He’s Just Grand

Interview by Gregg Shapiro

Steve Grand fans, and there are a lot of you, your patience has been rewarded: Steve’s full-length debut album, the aptly-named All American Boy is being released next month. It might seem like it’s been a long wait, but remember, Steve first crossed our collective consciousness in 2013 — less than two years ago. I had the pleasure of speaking with him in January.

I first interviewed you in the summer of 2013, shortly after the video for your song, All American Boy, made you a YouTube sensation. What does that song mean to you?’

I wrote it a year before I released it, in the summer of 2012. It was an important song to me because I felt like it was the song I’d been trying to write the longest and I hadn’t been able to. I was trying to write a song that captured that feeling of longing and unrequited love that I was all too familiar with as a young gay person growing up in a rather conservative and sheltered town. It’s taken on a whole new meaning and specialness for me because of what it’s meant to my fans—it’s hit a lot of them in a deep and moving way, and we really connect over that song.

You make reference to Springsteen in the song Whiskey Crime. Where does Bruce fall in your musical influences?


I go through different phases. When I was writing that song, he was probably my number one. Even if artists have been out there for a while, I’m [not] always completely aware of them or that I understand them. I guess as you grow up and mature and find yourself thinking differently in life, certain things speak to you more. When I was writing Whiskey Crime, I was very much affected by Bruce Springsteen and his sound and what I saw him to represent.

You often make reference to a variety of adult beverages. What’s your poison?


I just really like whiskey! [Laughs] I find myself being a little more particular, but I’m not a snob about it. I like the taste. It’s like a nostalgic feeling for me. It’s what I used to drink with my friends when I was younger. I associate that taste and smell with all the things I did when I was growing up and finding my way in my very early 20s.

So, if a liquor company approached you about using that song in an ad, is that something you would be open to?


Yes, I would consider it. I haven’t thought about it, but I’d be open to it, sure.

Because you have such a strong history with music videos, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask if there are music videos forthcoming for any of the songs on the new album?

Yes, there definitely are. I’m actually working on a music video for Time. My fans have been so patient with waiting on the record and [the song] seems to have struck a chord with them, so I wanted to do something for it.

I recently interviewed Ty Herndon and Billy Gilman around the time of their decisions to come out as gay. Do you have any thoughts about Herndon and Gilman and what they did?

Yeah, I think it’s great! I’m so happy for them. I personally know how it feels to finally make yourself free of worrying what the world is going think about who you really are. I can’t imagine going through life as long as they did and keeping that a secret. It makes me so happy and I really applaud them both. It makes me happy to see more and more people coming out in all industries. Even in the music industry, we’ve always looked at country as being conservative and a hard place to come out. It shows that we really are making progress. I can imagine they’re having an effect on many lives, especially many young lives. I only think it’s a good thing. I’m very happy for them.

There’s been a fuss made over the recent Justin Bieber/Calvin Klein underwear ad. If you were approached by Calvin Klein or another underwear manufacturer to model their products, would you do it at this stage in your career?

I would consider it. [Laughs] It’s not something I would totally discount. I think it’s cool.