“I am entirely a poor hillbilly from Ohio with Kentucky roots,” he said. “And I’m not trying to hide from that.”
Gran Gran’s latest single, “A Cold Dish,” released July 25, is a bleak observation of the music industry, an existential exploration of wealth gaps, and a commentary on the working class through a union of working class music — Appalachian, folk, and bluegrass.
Save for its first EP, “AN EP,” which was mastered by Gran Gran bassist Mikey Chappell, most of the band’s discography has been recorded, mixed, and mastered by Sage, sometimes featuring Jay Teilhet on banjo. Teilhet was a part of Gran Gran’s original formation as an acoustic duo. Eventually, the live lineup rounded out with Chappell, WYSO Assistant Music Director Evan Miller on drums, and Jacob Diebold (of Yellow Springs band Gardener) on electric guitar. Many of the members of Gran Gran still live in Dayton and Yellow Springs.
James Baldwin believed that it is the artist’s responsibility to confront and interpret the complexities of their era. As the frontperson of an independent band, essentially writing about the independent plight — in regards to both the music industry and class struggles — Sage tackles nearly everything he needs us to know in the first verse:
“Well, you can write the greatest record of all time / You can win over the heart of a big city lion / You can swim right over the belt of Orion / But you’ll never ever pay your rent.”
He really hates to say it, he doesn’t want to say it, but it’s a cold dish getting colder all the time.
“All I’ve ever known is a poor upbringing, divorced parents… ramen noodles is pretty much what I survived on for most of my life,” Sage said. “There’s no analysis without class analysis and wealth analysis, especially now more than ever.”
Existentialism and self-referentiality are always going to be present in his music. Sage’s affinity for the meditative, Eastern versus Western philosophy is a surefire way to make conscious observations of society from a purely observational position. Having lived through some of what he’s talking about only cements his authority.
Gran Gran’s music feels very American without being patriotic, like the sound of the county fair without being the music you’d hear there. Americana could be the blanket term that neatly encapsulates all of the elements, but Americana also has certain sonic implications that don’t necessarily work for “A Cold Dish,” with its indie Rust Belt sheen, nor for Gran Gran in general.
“I Need You Around” from 2024 has ethereal qualities, despite the throughline of the acoustic guitar. “Wayward Barrier Boy,” a single from earlier this year, puts some grit into that acoustic, adding a fuzzy vocoder that makes the vocals nearly indistinguishable. Much of the Gran Gran discography is Sage obsessing over sounds — midi keys, synths, pump organs — putting a sugar glaze on what could be defined as Americana, but with a greater understanding of social structures.
The music of Gran Gran is, in many ways, an ode to Sage’s grandmother: A coal miner’s daughter who lived in a mud floor situation in Appalachia.
“The great Kentucky migration into Ohio is the only reason why I’m here,” Sage said. “That experience of growing up in moonshine hollers and stuff like that, being part of that community… that culture is still very real for me, and I want to express that. The primary goal is to modernize our hillbilly roots.”
Appalachian music is deeply integral to Sage, and Teilhet, who currently lives in the countryside outside of Dayton. And because of the robustness required to live that working class lifestyle, Sage also has a deep-seated resentment for nepotism within the music industry — a topic introduced in the second verse of “A Cold Dish” that plays out until the end of the song.
Sage tells us “about that kinda fella,” pulling no punches:
“He’s useless, profusely abusing his word / A temper tantrum tyrant, a gold polished turd / He’s a mountain of wealth where my family dug the mine / Boy, would you look at him shine?”
The song is justifiably angry — though poppy as it can be — directed at no one in particular while also knocking every “nepo baby” down a few pegs, regardless of the pronouns the song uses. While Sage has no intense feelings about generational musicians — Arlo Guthrie, Jakob Dylan, Spencer Tweedy, to name a few — it’s the first-gen musicians born into super wealth that truly bother him. Perhaps that speaks to Sage’s want to own his Appalachian roots through a modern lens.
“Once I realized there’s no escaping the wealth gap, I feel like it made me so much more proud of where I came from,” he said. “Growing up in the country, it was important to me to not let that go. Something that I tried my whole young adult life to hide is now something I’m very proud to represent.”
Gran Gran has allowed Sage a pure creative outlet to express himself musically, socially, and philosophically. The band is booking shows through 2026, as is his Yellow Springs-based band, Gardener. Gran Gran’s “A Cold Dish” is released digitally ahead of a full-length, ostensibly due later this year.
“Who’s getting rich? Who’s getting poor? You really oughtta wonder who’s keeping score?”
It’s a sad dish getting sadder all the time.
Brandon Berry covers the music and arts scene in Dayton and Southwest Ohio, spotlighting local musicians, underground and touring bands, cultural events, fringe phenomena and creative spaces. He buys duplicate copies of every Chuck Klosterman book, and sometimes makes music. Reach him at branberry100@gmail.com.
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