Day 2: Eddie Groves

The Ledger Independent is publishing a 50/50 series featuring 50 things over 50 weeks. During this series, our readers can expect to see different “Local Talents/Artisans” each week.

Some of the “Local Talents/Artisans” that may be featured will include, artists, authors, songwriters and more. The general definition of “artisan” refers to a worker in a skilled trade, according to the Oxford Dictionary.

Please enjoy Day 2 of the series.

Eddie Lee Groves is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer from Bracken County.

Groves was born at the old jailhouse in Augusta where his grandfather worked as the jailer and lived with his mother and father, he said.

He lived in Lexington but has been a resident of Bracken County for most of his life and resides now outside of Augusta.

According to Groves, he has been a record producer for his projects and other artists’ along with performing as a session musician on projects for artists.

He plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, harmonica, ukulele, mandolin, fiddle, lap steel, pedal steel, percussion, resonator guitar and kazoo.

Groves recalled that he was never interested in the kind of music that was in the high school band but was asked several times to join.

“I have been very fortunate to have had my music take me around the world. My former band, Inside Out, toured extensively through the 1990s as a band for the United States Department of Defense,” Groves explained.

The band performed for military troops that were stationed overseas in countries including, Saudi Arabia, Korea, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Greenland, Bahrain, Guam, Kuwait and more according to Groves.

“It was a great way to see the world and to support our amazing military troops. It is probably the most proudest moment of my music career,” Groves said.

He is nominated for “Musician of the Year for Guitar” at the 2024 Josie Music Award for independent artists.

“The nomination came from a project I recorded of guitar instrumentals called “Country Picken,” that was released to all the streaming platforms in late 2023,” Groves said.

The awards show will be on Oct. 27 at the Grand Ole Opry House located in Nashville, Tenn.

He said he would love to win the award but is honored to be nominated.

Groves recalled he has always had an interest in music and, when he was a kid, he had small toy guitars.

“It was not until I was nine or 10 years old that my grandfather returned from Mount Sterling Court Days with an old beat-up acoustic guitar that he gave me,” Groves reminisced. “I ordered an instruction book with chords in it, and after a family friend showed me how to tune the guitar, I took the book and started teaching myself to play.”

He said his guitar was his best friend. He would listen to and try to play songs from artists such as Buck Owens and his Buckaroos, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash for hours.

When he was 18, Graves began playing in public with bands has continued since.

Groves noted that music was born into his soul.

“I had a great uncle, Les Groves, my grandfather’s brother, who other than myself, was the only person I knew of out of my family who played music,” he recalled.

He had never heard his uncle play music and had only met him a couple of times but was told that he played both the fiddle and guitar at barn dances in Mason and Lewis counties.

“So perhaps, in some kind of way, I inherited my talents from him somehow. But as far as interests in music, I think I came out of the womb loving the tunes,” Groves said.

When he was a young boy he would go to downtown Maysville where a blind man would busk on the street corner.

“I know it fascinated me how he could play without seeing his guitar. I would stand there several minutes just listening to him play. I could’ve stood there for hours,” Groves recalled.

Groves said music has a way of generating emotions. He has songs that are funny and some that can “make the hardest person cry.”

When his mother passed away, he wrote and recorded a song called My Mother Went to Heaven.

He discussed how much affects him more.

“I also many times have hit the stage for a live performance not feeling nearly 100 percent, but as some as that first note hits, I start to come out of it and perk up. There is healing properties in music,” Groves said.

The best way for someone to learn more about his talent is to come to see him perform live, according to Groves.

He posts his upcoming performance dates on his Facebook page, Eddie Lee Groves Music.

He performs with several bands including The Corenr Boys and The Partytones that are in the area as well as solo shows.

Videos of performances are posted on his YouTube channel (EddieLeeGroves Music) of himself and his music friends along with videos of him fishing and maybe working on a guitar.

Groves has two studio albums with Inside Out Band named 20 Years of Honky Tonkin’ and No Boundaries.

He also has five studio albums of his own named Taking You Through The Country, Living The Small American Dream, Warp Drive Studio Sessions the Classics, L.A. Dreaming About Kentucky and Country Picken.’

He released a single named Goodbye Mr. Sunshine.

If you know of a local artisan, please send their name and contact information to [email protected]