Former Sioux Cityan makes music with rising country star
By Joanne Fox Journal staff writer | Posted: Thursday, December 20, 2007
Attention members of the North High School Class of 2003.
If you haven't seen classmate Grant Mickelson for awhile, you can catch him New Year's Eve on television, performing with one of the hottest young singers in country music.
All that strummin' that Mickelson did from freshman year on has paid off. He plays guitar for teen country star Taylor Swift, who recently won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award.
But it didn't come without paying some dues first, said Mickelson in a phone conversation from Nashville.
"I started playing the guitar when I was a freshman in high school, auditioned for jazz band and played all four years," he said. Then, confessed, "I played trumpet or tried to play it for a year in middle school. I sucked bad at it."
But Mickelson, 23, found an old acoustic guitar owned by his great-grandfather and started lessons.
"I liked the guitar a lot," he gushed. "It wasn't like the trumpet. With the guitar you could play any style of music and it offers you the ability to write songs."
Following his graduation, the Sioux City native went to the University of Northern Texas and Belmont University, Nashville to look at getting into the music business. The decision even went over with parents, Gary and Deb Mickelson, who son Grant said were "very supportive."
"I was in a rock band in high school called High Octane and my family would come to see me in a bunch of crazy places, like the Fourth Street Brewery and Rhonda's and Slick's Place," he said. "Later band members changed and I played with Grant's Revenge, which included some members of the Board of Directors. That was cool because the guys were older and talented and I thought it was neat they were willing to play with kids."
Admitting that he had "never been a huge fan of studies," Mickelson left Texas after one year and went to Belmont, where he learned some life experiences from the musical talent in the community.
"The music business is a lot of trial and error," he confided. "I learned it's not so much what you know, but who you know.
"Not that you don't need talent," he qualified. "You still have to do a good job with your music, but a lot of it is being in the right place at the right time. I'd even say 90 percent of your success has to do with who you hang out with."
To pay for room and board and other incidentals, Mickelson worked in the retail industry and jammed with other artists. That's when the brother of country music singer Sara Evans approached him two years ago.
"He was the band leader and he came to my house and said, 'Sara wants to meet you and have you audition for her band at her house.'," Mickelson said. "I go there and I'm thinking, 'I'm in Sara Evans' house!' But I played for her and she hired me for her tour."
Fame was brief, however, and when the tour was over, so was the first gig for Mickelson.
"A lot of times when a tour ends, the performers will change up bands," he explained. "The same thing had happened when I was hired. It was a whole new band from the previous one."
There were no hard feelings, Mickelson insisted.
"You never know when you might work with people again," he said. "You can't hold a grudge. It's business."
After what he termed "an unbelievable experience" with Evans, Mickelson went on to play with Carolyn Dawn Johnson, a Canadian Juno award-winning country music singer/songwriter. Then Mickelson got the call to audition for Taylor Swift in January.
"I auditioned with a bunch of others and within 24 hours, I somehow got the gig," he said with a hint of disbelief in his voice. "I consider myself very lucky. I can't even describe the feeling. There were so many talented people who auditioned."
The tour has been like a dream-come-true for Mickelson.
"Taylor treats us all really well, like we're her best friends," he said. "In fact, we were invited to her whole family's Christmas party."
But are there any romantic undercurrents between the 23-year-old Mickelson and the blue-eyed, blond hair, statuesque Swift who just turned 18 on Dec. 13?
"I've got a girlfriend already," he said, setting the record straight. "I'm more like Taylor's big brother. I remember once I said to her 'You're the boss,' and she said, 'Don't ever call me the boss.' She says music is her boyfriend."
Swift, a Platinum-selling, singer-songwriter had her first hit at 16 with "Tim McGraw," for which she won CMT's "Breakthrough Video of the Year" award. Since then, she has risen to fame, with an especially large Internet following. Swift is one of the first country music artists to use the Internet as a primary source of communication, such as her MySpace, which has over 26,000,000 music plays.
"I think she's successful because she speaks to that audience, high school in particular," Mickelson said."She writes songs about the experience of high school and that's what catches their ears."
But what happened to Mickelson's jazz roots in Sioux City?
"Oh, I've always been a rock 'n' roller and country music is more on the rock side of things," he said. "I use jazz to keep up my ability to play. But my senior year, I saw Keith Urban in concert and I was blown away. That's why I moved to Nashville. I wanted to do that."
Although the family has been gone from Siouxland for awhile (Grant has a two sisters), there's still a lot of friends that Mickelson stays in contact with, not to mention two sets of grandparents, Ruth and Roger Mickelson and Ken and Dee Ver Steeg. Many of them surfaced for Swift's Nov. 15 concert in Omaha's QWest Center.
"I tried to set up something with bus driver to drive up to Sioux City," Mickelson admitted. "But we had a show the next night in Illinois, so that didn't work."
Next year, Swift will tour with Rascal Flatts and Mickelson hopes to be a part of the entourage. But it's been a great run, for the guitarist, playing with Swift on Jay Leno and Regis and Kelly. You can see him Dec. 31 when Swift performs on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC.
"Sure I'd like to finish college, but I know this is where I need to be," Mickelson said. "Whatever I do with the rest of my life, it will involve music."
If you haven't seen classmate Grant Mickelson for awhile, you can catch him New Year's Eve on television, performing with one of the hottest young singers in country music.
All that strummin' that Mickelson did from freshman year on has paid off. He plays guitar for teen country star Taylor Swift, who recently won the 2007 CMA Horizon Award.
But it didn't come without paying some dues first, said Mickelson in a phone conversation from Nashville.
"I started playing the guitar when I was a freshman in high school, auditioned for jazz band and played all four years," he said. Then, confessed, "I played trumpet or tried to play it for a year in middle school. I sucked bad at it."
But Mickelson, 23, found an old acoustic guitar owned by his great-grandfather and started lessons.
"I liked the guitar a lot," he gushed. "It wasn't like the trumpet. With the guitar you could play any style of music and it offers you the ability to write songs."
Following his graduation, the Sioux City native went to the University of Northern Texas and Belmont University, Nashville to look at getting into the music business. The decision even went over with parents, Gary and Deb Mickelson, who son Grant said were "very supportive."
"I was in a rock band in high school called High Octane and my family would come to see me in a bunch of crazy places, like the Fourth Street Brewery and Rhonda's and Slick's Place," he said. "Later band members changed and I played with Grant's Revenge, which included some members of the Board of Directors. That was cool because the guys were older and talented and I thought it was neat they were willing to play with kids."
Admitting that he had "never been a huge fan of studies," Mickelson left Texas after one year and went to Belmont, where he learned some life experiences from the musical talent in the community.
"The music business is a lot of trial and error," he confided. "I learned it's not so much what you know, but who you know.
"Not that you don't need talent," he qualified. "You still have to do a good job with your music, but a lot of it is being in the right place at the right time. I'd even say 90 percent of your success has to do with who you hang out with."
To pay for room and board and other incidentals, Mickelson worked in the retail industry and jammed with other artists. That's when the brother of country music singer Sara Evans approached him two years ago.
"He was the band leader and he came to my house and said, 'Sara wants to meet you and have you audition for her band at her house.'," Mickelson said. "I go there and I'm thinking, 'I'm in Sara Evans' house!' But I played for her and she hired me for her tour."
Fame was brief, however, and when the tour was over, so was the first gig for Mickelson.
"A lot of times when a tour ends, the performers will change up bands," he explained. "The same thing had happened when I was hired. It was a whole new band from the previous one."
There were no hard feelings, Mickelson insisted.
"You never know when you might work with people again," he said. "You can't hold a grudge. It's business."
After what he termed "an unbelievable experience" with Evans, Mickelson went on to play with Carolyn Dawn Johnson, a Canadian Juno award-winning country music singer/songwriter. Then Mickelson got the call to audition for Taylor Swift in January.
"I auditioned with a bunch of others and within 24 hours, I somehow got the gig," he said with a hint of disbelief in his voice. "I consider myself very lucky. I can't even describe the feeling. There were so many talented people who auditioned."
The tour has been like a dream-come-true for Mickelson.
"Taylor treats us all really well, like we're her best friends," he said. "In fact, we were invited to her whole family's Christmas party."
But are there any romantic undercurrents between the 23-year-old Mickelson and the blue-eyed, blond hair, statuesque Swift who just turned 18 on Dec. 13?
"I've got a girlfriend already," he said, setting the record straight. "I'm more like Taylor's big brother. I remember once I said to her 'You're the boss,' and she said, 'Don't ever call me the boss.' She says music is her boyfriend."
Swift, a Platinum-selling, singer-songwriter had her first hit at 16 with "Tim McGraw," for which she won CMT's "Breakthrough Video of the Year" award. Since then, she has risen to fame, with an especially large Internet following. Swift is one of the first country music artists to use the Internet as a primary source of communication, such as her MySpace, which has over 26,000,000 music plays.
"I think she's successful because she speaks to that audience, high school in particular," Mickelson said."She writes songs about the experience of high school and that's what catches their ears."
But what happened to Mickelson's jazz roots in Sioux City?
"Oh, I've always been a rock 'n' roller and country music is more on the rock side of things," he said. "I use jazz to keep up my ability to play. But my senior year, I saw Keith Urban in concert and I was blown away. That's why I moved to Nashville. I wanted to do that."
Although the family has been gone from Siouxland for awhile (Grant has a two sisters), there's still a lot of friends that Mickelson stays in contact with, not to mention two sets of grandparents, Ruth and Roger Mickelson and Ken and Dee Ver Steeg. Many of them surfaced for Swift's Nov. 15 concert in Omaha's QWest Center.
"I tried to set up something with bus driver to drive up to Sioux City," Mickelson admitted. "But we had a show the next night in Illinois, so that didn't work."
Next year, Swift will tour with Rascal Flatts and Mickelson hopes to be a part of the entourage. But it's been a great run, for the guitarist, playing with Swift on Jay Leno and Regis and Kelly. You can see him Dec. 31 when Swift performs on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC.
"Sure I'd like to finish college, but I know this is where I need to be," Mickelson said. "Whatever I do with the rest of my life, it will involve music."
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Megan Macher wrote on Feb 4, 2008 5:29 PM:
PS: I'm only 12. So don't think what I think you're thinking!!! Tsk Tsk!!! "
W wrote on Dec 26, 2007 10:03 PM:
Friend wrote on Dec 25, 2007 10:14 PM:
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