From The Oregonian . . .

Carter: Duo's performances, albums gained popularity
07/20/02
MARTY HUGHLEY

For the past few years Portland music fans have enjoyed watching the
local duo of Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer rise from small gigs around
town to award-winning performances at prestigious festivals to national
tours and rave reviews.

That ascent was cut short Friday by Carter's sudden death from a heart
attack at a hotel in Massachusetts.
Carter, 49, died at about 9 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time after jogging,
according to his manager, Biff Kennedy. The duo was preparing to perform
today at the Green River Festival in Greenfield, Mass.

Kennedy said no memorial arrangements yet been made as yet. Grammer was
unavailable late Friday for comment.
Kennedy received dozens of phone calls Friday afternoon from all around
the United States, from admirers including Joan Baez, the folk music
legend who invited the duo to tour with her last spring and had added
several of Carter's songs to her repertoire.

In a Boston Globe interview last September, Baez lauded Carter's rare
ability to write songs that can be readily interpreted by other singers.
"It's a kind of genius, you know, and (Bob) Dylan has the biggest case of
it," she said. "But I hear it in Dave's songs, too. There's a very
sophisticated feel to the songs. Dave is masterful with words, and
there's a real spiritual connection in there; nothing direct, it's in the
imagery, and that really rings bells with me."
"He's probably going to end up becoming one of those legendary guys,"
said John Malloy, who had booked several Portland shows by the duo. "He
died at his most prolific period, when he was being discovered by a lot
of people."

Carter was a superb musician, with voice, guitar and banjo, but was most
praised as a songwriter. Staff writer John Foyston wrote in The Oregonian
last year, "Carter skitters across the language like a water bug but can
plunge to depths of the heart and soul without so much as a splash."

Carter and Grammer, who also brought vocals as well as violin to the duo,
recorded their first album, 1998's independently released "When I Go," in
Grammer's kitchen. But their career quickly advanced from such modest
circumstances. They soon won the New Folk category at the Kerrville Folk
Festival, the sort of victory that had helped launch the careers of Lyle
Lovett and Robert Earl Keen, and they went on to top honors at the Napa
Valley Music Festival and the Wildflower Performing Songwriter
Competition. The albums "Tanglewood Tree" in 2000 and last year's "Drum
Hat Buddha" were well-reviewed and earned the duo a strong national
following.

Carter was born Aug. 13, 1952, in Oxnard, Calif., and raised in Oklahoma
and Texas. Though he played and studied music since boyhood, he worked as
a mathematician and computer programmer, and he studied Jungian
psychology until a 1994 epiphany led him to seriously pursue a music
career. He and Grammer began performing together in early 1998.

Survivors include father Robert Carter of Tulsa, Okla., and sister Elise
Fischer of Lawrence, Kan.

Local music promoter Lisa Lepine, who formerly managed the duo, recalled
hearing Carter speak in a songwriting seminar earlier this month at Lewis
& Clark College. He described songwriting as "the tongue of angels" and
said that his work was "to learn the song from God, then write it down so
everyone can hear it."

"It's a huge loss," Lepine said. "Dave had a lot more work to do. But
he's with the angels now, though, speaking in their tongue."

You can reach Marty Hughley at 503-221-8383 or by e-mail at
martyhughley@....