When David Reed’s older sister, Caroline, caught him singing “Rock ‘n Roll All Night” in the shower at the age of five, he was belting his little heart out. She could have given him a hard time, but instead she kept his secret. “I didn’t let anyone else know I sang until I was 18,” said David.
Today, the secret’s out. Grand Ramble, David’s band with fellow 2006 Lake Highlands High School grad Bobby Bedsole, releases its first album “A Series of Advances and Retreats.”
David, who calls their sound “rock” but with a mix of genres throughout the album, says you’ll find folk, blues “and even a little bubble-gum pop” on the new release. The cuts “Golden” and “Walking” have been crowd favorites when Grand Ramble has played live, including a show at Deep Ellum Brewery last Saturday.
While in high school, David played in a band called Airplanes with LHHS classmate Justin Hamilton. After heading off to Baylor University to study finance, he’s now back in Dallas to pursue his true love – music.
Bobby Bedsole caught the bug when he was invited to join the Guitar Club at Lake Highlands Elementary in 5th grade. “I’ve always been inspired by other family members that play,” he told me. “I always wanted instruments for Christmas.”
“We think people will enjoy the album,” David told me. “This recording process was exciting because we got to sit down together each night and truly collaborate on each song. Bobby is a great guitarist and maybe an even better songwriter, so we could bounce ideas back and forth really easily. I’ve never been able to do that before.”
Greyson Morgan, an LHHS graduate from 2011, played drums on the song “Dube” and has been performing with the band at their live gigs. “He’s been able to learn all of our songs quickly and has a great chemistry with the band,” said David. “Greyson is everything we could ask for in a drummer and his involvement will grow as our band grows.”
“We’ve worked in this project, on and off, for over a year now. It’s the first album we’ve made where we are responsible for everything (drums, bass, guitars, keys, vocals, production). The best part about that is that each song sounds exactly how we wanted them to sound.”
Oh, and that cover art? That’s not David, though he’s the spittin’ image. That’s his grandfather, Jack Reed. David took a flash photo of an old black-and-white to get just the look he wanted.
You can hear and download the album from Grand Ramble, produced and mixed by LHHS grad Harris Briggs, on BandCamp here and on iTunes. You can also like and follow Grand Ramble on Facebook here to find out about future releases and shows.
