Grainger was born inTeesside, the industrial heart of North east England, and raised to the sounds of early skiffle and bluesuntil discovering traditional music. ‘It was the industrial and sea balladsthat really turned me on’ He states ‘The sound of real people singing in alanguage that was my own, that I could easily relate to, in my landscape ofsteelworks,dock cranes, ships, trucks and cargoes.

Apart from his song writingskills he is one of the foremost interpreters of traditional music. When notsinging his own songs he’ll turn to ballads learned from the likes of Louis Killen, Cyril Tawney , George Spicer, Bert Lloyd or Ewan McColl .

His songs inhabit the presentday, the recent and distant past. On board an 18th century sailingship, working the iron mines, fishing the north sea or in a drama of a lifeboatrescue, he sings with passion of the every day lives of the working man.