Our Wild America

Songs about characters deep in madness and love. Stories about people to spark conversation, sung by a singer with a guitar, a harmonica, & some other lovely things, too.

Our Wild America is the music I make.

Sometimes it’s music I make alone, or with a friend or two, or with a rock and roll band that haunted the clubs of NYC’s Lower East Side in the 20-teen’s. My name is Alec Gross.

I grew up listening to my parents play rock n’ roll and Motown and Stax records in the house but I got Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’” on CD when I was 13 and my brain changed. I wasn’t a kid anymore. I was still young but my brain entered adulthood. It was exhilarating to find something that could mean that much to me.

I was in NYC, playing clubs on the Lower East Side (Rockwood Music Hall, The Living Room), and in Williamsburg, (Pete’s Candy Store, Spike Hill, The Knitting Factory). Caffe Vivaldi in The Village became like home (cosmic vibes to Ishrat).

I played with great musicians and cut an EP called Rose Tattoo and then an LP called Strip The Lanterns, both under my name, Alec Gross. Strip The Lanterns was released with a concert on the rooftop of Flux Studio on 2nd and A. Great night of music. They were both good records.

I got tired of calling the band and my music by my name. There are so many things one can call oneself and one’s work, why not reach for something? I remembered Marty Stouffer telling me to enjoy Our Wild America every Sunday evening of my childhood and I felt like he was really on to something.

Our Wild America was rehearsing for a show at one of the midtown rehearsal studios, playing through “If You Don’t Mind (Baby Go Ahead)” and the band sounded so damn good. I thought to myself that this was perfect, there wasn’t anything I would add to the sound.

Having been caught-up in the tape machine craze of the Handsome Ladies Records Club I figured we should cut some new songs live to tape in a proper studio. We recorded the debut album at The Clubhouse and Applehead Recordings in upstate NY a few months later. Just like that.

We had three precious, very expensive reels of 2 inch tape to record with and three days with which to record. When we got to the studio we saw that one of the rooms was literally lined with reels of the stuff ($300 a pop). The National was coming in following our three day session for something like 6 weeks to record. Good for The National.

Since then, it’s been about adapting to the culture of singles and livestreaming and embracing all levels of production. We’ve been recording with strings, different musicians, classical guitars and the like. And I moved to LA with my family. My wife is music photographer, Anna Azarov, (most of the photos on this site are courtesy of her eye), and LA makes even more sense for her than it does for me. Look for a new song to be released each month this year. Follow on Spotify. And remember the words of the great Marty Stouffer: Enjoy Our Wild America.