“What you can’t teach is Tilly’s gift of writing a song that sticks with you the minute you hear it.” The Toronto Star
Originally from Calgary and now living in Toronto, Grant Tilly is a singer/songwriter, actor and writer. His songs are a blend of acoustic-driven folk/roots music that unites disarmingly honest lyrics with razor-sharp wit. Tilly’s tunes are like hot chocolate stories with Baileys—melting your heart and warming you up just enough to maybe do something stupid.
Some highlights of Tilly’s music and performance resume include having his darkly comic folk/pop song “My God’s Better Than Your God,” from his debut album Before My Eyes, aired on CBC Alberta’s In The Key of A. “My God’s Better Than Your God” has subsequently received national airplay on various CBC programs and campus radio.
“Tilly opens ears and eyes with songs from the folk pop album Before My Eyes from the light, lost-love track Somebody Else to the hilariously tongue-in-cheek ‘My God’s Better Than Your God.’” Calgary Sun
As an actor, Tilly performed in the national premiere production of Jersey Boys, which included a televised New Years Eve performance as a lead singer to a live crowd of thousands at Nathan Phillips Square. He has also performed in regional theatre across Canada and toured throughout the United States.
“Grant Tilly is sweetly loopy as Doody, the guy who's clueless about anything more complicated than the four chords he's learned to pick on his guitar.” The Toronto Star
As a writer, Tilly’s country/rock fringe show, The Christian Republican Fundraiser in Dayton Tennessee, for which he wrote music and lyrics, was awarded “Best of Fringe” in 2008 and was remounted in 2010 at Talk is Free Theatre.
"Inspired songwriting and a tight live band make this show a real humdinger." CRITICS PICK: NNNN, Now Magazine
Tilly’s newest project is the recording of his second CD, The World Keeps Passing By. This album is a departure from his debut CD, reflecting his growth as an artist and a performer. With lyrics ranging from playful (“I’d get these emails/from random females/I’d try to take them home after one too many cream ales”—from “Until I’m With You”) to profound (“But there’s an old man’s frame, loose skin and tattoos, a shadow of who he once was/he’s got one hour back in the spotlight, and it’s gone”--- from “The Interview,” the story of a rock musician who left a group while the rest of his band members went on to fame), all listeners find a piece of themselves in Tilly’s capturing glimpses into the world of all of us just trying to “get by.”