Telling Untold Stories: Grant Glad Speaks the Truth in One Man's Story
Review by: Daemon Maxwell, Writer @dmaxwell_73
Edited by: Andrew Perrizo, Owner/Editor @PlaylistTC
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One Man’s Story is a concept album recently released by Grant Glad & the Soo Line Loons. The album follows the life and experiences of a central character created by Glad as an homage to real men from his own life growing up in Minnesota, with song lyrics that ring true to these men’s lives (and details fictionalized to protect the innocent). Glad began composing One Man’s Story in 2020, taking three years to complete it.
As someone who grew up in rural Minnesota, I can tell you exactly why the album was three years in the making: Because it took three years to get it right. And boy, did Grant Glad get it right. Every story on this album rings “Minnesota-true” to me.
When I heard One Man’s Story I knew I had to write about it, I just had to let people know about this amazing album. I’m not even a country music fan, and that alone is a testament to Grant Glad & the Soo Line Loons: This album made me their fan, and I have a sneaking suspicion they’ve pushed me onto a slippery slope into country music fandom beyond the joy that is Trampled By Turtles. (In fact, this album features Ryan Young of Trampled by Turtles playing violin on “Gunpowder at Dawn.”)
As it turns out, all I needed was to find the good stuff.
I’m not against country music; It just usually doesn’t speak to me. I mean, I grew up in the country. I’ve pitched my share of hay bales. I know you need to wear long sleeves even if it’s hot due to the chaff and the chaffing. But, most country music I heard growing up seemed to be about saving horses and riding cowboys or about Texas being better than other states.
I knew better country music existed, but back then exploring music meant buying album after album in hard copy, not streaming. These days, one has the ability to take a chance on new music with a click or a tap, and so, I think it’s high time ya’ll explored some Grant Glad & the Soo Line Loons.
As stated above, I’m a beginner in country music listening, but One Man’s Story simply must be the good stuff. The whole album is an arresting blend of gorgeous guitar arrangements, perfect complementary instrumentals, and smart yet comfortable lyrics about common life experiences (like teenagers sharing booze “borrowed” from parents), rites of passage (like a first deer hunt), and a few modern touches (like a reference to bringing home a CD by Radiohead).
I don’t remember how I came across this album, but dear reader, you should come across it too. It was the “Soo Line” in the band's name that initially caught my eye. Soo Line trains rolled through my little town in farm-country Minnesota when I was growing up along Highway 12. That detail checked out as Minnesota-authentic, so I had to check out more of the album.
Turns out, Grant Glad placed authenticity at a premium when dealing with his subject matter. He put in the work to get it right. A good example of this is the song “At Ease,” which is a soldier’s story. Though he does not have military experience, Glad recruited military veterans/friends to assist with the composition of the song to ensure he delivered lyrics that speak truth without over-sentimentalizing the tropes commonly found in country music.
“At Ease” begins with the sound of soldiers marching: “left, left, left-right-left” before settling into a strumming cadence on the guitar that matches the rhythm of the troops. Other instruments join, with drums emphasizing the backbeat, and then Grant Glad tells a story that again sounds familiar to me. I have a cousin that parts of this song could almost be about. My favorite lines are the ones most relevant to my cousin’s story:
“Now I look in to their eyes and I curse that damn recruiters name.
He said You won't have to go; they're drawing down troops;
So we'll pay for your school, and then we'll send your ass back home.”
-Grant Glad, lyrics excerpted from “At Ease,” One Man’s Story
At this point in listening to the album, I can already tell that part of the magic of this album is the ease of identifying with the songs, because the songs are true. Glad’s songs are about real people and real stories. That grounding in reality, the recognition of one’s self and one’s friends in the music, leads me while listening to think things like, “I didn’t come from no trustfund neither!” Or “My folks worked hard their whole lives too!” I’m a beginner, but that’s part of what country music is about, right?
A standout song to me is “When It’s Gonna End,” a beautiful duet featuring Laurel Mary. Again, the story sounds like a branch off my country roots: Sitting in a car at night in a country town, teenagers that don’t want to go home, no businesses open except a 24-hour Walgreens. So, what does one do? Sit in the car in the parking lot and drink and talk. Ask each other the hard questions: “If Jesus loves me so damn much, why do I feel so all alone?” In my town, those after-hours conversations for minors took place outside of Wal-Mart or, if you had money to spend, inside a 24-hour Perkins. Details, details; the song’s still the same.
I enjoy the call and response parts of “When It’s Gonna End” in particular:
Grant Glad: “I can’t wait to leave this town.”
Laurel Mary: “People say that all the time and all they ever do is stay.”
Yup, that is how it be in a little town way out in the country. This country music, this is the good stuff.
“Dancing at the VFW” is a beautiful love song, not about young love but about grown, lasting love. The type of love that goes dancing together at the VFW every weekend for thirty years. I’ve met those old couples, regulars at the local VFW. The VFW was a hangout in my small town, and seemingly in every small town in rural Minnesota. If your town didn’t have a VFW, well, the next town over did. Beer is cheap, there’s a jukebox, a couple older guys sitting two stools apart chatting, and, in the evenings, the old folks dance.
Yes, this album is the good stuff. There’s more to this album, lots more, but this review is up against a word limit, so I’ll close like this: My brain tells me that One Man’s Story captures the spirit of old-time country and infuses it with the spirit of modern, smalltown Minnesota. Unfortunately, I cannot say such things, as I simply don’t know enough about old-time country. Yet. I don’t know Yet, but I’ll find out. Grant Glad & the Soo Line Loons made me a fan.
One Man’s Story is available to stream now on Amazon, Apple Music, and Spotify. Follow Grant Glad on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, or learn more about him and the band at grantgladmusic.com.
[1] TBT counts as country, right? Or am I too uninformed, and they’re technically folk or something, and now the country purists hate me? New genres are scary.
(2) Sorry. The fiddle. I’ll get used to that.
(3) Does that still count as modern?
(4) And, at every VFW I’ve been in, it doesn’t matter how you dress: All the other customers are going to be regulars, and they’ll all be on a first name basis not only with the servers but with each other, so you can dress to blend in, but you’re going to stick out.
