People respond to that as a little bit of an antidote to our busy lives," he says. "It's a good time to have music that really just connects, in a really real way. In the meantime, he's coming back home to Australia for a nationwide trek around smallish venues and says he's back on a more "organic", back-to-basics way which counters modern life's technology/social media overload. He plans to go back touring next year, and is "cautiously optimistic" about what lies ahead over there. Grunwald's own foot-stomping one-man-band brand could be making further inroads into the US, on the back of his signing with the Agency Group, one of the world's biggest booking agents. "you have that really special feeling, the moment that you go on that stage and play one note, you've joined in the conversation with Hendrix," he says. "To me, that's what a big part of playing in the States is," he says. One of the highlights, he says, was playing the Fillmore, not only because he had daughter Sunny in tow, but also for its long history as a pillar of the American live music scene, hosting names from the Velvet Underground to Jimi Hendrix, Santana and more. "You almost think 'oh why, would they even care about an Aussie playing blues music', you know, what would even be the attraction?" "It was just great that people were really into my style of music and could hear the blues influences coming through, and appreciated that as a nod to their culture. On top of that, Grunwald, 38, who lives in Byron, has been surprised about how his blues core connected so well with US audiences. "So it was really good to play in really nice venues with a good crowd." "He does pretty well over there," says Grunwald. His recent stint of a couple of months this year was mainly due to supporting fellow Aussie blue-roots master Xavier Rudd. Surprisingly, for his track record as a ubiquitous feature of the festival circuit across Australia and Europe, Grunwald has made very little touring thrusts into North America. Family man: Ash Grunwald takes his family with him when he travels.
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