Greta Gaines

Greta Gaines isn’t afraid of a challenge and she’s as courageous in her artistic life as she is in her professional life. Singer/songwriter, bandleader, adventurer and extreme sportswoman - Gaines is a woman set on living life to its fullest. “I started out to show the world that women can represent in non-traditional sports such as snowboarding and fly-fishing and have a career singing and songwriting at the same time,” Gaines asserts. I’ve never been interested in the status quo. My only aspiration is to be original. It took me 15 years to get here, before anyone saw the link between sports and music, but I got here. Gaines comes to her blend of sports and art honestly. After spending her childhood in the backwoods of New Hampshire, Gaines passion for sports and music took her to Jackson Hole, Wyoming where she could snowboard all day and sing her songs in country and western bars at night. After winning the Womans Extreme Snowboarding World Championship - the only woman in a field of 19 young men - she moved to Nashville to pursue songwriting and performing full time and soon landed a deal with Giant Records. After several years a corporate merger left her with 40 master recordings and no record deal. She started her own label, Big Air Records, and culled the 12 tracks on Greta Gaines from those masters. The debut effort landed her a slot on the Lilith Fair with Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan and gigs opening shows for Tori Amos and Alanis Morissette. Gaines returned to the sporting world in 1997 when her snowboarding title led to a job hosting MTV’s Sports and Music Festival – but this time, she was able to combine both her love of the sport and her love of making music. Her song “Mikey Likes It” was used as the show’s theme song. In 1999 the Oxygen Network created Freeride with Greta Gaines. “It was a dream job and reflected my love of music, extreme sports, adventure, travel, lifestyle and the environment.” It Was Hot, the second album for Big Air, was also a success and led to a month of dates supporting Sheryl Crow. “It’s scary as hell to stand up in front of an audience as an opening act with nothing but your guitar and your songs,” Gaines says. “It’s also fantastic. It did a lot for me as a performer, jumping in head first with no safety net.” At Farm Aid Gaines sat in with Willie Nelson, David Crosby and Neil Young and sang a dramatic rendition of “Pink Houses” with John Mellencamp that was broadcast on CMT. Gaines’ next effort – Can’t Kill The Flavor – was a seven song EP and a slight departure from her earlier efforts. It blended acoustic balladry with today’s studio techniques to add a bit of radio friendly polish to the tunes without diminishing the heart and soul of her art. Gaines calls it "hick-hop", a Southern songwriter vibe married to the beats of modern urban music. By the summer of 2006 Greta had no plans to release any more music commercially. She had welcomed a second son and was competing in and commentating on the first ever women’s pro-bass bass fishing tour for ESPN when an old friend and collaborator came calling, Justice Record’s owner Randall Jamail. “Randall said to me let’s make the album you’ve always dreamed of making with all the people that you love. I laughed then I broke down and cried. I wanted to reward his faith in me with my fiercest writing and singing.” Together they produced Whiskey Thoughts, a real “hippie country, ambient, southern rock record” due out everywhere May 20, 2008. “I put it all out there in this one--the good the bad and the ugly. You’ll meet the men I’ve loved in “Hey Evan,” “Falling James,” “Dirty Blonde” and “Willie Waltz.” Live through the escapist fervor of “Texas Sky” “I’m High” and “Warrior” while enjoying plenty of irony and even satire with songs such as the sing-a-long “L is 4 L-O-S-E-R.” Greta called on the players who had always been there for her live to give this body of work it’s soul. Daniel Tashian on guitars, Bucky Baxter on pedal steel, Eric Fritsch on keyboards, Millard Powers on bass and Jim Brosios on drums (current rhythm section for The Counting Crows) along with musical contributions from Raul Malo, Ian Moore, Kenny Vaughn, Bobby Nelson and her little brother Willlie Nelson. “Whiskey Thoughts,” is my most organic effort to date, we’ve kept lots of live tracking vocals and first takes from the musicians because I hope to tour more than I have in the past and I want to replicate live what we’ve accomplished on the album.” No matter what Gaines does, she does it with a passion that’s downright inspiring and she’s inviting us all along for the ride.