It’s about the music

WASILLA — Grover Neely is a rocker with a vagabond spirit.

An eclectic mix of head-banging rock, ballads and a little blues is coaxed out of Neely’s acoustic six-string, a sound that’s been pushed from area stages for more than two decades. His theme of high-altitude music is illustrated in his many posters and covers, all featuring Neely with a classic aircraft.

“It’s just fun,” Neely said of the aviation images, which came about when he was searching for a visual hook for his CD, “Spiritual Plane.”

“They’re big-boy toys, and this is an aviation state,” he said. “Believe it or not, I don’t even like to fly.”

Neely recently finished his 24th year performing at the Alaska State Fair, a far cry from his beginnings in Buffalo, N.Y. He began “fooling around” with the guitar as a teenager, and said his free spirit and love of rock has never faded.

“I worked hard at it. I have an easy criteria for success,” he said. “I’ve always considered that if you gathered one person who enjoyed (the music) at each performance, after a couple hundred thousand shows you’d be a big hit.”

His acoustic rock hook appealed to Country Time Lemonade, which sponsored him in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but money isn’t how Neely measures his success in the local music scene.

“I don’t want it to be related to money,” he said. “I guess you could call me a true independent artist.”

That independence began as a youth in Buffalo.

“Strangely enough, I had $140 left to my name, and I blew it on a guitar,” Neely said. “I love music. I graduated (high school) in 1973 and was in the age of Crosby, Stills and Nash, The Rolling Stones. I’ve seen all the great rock performers.”

Although inspired by the pioneers of modern rock, Neely has a sound and soul all his own, said Josh Fryfogle, a Valley musician who runs the Make-A-Scene! performance venue.

“He was born to be a performer,” Fryfogle said of Neely. “He’s not kidding when he says he’s more concerned with the vibe of the room and the audience than with the money. His focus is on the true art and the expression of what he’s feeling.”

Neely plays acoustic guitar, but has a special talent for the harmonica, Fryfogle said.

“He’s just great,” he said. “He includes a lot of harmonica play, and if I had to categorize him, I’d call it progressive acoustic rock. He’s the real deal. He embodies the whole rebellious Alaska musician. He’s a very unique personality.”

It’s the rebel in Neely that led him to the Last Frontier and to choose acoustic guitar as his prime instrument.

“For one thing, you can rock away the day on an acoustic guitar as well as an electric,” he said. “But I was into backpacking, climbing and camping, and I’d like to take that guitar with me and just play.”

Neely is hesitant to give his true age, simply saying he’s “older than dirt. God put dirt on Earth, then three days later I showed up.”

One of Neely’s most memorable musical experiences came when he opened for The Little River Band and the old performing arts center in Anchorage. He helped build the center as a construction worker, and recalls telling his co-workers he would return one day to perform there.

Standing 6-foot-5, Neely’s “the biggest thing on the music scene,” Fryfogle said, but “his lyrics are incredibly spiritual without being overly religious.”

As a local favorite, Grover Neely said he’s as passionate about his original rock as ever.

“I play by the seat of my pants,” he said. “If you’re playing music for money, good luck, but I think you’re in the wrong game.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.