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Charley Groth is an award-winning songwriter whose work is performed and recorded internationally. He has felt the writer's urge since childhood. At age five he wrote his first song, and not long after that a little piano instrumental. He's kept on learning and writing ever since. He often includes his own compositions in performances. Charley writes many kinds of music. He is particularly known for his "story" songs, filled with fascinating characters, well-crafted plots, and lessons in life--modern tales in the grand tradition of the troubadours of old. His instrumentals, from ragtime pieces written for piano to mandolin numbers to fingerstyle and flatpicked guitar compositions, in styles from jazz to blues to bluegrass, are also highly respected and frequently performed and recorded.
Charley Groth is, in my opinion, one of the all-time best songwriters, a rare combination of a fine tunesmith and a gifted poet. Touching and real, humorous and philosophical - his compositions are varied and exciting. I perform and record his songs. Lynn Wadley, entertainer and recording artist, writer of The Shoe, Ordinary Days, and many others.

"I write all kinds of music," says Charley. "I've done some jazz pieces and some pop things and some in the classical styles, as well as, of course, many pieces with the folk and country flavor. I grew up with those kinds music in my ears."

I consider you one of the finest musical talents... You have a unique ability to reach inside yourself and bare your very heart and soul with the songs you write... Your instrumentals project what you are feeling. Very few writers have that ability. Frank Thomas, in a letter to Charley after one of his appearances on Frank's radio show.

High praise indeed from a songwriter as skilled and respected as Frank Thomas.

"I'm the storytelling kind of songwriter," Charley continues, "and I'm not one to write for 'personal catharsis'. My songs tell my tales, illuminate what I have to say about life and living. I want to draw the listener into my stories--make them feel they've had real-life encounters with the street musician Harmonica Joe or the guitar-picking old grandpa in Grandpa Flatpicked, the loving couple in I Would Do It All Again, or the hoboes getting through the winter night in From Dusk To Dawn."

Charley’s songs tell stories, convey feelings and moods, evoke emotions, and “make your tummy tickle.” Prue Osborn, journalist, Colorado, also in a newspaper article about Charley.

As important as his songs to Charley are his instrumental compositions. He writes jazz and swing instrumentals (Night Flight, All American Ride), intricate tunes meant for "hot" guitar flaticking, mandolin, or fiddle (Wahoo, Green Apple Rag), richly chorded waltzes (Golden Anniversary Waltz, Friendship Waltz, the internationally very popular Lois Waltz), and impressionistic jazz-tinged pieces for open-tuning guitar (Black Range Tales) or keyboards. He loves to write ragtime music. Left, he is shown at the keyboard, concentrating during the first public performance of his ragtime instrumental The Tickler, at Magnolia Music Park in Florida.

"Music is a portrayal of emotion, with or without words," says Charley, "and I do like to write instrumentals as well as songs. Sometimes instrumental music speaks clearly as any song lyric. There will always be room for a good fingerpicked guitar instrumental,or a hot flatpicking tune. Those are fun to write."

I love I Would Do It All Again, and I'm doing it for my audiences. Madeline MacNeal, entertainer and recording artist, Virginia.

"Why do I write? Well," says Charley, "because it is a very effective way to share what is in my heart and mind--and just because I love to write! I've always loved to create something new where there was nothing before. That's a great, great feeling."
Melodious music with strong lyrics that make sense and tell a story! Jeanine Kendle, journalist, Ohio, in a newspaper article about Charley.
In this picture Charley is seen doing something he likes to do more than just about anything else--jamming with friends. He's playing one of his fingerstyle guitar instrumentals, Rattlesnake Road Rag (Frank's Rag) for old friend Frank Thomas (far right), southern music patriarch of Florida Story fame, on Frank's porch on Rattlesnake Road near Lake Wales, Florida. Other friends and musicians look on. Charley wrote the tune for Frank's radio show.
Your tape was good, and I really enjoyed your songs. Janette Carter, The Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, Virginia.

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