AbouT THE PODHARP and the POD HEADS
THE STORY
THE STORY
THE STORY
When I moved to Florida in 2019, I was intrigued when I picked up my first seed pod from the queen palm in the front yard. What I expected to be somewhat limp and leafy was, in fact, a beautiful sinuous wood-like material, each with unique elegant lines depending on how it dried. Following a long tradition of Florida artists, I began maki
When I moved to Florida in 2019, I was intrigued when I picked up my first seed pod from the queen palm in the front yard. What I expected to be somewhat limp and leafy was, in fact, a beautiful sinuous wood-like material, each with unique elegant lines depending on how it dried. Following a long tradition of Florida artists, I began making sculptures and yard art using pod and bamboo. One afternoon I was pondering a lovely symmetrical pod and wondered, “Hmmm, sonic possibilities?” I strung a piece of string, plucked it, and
the rest is history (podstory).
The inspiration and design concept for the Podharp is the African Kora, a gourd-based harp with two courses of strings used by griots in West Africa. The instrument I currently play is version 5 in the evolution of the Podharp. Like a Kora, it has twenty-one strings and is strung in the key of F. Its closest Western musical equivalent would be an Irish or folk harp. I’m hoping to add more
strings in version 6.
The creative journey from conception to creation to actually learning how to play the Podharp (I had never played a harp prior) has been perhaps the most fun and fascinating of my life. I am daily delighted, and I trust you will agree, what a lovely sound it has. Also, by virtue of being the only one, I am also the World’s Greatest Podharp Player. And how often does life offer that possibility?
Leading up to the story of the Podharp:
It started in 2003 during a family reunion at the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina. I arrived with some books on bamboo and my brother, Lawton, arrived with a truck full of tools. Using bamboo from a local grove we spent the week making bamboo musical instruments, flutes, percussion, a sort of marimba, and a three-string fiddle. We put together a band of family and friends for a show and played to great acclaim. Thus started my love of making instruments out of natural and unusual materials.
~Berkeley
THE MUSIC
THE STORY
THE STORY
The Pod Heads came together over their shared passion for sound and rhythm. Each member brings a unique musical aesthetic to the band and together, they enjoy jumping genres and merging their diverse influences.
The Pod Heads sound fits stages, art opening receptions and exhibits, museums, house concerts, cafes, wineries, breweries, pr
The Pod Heads came together over their shared passion for sound and rhythm. Each member brings a unique musical aesthetic to the band and together, they enjoy jumping genres and merging their diverse influences.
The Pod Heads sound fits stages, art opening receptions and exhibits, museums, house concerts, cafes, wineries, breweries, private events, dining venues, campuses, festivals, espresso lounges and more.
The Pod Heads play a folk/rock world beat fusion filtered through the strings of the unique sound of the Podharp. Berkeley is quoted, "When I first began learning to play the Podharp, I realized that you can't write an angry song on a harp and that every cover song will be taken to a completely different place." The Pod Heads perform many originals and covers by such artists as the
Beatles, Police, Paul Simon,
Bob Dylan and O'Carolan.
The Podharp is proclaimed to be "deliciously Avant Garde."
A Gulfport Living article described the sound as a "combination of soothing molasses and sweet butter."
BIOS
THE STORY
BIOS
Berkeley Grimball
Podharp, guitar, mandolin, keyboard, clarinet, tenor sax, vocals, songwriting, artist, goldsmith.
Berkeley is described as a renaissance man, hailing from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Starting with clarinet lessons at a very early age, Berkeley Grimball has been playing music for nearly fifty years on a variety of instr
Berkeley Grimball
Podharp, guitar, mandolin, keyboard, clarinet, tenor sax, vocals, songwriting, artist, goldsmith.
Berkeley is described as a renaissance man, hailing from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Starting with clarinet lessons at a very early age, Berkeley Grimball has been playing music for nearly fifty years on a variety of instruments including woodwinds, guitars, mandolin, and keyboard, though his favorite musical contribution is singing
harmony vocals.
He has played in numerous bands from bluegrass to jump blues to folk rock, always with an emphasis on singing. His most current project is the pod harp, a folk harp he modeled and created which was inspired by the African kora, on which he performs regularly around Gulfport FL and the Tampa Bay area.
Tony Treadway
Bass, vocals, songwriting, artist, writer, humorist.
As a child, Tony grew up in Southeast Asia, West Africa and Northeaster Africa due to his father’s work overseas. A childhoold in exotic countries lead to a very inclusive appreciation of World Music which contributes to his playing style.
Tony began playing bongos at age 10, guitar at age 12, and at 27, he took up the bass. Later, realizing that bongos and guitar equates to a bass, he continued
playing bass ever since.
His earlier years includes rock, progressive rock and reggae genre. After moving to Gulfport, Florida’s fertile music environment, he was a member in five bands: swing jazz, eclectic originals, African harp and pop jazz. As he moved away from traditional rock, he began playing an electric standup bass.
Michael Beck
Drummer/Percussionist (drum kit, hybrid cahon drum set-up with cymbals and hand percussion, conga, bongos, timbale set-up, hand percussion instruments, cocktail drum set-up, songwriter, vocals.
Michael’s initial interest in drums began when he was in the sixth grade in Bloomington, Indiana. He started with metal rods as drum sticks on cardboard boxes and played to the music on the radio. He studied music at Indiana University for a time and started branching out playing many
other styles of music.
Michael was heavily influenced by Harry Partch, his multi-media performance show and the idea of what a musician should be. Having become increasingly dissatisfied with the confines of the ordinary drum set-up, he began on a path of experimentation adding scaffolding to suspend cowbells, woodblocks and as many instruments that he could
find to add to his drum kit.
He talks about his time with the iconic progressive rock band, Happy The Man at which time he began to experiment with dance and movement. This allowed him to move from one instrument to another when scoring drum parts to create the ambient sounds and emotion the songs entailed. With this new art form in hand, he developed his own unique style. He was signed by the Arista record label by Clive Davis and produced by Ken Scott with A&M records while with HTM.
After leaving Happy The Man, he played with various groups, all sizes, shapes and styles. He completed many recording projects, some touring, and eventually moved back to Fort Wayne, Indiana. He became the in-house drummer for Marty Bleifield’s state-of-the art new recording studio doing all the jingle and demo work while continuing to put together original music groups. He also began writing music more seriously at this time.
Following a couple years in Newport Beach, California playing Reggae music, Michael moved back to Indianapolis, Indiana to start his own group, “DogTalk,” a unique sounding group that performed Reggae/pop mix of upbeat music. He was a vocalist, created an unusual ethnic drum/percussion set-up to achieve and perform their unusual world beat sound and wrote 80% of the music.