Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records. He is known for his instructional videos and Vestapol line of videos and DVDs.

Early life and influences

Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Herbert and Ruth Grossman. Grossman described his upbringing, in Queens, New York, as "lower middle-class", and his parents as "very leftist", valuing education and the arts. He began playing guitar at the age of nine, when his father bought him a Harmony f-hole acoustic guitar. Later he moved on to an archtop Gibson guitar which he played between the ages of nine and eleven, taking lessons and learning to read music. For a few years, he gave up playing but resumed again at the age of 15.

Grossman's interest in the Folk revival was sparked by attending the Washington Square Park "Hoots", and he started listening to old recordings of artists such as Elizabeth Cotten, Big Bill Broonzy, Lead Belly, Josh White, Lightnin' Hopkins, Rev. Gary Davis, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Son House, Charlie Patton, Skip James, Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Woody Guthrie.

"See See Rider", also known as "C.C. Rider", "See See Rider Blues" or "Easy Rider", is a popular American 12-bar blues" song. It was first recorded by Gertrude "Ma" Rainey in 1924, and since then has been recorded by many other artists.

The song uses mostly traditional blues lyrics to tell the story of an unfaithful lover, commonly called easy riders: "See See rider, see what you have done," making a play on the word see and the sound of easy.

Versions of the song

The song is generally regarded as being traditional in origin. Ma Rainey's version became popular during 1925, as "See See Rider Blues." It became one of the most famous of all blues songs, with well over 100 versions. It was recorded by Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt, Lead Belly, Lightnin' Hopkins, Peggy Lee and many others. Broonzy claimed that "when he was about 9 or 10" - that is, around 1908 in the Delta (Jefferson County, AR) - he had learned to play the blues from an itinerant songster named "See See Rider", "a former slave, who played a one-string fiddle.... one of the first singers of what would later be called the blues..."