Grandson is a singer/songwriter on the rise who combines rock 'n' roll with a reggae and hip-hop twist. He recently spoke with Loudwire Nights host Toni Gonzalez about his new EP and Woodstock.

"I can't wait for Woodstock, it's pretty unbelievable," he says. "It's definitely surreal for me. So much of my experience as a musician and an artist is shaped by my father's experience, being a young guy in his 20s making music and traveling around America. When he was 20 years old, he was on his way to Woodstock, he had been all hyped up, he and all of his friends had been listening to all the bands on their way over."

Unfortunately, due to unforeseen muddy circumstances, their car wasn't able to make the rest of the trip so they had to turn back. "[They] had to just go home and get stoned and listen on their vinyl record player. 50 years later, my dad's gonna be coming and watching his son play on stage, so it definitely means a lot to me and is reflective of how crazy this journey's really been, especially in the past year."

Grandson reflects on the lineup of the original Woodstock in 1969 and points out the artists he would like to have had the chance to see, naming Jimi Hendrix first. "Obviously, Jimi Hendrix would be up there because of everything he stood for, the way that he would use his guitar to make statements."

He continues, "But there's another live Woodstock performance and when I was a kid I had illegally downloaded it on Limewire or something. It was a band called Ten Years After, and they had a live performance of their song 'I'm Going Home,' which is kind of like an up-tempo blues song but with the most gnarly guitar solo of all time starting it off. So I would love to see that happen live, too."

Focusing on the lineup for the 2019 50th anniversary of Woodstock, he says, "I think it's unbelievable. I think it's a cool mesh of new artists and old artists. I'm biased because I get to watch Santana and Robert Plant play on the same day as me, so I think it's great."

He then adds that it's interesting there aren't any DJs or electronic music included in the lineup. "I'm a fan of electronic music, I don't feel one way or another about it. I do understand how a lot of fans think that to do a lineup with a lot of electronic music might somehow be antithetical to what Woodstock stood for, or something...I think it's refreshing to see a festival committed to rock 'n' roll, and there's a couple of hip hop artists, too, but committed to artists with some sort of message behind them."

Grandson goes on to explain the inspiration behind the song "Apologize" and his latest EP, a modern tragedy vol. 2. Listen to the full interview above.

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