Show Comics The Herald Journal Classifieds -- Logan Utah Thursday April 19 1984 Jins Living j Brad JustadHerald Journal Logan's Jim Groutage says his music has changed the last two years But even though his sound is louder and harder than it used to be Groutage retains a a distinct style By Julie Simon features editor “What have you been doing lately Jim?" Singer and musician Jim Groutage grins at the question and explains he's been busy recording music in his Logan studio traveling to sound engineer Jobs teaching a song writing class at Utah State University and working through a transition in his style "A transition?” He nods in affirmation smiling again Jim’s known as a nice guy even though he's pursuing a career in a competitive field Everyone knows where nice guys finish in that kind of situation but Groutage is far from coming in last At 28 he’s known “almost nationally'’ for his sound engineering and now he’s ready to start hunting fame and fortune for his music His Tuesday concert in the USU Fine Arts Center will showcase both the style and the equipment he's hoping will earn him more exposure for the sound that he says is louder and harder than it used to be Not as loud and hard as acid rock and not rock like everybody else’s rock But “rock of distinction” as befits a band called “Carrera” after the fine Italian marble known by that name “In my other concerts I’ve played mostly well I don't like to call it middle-age-d rock but I think you know what I mean” he says “I’m a little worried about the people who will come to the concert expecting that kind of music But we’re planning about 10 minutes of jazi numbers towards the middle of the show and we’ll play some of my older stuff too” He pauses smiles again but at the same time looks a little worried: “So if they’re still there by that time we’ll have something for them” Why has Groutage moved away from the ballads local people have come to expect from him? “I'm still singing ballads but I think now my music is of the type that appeals to college and high school-ag- e people As to why — that’s a hard question One thing is that I’m trying to write for myself — two or three years ago I think I was more worried about what people would think Now I’m Just trying to be myself first and hoping other people will like what I'm doing afterwards instead of the other way around” Groutage says his Logan concert will be his first in awhile: “I didn’t do much in the way of concerts while I was going through my transitional stage I didn’t feel Carrera’s sound distinctive the musician says "We really play well together — maybe it’s because Eric and I are family and Terry and Chris are brothers" Groutage says Groutage plays the guitar and fills the role of lead singer with a voice which is at mice mellow and exciting The musician who has had his own combo or band since his Junior high days also plays the trombone the drums the bass guitar and the keyboard but hasn’t figured out how to make that versatility work on the stage With the help of high tech he’s made studio recordings featuring him and only him playing all the instruments and singing Obviously though he can’t do it all during his concerts And Groutage sometimes wishes he could split himself up because finding professional musicians has been one of the main problems he’s had to deal with in running his career as a professional musician out of Logan He couldn’t be more pleased with the band he has now but even at that some of the members will have a hard time putting in travel time if a series of road concerts well-equipp- old-tim-e ready” Groutage lead vocalist for his band “Carrera" also writes his own songs and plays a variety of instuments including guitar keyboard and trumpet doberman and my German shepherd and my security system when you talk about the studio” he says) He’s also been busy building up his sound equipment to free his band from the expense — $1500 or more a shot — of renting the gear necessary to presenting a concert “As of now we’re a self-contain- unit” he explains “Give us 220 volts and 200 amps and we’re ready to go” Groutage says he’s negotiating now for some university and college concerts He's hoping first to build his reputation and next to approach a record company for a contract A record contract doesn’t mean a thing if people aren’t interested in you he says Hundreds of albums are released and die every year That’s why he’s taking a different approach to the fame game The musician says the time is ripe for his bid for national recognition He's never had a better band Groutage’s brother-in-laEric Nelson a vocalist who plays the keyboard synthesizer and saxaphone Lisa Adams a singer: Chris Hatch a drummer and Terry Hatach a singer who plays bass guitar are all top musicians who have the Jazz background that makes Groutage’s and w Besides Groutage has been otherwise occupied finishing his USU music degree writing songs and teaching other people the skill playing clubs and doing his sound engineering and studio work (“Be sure to mention my develop Given that problem and Logan’s relative isolation does Groutage think he can maintain Logan as a home and music as a career? He hopes so He and his wife Kristan and their daughter Jerilyn have family and friends here and Groutage enjoys the chance he has had to teach a class at USU True sometimes the conservative lifestyle of the valley seems incongruous with the needs of a professional musician “But after all I’m LDS too” Groutage says So even though national recognition remains his dream Groutage explains he mostly feels grateful to be able to both live in Cache Valley and to make a living at the music he loves Where that music will take him he doesn’t know at this point He's come a long way from a junior high band leader who was too young to drive himself to his gigs He doesn’t know what the future will bring but he thinks the time to try his fortune is now He's getting older and doesn’t know how much longer he’ll be able to maintain his athletic dancing on the tables stage style And he feels as ready as he thinks he every will to fry to extend his local reputation beyond the borders of Utah But today he's not so much worried about the future as he is concerned about getting ready for his Tuesday concert That concert will feature some of his new songs like the exciting “Eyes of Angela” and haunting “Annalis” and a selection of his older music including “Falling Star" and “Back to School” Tickets for the 8 pm concert are available at the Sportsman downtown and in the Cache Valley Mall and at the USU ticket office They’ll also be sold at the door Would a town by any other name sound as sweet? North Dakota is a fine state with wonderful people but the truth is there's not much to look at when you're driving the broad highway that slices arrow-straigthrough its fields of wheat and sunflowers Sure in the western part of the state you can see the Badlands and what people who grow up on the plains call mountains But if you're driving the 271 miles east from Bismarck to Grand Forks there’s only a single curve and one turn to break the monotony license Some people make lists of plates to keep themselves awake when they’re traveling that stretch My parents and I developed a different strategy to fight boredom during the years we drove back and forth between our Bismarck home and the University of North Dakota where I was working on my degree To pass the time we made up stories about how the scores of small towns along the way got their names Some like Crystal Springs and Valley City were too obvious to fce much of a h alienee But we had fun with Ypsilanti Wing ht out-of-sta- te -- ipr'a IA Julie Simon V Journal features editor Tuttle Spiritwood Lynchburg Moffit Fingle Embden and Ayr Sometimes we cheated by drawing from the villages in the western part of the state We couldn’t resist names the like of Zap Gladstone Lark Beulah Hazen and of course Beach a located high and dry on the border A lot of those towns aren’t really towns at all Most of them boast only a post office and maybe a combination gas station and grocery store The green highway signs that announce their existence more often than not also carry the Dakota-Montan- legend: “No services” They're the kind of places John Steinbeck wrote about in “Travels with Charlie” and William Least Heat Moon glorifies in his new book “Blue Highways” Towns where freeways and fast food restaurants seem nearly as foreign as the Great Wall of China and the people as unique as the places where they live Towns where grain elevators not department stores dominate Main Street and where calving time planting time and harvest time pace the calendar No matter that a handful of shabby stores front on unpaved streets in Zap and Dodge and Halliday At least those towns and the others like them have names that lend style and an aura of individuality After college when I moved back to Montana game of “Name That Town” even though the Treasure State's mountains and forests offer beauty enough for even the most traveler Montana didn’t disscenery-glutte- d me Not only are many of its names appoint unusual a good many are downright romantic Dillon where I lived isn’t a good example Called after a Union Pacific railroad official I continued the the Beaverhead County seat’s staid name doesn’t match its cowtown character or its Main Street lined with bars where sheepherders and ranchers drink whiskey Just a few miles from Dillon though are places with names that have music in them: Silver Star Twin Bridges the Ruby Valley Horse Prairie Polaris the Big Hole Valley Wisdom Pony Elkhorn Hot Springs and Wise River I loved the sound of those names before I saw any of the places they represent And even when I discovered that Polaris consists mainly of a n bar that Wise River is made up tiny of a ranger station a country schoolhouse and a general store: and that mustangs no longer run wild on Horse Prairie I retained the conviction those places had something special about them They remain outposts of individuality — shabby but brave in their unconscious resistance to culture packaged by giant corporaed run-dow- tions and hawked by television Does Utah still have a share of these pockets of uniqueness? Now that the spring thaw has set in I'm anxious to find out |