Easy listening

Music is a living art form, according to mandolinist David "Dawg" Grisman.

"It's not like a painting," Grisman said. "Once a painting is done, it's done. The artist doesn't go back to it.

"Music, on the other hand, is revisited over and over again — each time the musician plays it live."

Although Grisman thinks of his music as a continuing entity, he doesn't have the same philosophy about his albums. "I don't listen to any of my older albums unless I have to," he said with a laugh. "An album is basically a snapshot of where the band is at a certain point in time. Usually, once I'm finished with an album, I'm sick of the songs.

"The music is different when it's played live. It has to be different than on the record to keep it fresh."

Last month, the David Grisman Quintet — which includes bassist Jim Kerwin, violinist Joe Craven, guitarist Enrique Coria and flutist Matt Eakle — released "Dawgnation," Grisman's 50th album.

"It was time to release a new album," Grisman said during a telephone interview from his home in Marin County, Calif., where he was nursing a cold. "This version of the band has been together longer than any of the groups I've been in during my whole career. And I needed a way to exploit that."

Grisman says he doesn't like to compare his new albums to the old ones. "It's like looking into a mirror and comparing yourself to your younger self. It's a waste of time. I let other people compare my albums. I don't make them for me. I make them for people who want to listen to them and take them home."

Through the years, Grisman, who has played with violinist Stephane Grappelli, Judy Collins, violinist Darol Anger and the late Jerry Garcia (who nicknamed him Grisman "Dawg") has helped bring acoustic music to the forefront of the bluegrass and jazz scenes. DGQ has been together in one form or another since 1976.

"I'm not a musical pioneer," he said. "But there are those who say I opened a lot of doors for this kind of music in the last 25 years. I don't think of myself as a pioneer. Today, I'm just a guy with a cold. But I'm happy to be a link in the (acoustic-music) chain."

Grisman didn't start off as a violinist or a mandolinist; he took piano lessons at age 7. Then fate stepped in. "I was in junior high school when a man named Ralph Rinzler came to my school in 1960 and played his mandolin. I was hooked from then on."