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Day three of Common Ground Music Festival features Gunnar & the Grizzly Boys, country fare

July 12, 2014

The country theme of Common Ground Music Festival brought the appearance of boots and hats.

Photo by Katie Krall | The State News

“We are Gunnar and the Grizzly Boys and if you’re wondering what we do — we play country music with a Michigan root.”

Gunnar Nyblad, lead singer and front man of Gunnar & the Grizzly Boys closed their set Thursday evening with a line that pulled cheers and applause from the crowd. 

Day three at Common Ground was full of artists from different parts of the country, but this band used to call MSU home.

“It feels full circle,” Nyblad said. “Two years ago we were here playing Common Ground in Lansing and that was a lot of fun. It was like, a big step for us to be on that stage where we were.”

Nyblad said performing at Common Ground again was awesome because people have come to know their music a little more.

Four of the five band members graduated from MSU. Nyblad said the university brought them together with a common interest and a passion for music. 

“We met at Michigan State and I don’t think we could have met any other way,” he said.

The band recalled practicing together during senior year in guitar player Shane Grehan’s attic. They unanimously agreed the number one hang-out when they attended school was Rick’s American Cafe. The group played shows at Rick’s, the Peanut Barrel and Harper’s.

Nyblad said MSU did more than bring them together.

“It taught us how to not fall down after a hard night of drinking,” he said.

Playing in Michigan as opposed to other states can be nerve-wracking, Nyblad said. There’s pressure to put on a great show and to give as much as possible because crowds have come to know the band.

“It’s home. Literally we have played all over Michigan for...long enough now that anywhere we go there are people who have seen us multiple, multiple times,” Nyblad said.

While Nyblad and Grehan both said it was the band members’ looks that made them successful, bass player Rob Mason said it’s because Gunnar & the Grizzly Boys are cohesive.

“We’re five really, really good friends. We’ve been doing this for five years and we’re the best of friends. When we get together as a band and we play one note all together, it’s like we all come together and we just rock out. Our stage presence — it just comes through. Our passion for music comes through,” Mason said.

The band is excited for their very first single debuted on a compilation album and have been on Sirius XM radio. Because of the attention from both, guitar player Chris Newberg said people are downloading their songs.

“We can tour our brains out and we can play all the shows in the world. But to get that radio play, to get on a CD that is distributed throughout the nation is the most exciting thing,” Nyblad said.

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