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My friend and lead guitarist for many years, David Grover passed away November 3, 2021. He had been ill for a while. That’s the short story. For more read on:

Hank Grover (David’s father) was the head of the Berkshire Folk-Music Society, and put together one of the first, if not THE first ticketed events I ever did. I was still a kid in high school. And my friends and I performed at the Berkshire Atheneum probably around 1962 or 1963. If David and I met, he would have been very young at the time. David’s older brother, Michael played my roommate while I was attending college in Montana, for the film “Alice’s Restaurant. The Grovers have been a part of my life for a long time.

Somewhere along about 1975 I did a show in Worthington, MA in order to help build and fund a local health clinic. It’s still there and doing very well. Just before the show in Worthington, I’d run into the local band Shenandoah. David Grover was the lead guitar player and arranger. I was so impressed by them that I asked if they would do the gig with me. They agreed, and we began working together for the next 20+ years. The band members were David Grover, David Carron, Dan Velika and Terry Hall - all local guys and terrific people.

Sadly within a couple of years or less, David Carron passed away …. Far too young, He’d had a fatal brain annurism. Steve & Carol Ide joined the crew afterward and remained throughout as members of the band. Rob Putnum and Bob Williams were also were with us for awhile as different bandmates came and went, but we kept the music going doing thousands of shows around the USA and the world. David Grover and I arranged the songs for vocals and instruments with the very able help of everyone who was there, including my dear friend, John Pilla. Eventually my son, Abe joined the crew, and began to take over the arrangements as musical director, keyboards and vocals.

After roughly 25 years of working on the road together, David moved on to pursue other things. He had his own TV show ”Grover’s Corner” on PBS, and did many recordings, and live concerts for children. He worked with Aaron Schroeder co-writing songs. We continued to work on projects together. He began producing and arranging for me. Especially notable was a record of old cowboy songs “Son of the Wind”, which we recorded in Dalton, MA. It remains one of my personal favorite albums.

When David passed away November 3rd it felt like another important mile marker passed on the long road we shared. The last time we played together was in August of 2018 at The Guthrie Center in Great Barrington. We scheduled a mini reunion of Shenandoah with me as a part of a series we were doing. It was a great time as anyone who was there can testify. We laughed, and played some old songs together.

I can tell you this: When people are stuck together for months at a time in a 45 foot tin can (bus), for 9 months a year, for decades, you get to know each other pretty well. Unlike almost every band you ever heard of, we had a good time for all of it, not just the good times or the early days. I mean all of it. I had the unique pleasure of working with some of the nicest people, as well as really wonderful players. David Grover was one of ‘em.

Just wishing everyone a day to find something to be thankful for. It's a holiday all over the world, altho not on any particular day. It's especially celebrated in places which coincides with the harvest season. Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are, and whenever it comes around.