Greg Ashley

Greg Ashley leads the Gris Gris while running the Creamery recording studio, yet he also steps out on his own as a vocalist, composer, and guitarist drawn to the delicately trippy psych-folk that occasionally surfaces inside the louder, less predictable sound of his band. Birdman issued his first solo outing, Medicine Fuck Dream, near the end of 2003, an album that recalled the work of Mayo Thompson and Roky Erickson. Early in 2007 he followed with Painted Garden, whose noticeably cleaner production did nothing to alter the free-flowing songwriting and surreal lyrics that had marked the debut. In 2010 Birdman put out the wholly experimental Requiem Mass & Other Experiments; its opening title track, occupying an entire side of a standard LP, stands as the record’s centerpiece, while the remaining material consists of shorter musical and sonic explorations. Trouble in Mind released his next effort, the comparatively modest and low-key Another Generation of Slaves, in 2014, marking Ashley’s first project for the label. The same imprint brought out Pictures of Saint Paul Street in 2017, a melodic, understated collection of often personal songs.