Biography
The comedy folk act Elmo & Patsy achieved their greatest recognition via the novelty track “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” which secured its first chart entry in 1984 and has since become a perennial holiday staple. Elmo Shropshire and Patsy Trigg, the San Francisco-based duo, issued only a small number of joint recordings, beginning with their 1974 debut album Elmo & Patsy, a collection of familiar bluegrass standards. After hearing songwriter Randy Brooks perform “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” in Lake Tahoe in 1978, the pair cut their own version and started selling it as an independent single the next Christmas. In the years that followed, the song circulated gradually on regional stations before reaching national and international audiences, earning its first official release in 1980 from the U.K. label Stiff Records. That same year Elmo & Patsy delivered their second album, Will You Be Ready, on Oink Records. A 1982 re-recording of “Grandma” led to a full-length Christmas comedy LP of the same name, which Epic subsequently acquired and reissued in 1984. The couple divorced the following year, concluding their musical partnership, yet their reputation remains tied to this enduring seasonal favorite.
Albums
