Sam Grisman Project performs in Beaver Creek

As part of the Vilar Performing Arts Center’s Love for the Locals year-round programming, the Sam Grisman Project pays tribute to his father’s music, legendary mandolinist and composer David Grisman, as well as his dad’s friends, like Jerry Garcia, Doc Watson, Tony Rice and many more.

Sam Grisman created his project, which features a rotation of musicians, to highlight the music he grew up listening to. In fact, he was so immersed in a cascade of talented musicians that he thought every human being was musically gifted. His dad had a recording studio in their basement in Mill Valley, California and plenty of jam sessions and rehearsals in the living room.

“I am incredibly lucky because I had no other frame of reference except for what turns out to be a very charmed acoustic upbringing. I heard a lot of unadulterated, fully individuated musicians being themselves,” he said. “I grew up inundated with great music and with a different perspective: I thought everybody had a predisposition to a particular instrument, which isn’t necessarily the case. I do think music is one of the most powerful mediums on the planet, and it’s sort of like a language that everybody can understand but not everybody has put in the time to develop the skill set to speak it.”

Surrounded by a group sound larger than the sum of parts — even amidst Garcia and his dad’s other famous friends — he learned about how each instrument plays a different role within a band, as well as what goes into developing high-level musicianship. Overall, he witnessed his dad and friends working hard to create complex music while still thoroughly enjoying themselves.

“There was a lot of depth to their personalities. They liked to talk about comic books, go on hikes and throw the tennis ball for the dog,” he said, also recalling how Sam Bush brought an extra baseball mitt to play catch with him. “It’s just seeing the human side of a lot of incredible artists and understanding that everybody’s just a person and that there’s a lot of facets to life, not just music.”

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As a result, he respects other musicians’ personal needs, pulling from a large community of friends who enjoy playing the same music he does for tours, as opposed to sticking with the same lineup. Last year, he performed 94 shows and plans on about the same in 2026.

“I can’t think of a better use of my time than traveling around with the people I love playing the music that I love, but at the same time, I acknowledge that the profession of being a traveling musician is not compatible with basic human needs, so I don’t want to be too demanding of others’ time. I ask people who might be available and are enthusiastic to play in a part of the nation or world and choose the catalogue based on (them). I just try to make it sustainable for all of us,” he said.

He also gathered a bunch of the musicians for the project’s 2025 self-titled double album, something he’d been wanting to do since they began touring in January 2023. Last January, he booked three days in a Nashville studio, recording live with little overdubbing — only some harmony vocals after the fact.

“I wanted to keep it pretty loose and capture what the band sounded like in that particular moment in time,” he said. “I think the end result is a pretty honest snapshot.”

He says a special version of the project is coming to Colorado, with one of his favorite songwriters, Max Flansburg; one of his favorite mandolin players, Jessie Appelman; fiddler John Mailander, who works with Bruce Hornsby; and “the great, young” Victor Furtado.

“You can expect an evening of intentional acoustic music played by people who really care about the music that they’re deciding to play,” he said, adding that they’ll perform originals, Old Time Appalachian tunes and music from his dad, Garcia and other musical heroes like Watson, John Hartford and Bob Dylan. “It’s sort of all over the map in the acoustic universe — any songs that we think are great that deserve to be played. And you’ll hear the world’s greatest clawhammer banjo playing.”

On stage, they employ condenser microphones, with no monitors.

“What we’re hearing is the immediacy of the notes coming out of the instruments, and what we’re translating is the sound of the acoustic instruments — no amplification outside of the microphones,” he said, adding that they love coming to Colorado in the winter. “We’re just all very excited to make music for all of y’all.”