Meet Grant Ferguson: Independent Recording Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Grant Ferguson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Grant, what do you attribute your success to?
I remember hearing time and again successful entrepreneurs or Hollywood celebrities when accepting a Golden Globe or Academy Award say things like: “don’t ever give up.” As cliche as this sounds, it has proven to be a critical component of what success I’ve achieved, both as a musical artist and entrepreneur. The whole “20 year overnight success” thing is absolutely real. The way media venerates business and artistic personas does us all a disservice by focusing only on the obvious and laudable end results and not enough on the failures, pain, blood, sweat and tears it takes to get there.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Born in Scotland but immigrated to the US at an early age, I was first inspired to play guitar while watching my uncle accompany his daughter playing fiddle around the fire in the Shetland Islands. At the age of 14, I got my hands on a dime store acoustic guitar and played it ’till my fingers bled (literally). To this day, those early Celtic influences still find their way into my music. I continued to develop as a player in high school and college bands but really made the leap into becoming a serious musician when I attended music school in Atlanta in 2004. Since then, I’ve released 5 albums and over 10 singles on 2 separate labels, toured extensively and written music for commercial film. I consider myself a composer first and a guitar-player second. I’ll often write music without my guitar, just to free myself from the physical constraints and playing habits of the instrument. Because my music is instrumental (mostly), my guitar acts as the voice, and melody becomes all important, as is keeping the listener engaged without the help of lyrics. This is both challenging and liberating for me as a writer. I’ve landed in a very specialized music niche — guitar-driven melodic, instrumental rock — and I’ve often toyed with trying to write more commercially appealing music, but it just isn’t who I am. I think being true to yourself and writing what moves you as an artist is critical. That’s where the beauty comes from.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am lucky enough to live in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale, so we could spend a lot of time just hanging out here at places like the Valley Ho Hotel, Old Town Tortilla Factory, Thai Lana, the Rusty Spur bar and the many galleries, bars and restaurants in the area. Of course, for live music we’d have to get over to The Rhythm Room, a venue I’ve been fortunate enough to play at for years.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
All the good folks at my record label, Guitar One Records and the musical mentors and producers I’ve worked with over the years, including Neil Zaza, Leroy Miller, Todd Rogers and Carl Culpepper.

Website: www.grantfergusonmusic.com
Instagram: @grantfergusonmusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grantfergusonmusic
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/grantfergusonmusic
Other: https://soundcloud.com/grant-ferguson-music