the
Connecticut swing band Eight To The Bar, in 1977. While
touring up and down the east coast with them, she met
Grayson in a recording studio and, soon after, began
singing backup vocals in his band Grayson Hugh & The
Wildtones, in 1982. She performed with him throughout
the mid-eighties, until he moved to New York in 1986.
During the nineties, Polly sang with the rockabilly band
Eugene Chrysler. She also returned to school where she
obtained a bachelor's degree with a triple major in art at
Western Connecticut State University.
In 2007, she teamed up with Grayson once again to sing
on “An American Record”. Grayson liked her ideas so much he asked her to coproduce the album with him. One
harmony led to another and she and Grayson were
married in August 2008.
Guitarist and singer Tim McDonald was born in
Worcester, Massachusetts and moved to San Francisco in
the early seventies. There, amidst the prolific music scene,
he formed the band Rescue which became wildly popular,
receiving radio airplay on the renowned rock station
KSAN. His next musical adventure was joining The
Charles Biscuit Band, which had a huge following in the
Bay area. A record deal soon followed, but, as so often
happens in the music business, this deal floundered. So
Tim decided to move to Los Angeles. He soon established
himself as a successful studio musician, appearing on
other artists’ records as well live performances in all the
major venues for showcasing original talent.
He relocated to Connecticut in the nineties where he
performed with his band and in solo acoustic acts. One of
his projects was The Kortchmar McDonald Band, featuring
himself and Danny Kortchmar, guitarist-songwriter for
James Taylor and Don Henley, to name a few. Tim also
joined forces with Burt Teague to form the McDonald
Teague Band. In February 2020, Grayson Hugh called him
to join his band Grayson Hugh & The Moon Hawks. After
the pandemic hit and music venues closed, Grayson
enlisted Tim to add his vocal harmonies and guitar playing
to Grayson and Polly Messer’s duo.
Caffé Lena is excited bring Grayson Hugh and Polly
Messer back for a return concert, this time with the
addition of Tim McDonald. With the appearance of The
Grayson Hugh Trio at Caffé Lena on Saturday, March 13,
2021, there is a rare opportunity to hear and see some
world class music in an intimate acoustic setting.
