Plateprat med Eric Grate
Olav Nilsen
09.06.2026
If someone offers to buy you a drink, what do you order?
Coffee or Vodka Cranberry. It depends on the situation.
Describe yourself using at least five words.
Humorous, moody, creative, eccentric, giving.
Do you have any daily rituals?
Every day, I get up 2 hours before sunrise to sit in the dark and drink coffee. I’m at my peak before Noon. If I write anything good, it’s almost always before Noon.
If you were to choose a pseudonym or artist name, what would it be?
Bobby Love
If you ever wrote an autobiography, what would the title be?
Eric Grate: The Pride of South Second Street
(Bilde generert med ChatGPT)
What’s your relationship with libraries?
I’ve had a library card since I was 6 years old. I need to use it more.
What are your five favorite albums?
In no particular order:
George Jones Live at Dancetown USA – George Jones and the Jones Boys
Sticky Fingers – Rolling Stones
From Elvis in Memphis – Elvis Presley
Greatest Hits – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
What are your five favorite songs?
There are too many to name. I could never pick just five.
What are your three favorite album covers?
Who’s Next – The Who
Do you collect records – and if so, why?
I have a very small collection of vinyl records. I like the nostalgic sound of crackling vinyl.
What’s your favorite movie or TV series?
Movie: Stand By Me
TV Series: The Sopranos
Are there any music biographies, apart from your own, that you’d recommend—and what is it about them that stands out to you?
No One Here Gets Out Alive (Jim Morrison) – It’s so crazy you can’t stop reading it.
Elvis What Happened: It’s funny but incredibly sad. Elvis’ last few years were a trainwreck
Which novel has left a lasting impression on you, and why?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – It’s the first novel I ever read. It helped teach me how to be a decent human being. Plus, it IS the great American novel.
Is there a non-fiction book you would recommend, and what makes it worth reading?
Besides mine? Stephen King On Writing. That’s a weird one but it stands out to me as unique. Part autobiography part how to book. It’s funny and it teaches writing lessons on a very basic level.
What’s your favorite quote?
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.” – Thomas Jefferson (1787)
A live music performance you never will forget?
1982 Billy Squier at the Cincinnati Gardens in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was my first Rock concert.
Besides writing, do you have any other hobbies or interests?
Road trips, cycling, hiking, collecting pocket knives.
Do you consider yourself nostalgic?
Very much so.
Is there something you'd like to learn?
I’d like to learn to type. It would make writing so much easier.
What’s your favorite food?
Pot roast with potatoes, onions, and carrots, and cornbread with butter. I could eat it every day.
(Bilde generert med ChatGPT)
If there is a God, what do you think He would say to you when you meet?
There is God. He might say, “You could have done better.”
Is there something you regret?
Oh my. There is so much.
Who do you think I should have the next interview with?
Steve Marple. He was the drummer for the Adams Boys Band, Johnny Paycheck, and George Jones. I interviewed him extensively for my book. Steve is the best storyteller I have ever known.
Eric Grate
Who is Eric Grate?
Eric Grate was born in the rugged town of Greenfield, Ohio, nestled in the heart of Appalachia.
This tough little community, with its proud independence and a history steeped in struggle, shaped him from a young age.
When he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the age of 19, he carried the indomitable spirit of Greenfield with him, instilling him with grit and determination that define him to this day.
As a storyteller, Eric delves into the lives of resilient individuals as they navigate harsh realities. His narratives, whether fiction or non-fiction are imbued with authenticity and raw emotion.
The theme of struggle against adversity runs through all his work, which he aptly dubs “Iron & Dirt.” This phrase encapsulates the essence of human endurance and the beauty found in hardship, vividly reflecting the world he knows so well.
https://www.ericgrate.com/
Eric Grate er forfatter, opprinnelig fra Greenfield i Ohio, og bosatt i Danville i Kentucky.
I november 2023 debuterte han med The Streets of Greenfield, en samling fortellinger fra småbyen Greenfield sør i Ohio.
Året etter fulgte han opp med Snapshots In Time, en bok bestående av tjue korte stemningsbilder og vignetter.
Nå har Eric publisert sin første sakprosabok, memoaren The Notorious Adams Boys.
Her forteller han historien om Don, Gary og Arnie Adams, kjent som The Adams Boys Band, og årene de tilbrakte på veien sammen med countrylegender som George Jones, Little Jimmy Dickens, Merle Haggard, Johnny Paycheck og mange flere.
Samtidig arbeider han også med sin fjerde bok, en oppfølger til The Streets of Greenfield, som etter planen skal komme mot slutten av 2026.
Eric omtaler skjønnlitteraturen sin som «hardscrabble fiction», fortellinger preget av et røft og hardt levd arbeiderklasseliv.
Om det biografiske sakprosaarbeidet sitt sier han at han skriver "the truth as I know it to be."
Lån på Biblå:
Bok
The Notorious Adams Boys: The True Story of Country Music’s Original Band of Brothers
Bok
Heartbreaker : a memoir
Bok
Flagrant, self-destructive gestures : a biography of Denis Johnson
Bok
Cocaine & Rhinestones : a history of George Jones and Tammy Wynette
Bok
You like it darker : stories
Bok
Suttree
Bok
The Hag : The Life, Times, and Music of Merle Haggard
Bok
A childhood : the biography of a place
Bok
The gospel singer
Bok
Shifty's boys
Bok
Blacktop wasteland
CD
Wildflowers & All The Rest
CD
Let it bleed
Bok
The traveling feast : on the road and at the table with my heroes
Bok
The last ballad
Bok
Ali : et liv
Bok
To kill a mockingbird : a graphic novel
Bok
Country music USA
Bok
Signals : new and selected stories
Bok
The heavenly table
Bok
The last good kiss
Bok
Blood, bone, and marrow : a biography of Harry Crews
Bok
The Grand Tour : the life and music of George Jones
Bok
The north water
Bok
Trouble Boys : the true story of the Replacements
Bok
My father, the pornographer : a memoir
Bok
Drep ikke en sangfugl
Bok
Petty : the biography
Bok
George Jones : the Life and Legend of a Honky Tonk Legend
Bok
Mr Mercedes : a novel
Bok
The killer inside me
DVD
The Sopranos. Complete series 1.
Bok
Merle Haggard : the running kind
Blu-Ray
Stand by me
Bok
Fante : a family's legacy of writing, drinking and surviving
Bok
He stopped loving her today : George Jones, Billy Sherrill, and the pretty-much totally true story of the making of the gratest country record of all time
Bok
Train dreams
Bok
The devil all the time : a novel
CD
Damn The Torpedoes
Bok
Serena
Bok
Livet : selvbiografien
CD
Exile On Main St
Bok
Lean on Pete : a novel
CD
Nowhere to run : the Little Darlin years 1966-1970
CD
The Studio Recordings 1969-1976
CD
She Thinks I Still Care : the Complete United Artists Recordings, 1962-1964
Bok
A fighter's heart : one man's journey through the world of fighting
Bok
Winter's bone : a novel
DVD
Searching for the wrong-eyed Jesus
Bok
To kill a mockingbird
CD
Shakin' the blues
Bok
Chronicles. Volume one.
CD
My very special guests : (Legacy edition)
CD
Touch my heart : a tribute to Johnny Paycheck
Bok
Frozen in time : the fate of the Franklin expedition
Bok
The old man and the sea
DVD
Coe : live at Billy Bob's Texas
CD
Whoopsy Daisy
DVD
Double shot : a double shot from country's best singers
CD
The Gospel Collection
Bok
No heroes : a memoir of coming home
CD
Who's next
Bok
Provinces of night
CD
If I could only fly
CD
The soul & the edge : the best of Johnny Paycheck
Bok
The mammoth book of pulp action
CD
The definitive country collection
Bok
A moveable feast
Bok
On writing : a memoir of the craft
CD
Take this job and shove it / Armed and crazy
CD
Castles in the sand : Once upon a rhyme
Bok
My House of memories : for the record
Bok
A feast of snakes : a novel
Bok
Crime novels : American noir of the 1950s
Bok
I lived to tell it all
Bok
Savage art : a biography of Jim Thompson
CD
I'm little but I'm loud : the Little Jimmy Dickens collection
CD
Down every road 1962-1994
CD
The grand tour
CD
The real Mr. Heartache
CD
Tattoo / Family Album
CD
One
CD
George Jones & Gene Pitney
CD
Led Zeppelin
CD
Granny's off her rocker
The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy / Once Upon A Time
Bok
Jesus' son : stories
CD
Walls can fall
CD
The complete 50's masters : Elvis the king of rock'n' roll
Bok
Big bad love : stories
Bok
No one here gets out alive
Bok
Rock Springs : fortellinger
Bok
Et Guds barn
CD
Talk is cheap
Bok
Vær så snill, vær stille, vær så snill : og andre noveller
CD
I am what I am
CD
Underground album
CD
London calling
Bok
The snows of Kilimanjaro and other stories
CD
Elvis country
Nashville Skyline
CD
From Elvis In Memphis
CD
