Hat hung low, hands wrapped around a well-worn acoustic guitar, Griffin William Sherry shares
stories equally worthy of a dusty old novel, campfire congregation, or outdoor summer festival.
For as much as the Maine singer, songwriter, and guitarist wrestles with big questions about life
and love in his songs, he also celebrates the magic of spending his days living in a small town.
His powerhouse vocal delivery, no-frills instrumentation, unabashed honesty, and eloquent
songcraft might just make you appreciate the moment a little bit more.
After twelve years fronting The Ghost of Paul Revere, he offers up his story as a solo artist for
the first time on his 2024 full-length debut album, Hundred Mile Wilderness, and much more to
come.
“I’ve always found a lot of joy and pride in songwriting. I love writing earnest and witty lyrics, and
songs that can tell a story,” he says. “I think fans of the Ghost (of Paul Revere) will find a
familiar voice in this new record, but also a new direction. The songs on Hundred Mile
Wilderness are built on that simple foundation of me and my guitar, singing at the top of my
lungs with all my heart. That’s what I’ve been doing since day one. I feel like I’ve been given a
great opportunity to continue making music and, for what feels like the first time, telling my story
with my own voice.”
This level of integrity has thoroughly defined his artistry. He reached impressive heights at the
helm of The Ghost of Paul Revere, sharing stages with everyone from The Avett Brothers, The
Revivalists, and Old Crow Medicine Show to The Infamous Stringdusters and Trampled By
Turtles . A slew of acclaimed releases also incited the applause of Billboard, Boston Globe, The
Boot, and more. In 2014, the band even launched their own successful festival, Ghostland,
headlining and hosting eight iterations to date. The festival regularly drew thousands of fans
from across the country to their hometown of Portland, Maine and served as their final show in
2022. In 2019, Griffin’s song “The Ballad of the 20th Maine” became the officialMaine State
Ballad, after being unanimously passed by the House and Senate before being signed into law
by Governor Janet Mills The song tells the story of the 20th Maine Regiment’s key role in victory
at The Battle of Gettysburg, forever changing the course of U.S. history.
When The Ghost of Paul Revere amicably parted ways in 2022, Griffin continued on his own.
Armed with tunes of his own, he retreated to Nashville, TN and recorded Hundred Mile
Wilderness with producer Eddie Spear.
The title nodded to both his home state and the genesis of this next creative chapter.
“The ‘Hundred Mile Wilderness’ ,” he notes. “Is an untouched stretch-of-wilderness at the
northernmost end of the Appalachian Trail. To me, the journey to make this record paralleled
exploring deep in the Maine woods . You know deep down there's going to be an end to it, but
you don't know when you’ll reach it or what you're going to experience along the way.”
He initially teased this era with the harmonica-buzzed and choir-backed “Reflections.”
Regarding the song, he reveals “‘Reflections’ is a song about confronting big changes in your
life and having to stare down the idea of who you were in order to discover who you want to
be. ’ A couple days after the band decided to call it, I felt rudderless, looking for a clearer
picture of who was on my own for the first time in a long while. One morning, I started humming
what would become the melody to the chorus and before I knew it, I had written the whole
song.”
On “Roll Down Slow,” wildly unrestrained fiddle wails over gently strummed chords. Written after
a particularly harrowing night, Griffin says the song came after a bit of a wake up call. “It’s about
looking yourself in the mirror and coming to terms with whatever choices you’ve made”. With
clarity and catharsis, his vocals boom, “I’m in love with the pain of moving at the speed of
sound”
Then, there’s “Juliet.”
“It’s a love song I’d been working on for a few years,” he notes. “I enjoy writing ‘sad love songs’.
They seem to live in a deeper well than stories of found love and happily ever-afters”.
Soundtracked by worn hands meandering across a fretboard, it’s more a song of loss than love.
One where Romeo never found Juliet, but couldn’t stop his search. His lamentations cut deep
as he exhales, “When I opened up my eyes, she wasn’t mine. My Juliet seems to be the only
thing I’ll never find all of my days”
Brash, heavy-handed piano set “Our Town” in motion, and his voice simmers over the swaying
and swaggering rhythm. “Some say that the sun’s gone down in our town. But baby come on,
we know better than that”.
“I wanted to write a song that captured the feeling of where I’m from and also comments on the
rough shape it’s in,” he says. “Two vignettes of people who live in a small town. They're sad and
a little desperate, but I’m not sure they know it. Rural towns have their own specific problems
and maybe none of us are exactly where we thought we’d be, but we still show our pride to our
neighbors. That’s a very Maine and New England sentiment. That feeling is the essence in Our
Town.”
“I’m ready for a new chapter,” he says. “I don’t have a choice but to keep going; I have to make
and play music. I had to make this record, which ultimately is both deeply personal and reflects
where I call home, with all its failings and all its charm. I hope I’m always curious, just as I hope
I’m always proud of where I’ve been and where I can go. And I hope that I never lose that drive
to tell stories I can find myself in”.