Reggae musician Gracie “Bassie” Kruse didn’t want to be a bass player.
The Durango native, who has played bass in reggae bands from Southern California to the Bay Area, Durango to Denver and around Jamaica while touring through all of those places and beyond, wanted to be a guitar player. She had taken guitar lessons and even gave piano a whirl, but she found herself spinning her wheels.
In 2008, she finally picked up a bass and has yet to put it down, putting her newfound instrument and lifelong love of reggae music to good use, becoming a sought-after bass player and vocalist. Gracie Bassie and her band are one of the many acts performing this weekend at the Four Corners Reggae Fest at Tico Time Resort; other artists performing the festival include The Gladiators, Pato Banton, Collie Budz, Afrobeatniks, Dubbest, Niceness and more.
“Guitar was cool, but I don’t like fenagling my fingers into the chord positions and I always ended up playing it like a bass,” Kruse said. “So my brother said, ‘Dude, you always play the guitar like a bass, you should just play the bass.’ But I was so determined to play guitar and I was really stubborn. Finally, he was having band practice and his bass player left his bass and he said, ‘Pick it up and play it,’ and I played a few notes and was so mad at myself because I had been so stubborn. I was like, ‘What was I thinking?’ I just fell in love with it.”
Soon after picking up the bass, she was on stage, the excitement of making the music she loves outweighing the fact that she was learning her instrument on the fly. First, she was playing locally with her brother in the Durango-based A Dub Rock Band, then a move to California led to her playing with bands around Los Angeles and then the Bay Area. But her eyes were on Jamaica, and the opportunity to play there came when she got a call from reggae musician Anthony B, who was putting a band together and after seeing her perform at California’s Reggae on the River Festival, wanted her in his band.
If you go
What: Four Corners Reggae Fest with Collie Budz, The Gladiators featuring Droop Lion, Gracie Bassie, and more.
When: Friday-Sunday (Sept. 3-5).
Where: Tico Time River Resort, 20 Road 2050, Aztec.
Tickets: Various ticket packages for event, ticket information available at www.ticotimeresort.com.
More Information: Call 903-0681 or visit www.ticotimeresort.com.
“I almost dropped the phone,” Kruse said. “I asked which songs do I need to learn and he said, ‘All of them,’ then hung up. So I learned a ton of them, I went to Jamaica and he took me all over Europe and South America and places I never had even heard of, places I didn’t know existed. It was amazing.”
Jamaica led to even more musical opportunities, which included playing with legendary reggae guitar player Earl “Chinna” Smith.
“Jamaica was so majestic to me. Every day I’d walk out the door and I didn’t know what was going to happen or who I was going to meet,” Kruse said. “I was in my musical paradise because I’m such a reggae maniac. Anybody who knows me knows how obsessed I am. I was saying the other day, Jamaica is the only place on Earth where you go into the gas station and they’re playing reggae, or you go in the grocery store and they’re playing reggae.”
The band she’s assembled for her Tico Time set remains a bit of a secret; it will feature her on bass and vocals, along with her brother on guitar. Other members include past bandmates she’s played with throughout her musical journey.
“I’m going to keep it a little vague and make it a surprise,” Kruse said. “But it worked out to assemble this band, and I’m really excited.”
Gracie “Bassie’s” set is 8:30 p.m. Friday.
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
