Chris Comper, like many of us in our youth, wanted to be a rock star. The Austrian native paid his dues, living in a tent for months trying to get gigs in England, moving back to Austria and then back to London before finally finding success with his band, Golden Reef. The thing is, once he got there, he realized it wasn’t where he wanted to be. He wanted to write songs that spoke to him as well as the audience. So he went solo, took on the moniker of Prinz Grizzley, and dove headfirst into the kind of roots music that can really only be classified as Americana.
Grizzley has a new album coming out next week entitled Tilda. It’s an homage to his grandmother, who persevered through a hard life in the Austrian Alps, in a home where Prinz and his family now reside. Musically the record takes a lot of cues from Appalachian and old-timey music, like the uptempo bluegrass sound of Reign On, Queen Of Mountains (A Price To Pay). Having said that, you also get some European roots flavor, from the Balkan notes on Dance Of the Shovel (The Foreign Son) to the spaghetti western style of The Long March (Troubled Time Ahead).
You may have noticed all the songs have two titles. In addition to the musical journey the album takes you on, it’s also a literary journey with each song a chapter in the lives of his grandparents. So our introduction to Tilda comes in the form of A Rose On Garbage Hill (The Daughter). The track is a country ballad with some sweet pedal steel and mandolin highlights. We’re reminded that good things can come out of bad situations: in this case, “believe in what you feel, then a rose can grow on a garbage hill.” It’s also a reminder that you don’t have to be born and raised in rural America to have the soul of a country music songwriter. We’re so pleased to premiere A Rose On Garbage Hill (The Daughter) here.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.