Tracy Grammer

by Nicole Pensiero

Singer/violinist/mandolin player Tracy Grammer knows there's a touch of tragedy that shadows her musical career and won't be easily shaken off. Two years ago, her musical and romantic partner, Dave Carter, died in her arms after suffering a massive heart attack at age 49.

His death came just as the critically acclaimed duo was poised on the brink of a breakthrough. Their first CD, 1998's eerily titled When I Go had been remastered and reissued just weeks before his passing.

She returned to the stage only a week after Carter's death, beginning the process of "walking my audiences through the grief door and taking them out the other side," as she puts it. "Being onstage alone, I introduced the reality of Dave's absence," Grammer says by phone. "It was incredibly hard for me and them. It was very much about getting through that door together." These days, though, things are different: The 36-year-old Grammer has steadily built her own solo following. She can "go to shows now and not recognize everyone in the audience. And there are people who sometimes ask who Dave was." Grammer—whose strong, pure voice has easily transitioned from backing vocals to center stage—is working on a CD of previously unrecorded Carter songs, but is "no longer attached to preserving that particular "Dave and Tracy' sound," she says. "I could have seen Dave's death as the end of my own life, but I'm on a long path … and he was a significant life-altering, and life-affirming, part of that path."

Being Carter's partner through six years and three albums has given the Oregon resident a penchant for musical collaboration, and she's linked up with guitarist/dobro player Jim Henry for her just-released EP, The Verdant Mile, and current tour. "Dave used to say that he wanted me to sing all the songs so he could just live in a trailer and write. I like to think he's off now in some heavenly trailer, watching and smiling."

Fri., Dec. 3, 7 and 10 p.m., $17, with Pat Wictor, The Point, 880 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr, 866-468-7619.