Green Frog star releases Palouse-themed CDs

Green Frog co-owner Tiana Gregg is releasing several CDs of her music, some of which has been played during the cafe’s live music nights.

Tiana Gregg of the Green Frog reaches for something between the bins of the Green Frog sandwich table. It is a sheet of lyrics.

She grabs some slices of ham off the counter, where a Walkman lies.

In the corner, next to a refrigerator rests a little red guitar; a gift from a friend that day.

This is the woman behind the live music Friday nights at the Green Frog cafe in Palouse. Gregg just released two of her home-grown CDs and evidence of her talent is everywhere in this kitchen - even down to her voice, floating from the restaurant speakers.

Her first CD, the Baby, had its debut the evening of April 10 to a private crowd of listeners at the Green Frog.

Gregg hesitates to describe her music during the Gazette interview April 8.

“Singer-songwriter,” she starts, then stops. Most of the songs on the two CDs, the second of which is called Ends Meet, are about living on the Palouse. In addition to these two new CDs, Gregg has three more CDs planned.

She tries again to quantify her music.

“This is what it looks like when all your dreams come true. And that’s what all the songs are to me. This is what I think of Palouse. When they hear those songs, that’s how I want them to feel,” Gregg said.

Gregg, who co-owns the Green Frog with Paula Echanove, has been playing guitar since she was 22. The cafe hosts the live music Friday and Saturday nights. Her lively, engaging stage presence has led many a late-night audience through the strains of I’ll Fly Away and other American hits.

Most of the hits on her two new CDs have already been played on a Green Frog night- some are fairly well-known around town. Some are more than 10 years old.

“People know lots of these songs,” she said.

Gregg said the soul of most of the music lies in her ongoing love for Palouse. She feels the town is quietly amazing.

“It’s a yes town!” shouts waitress Mary Rothlisberger from the other side of the kitchen.

Gregg moved here six years ago. Conversation by conversation, she slowly fell in love with the open attitude of the town.

The mood on the street is just open, she said. New, free-flowing ideas are openly embraced.

“It’s like a breath of fresh air,” she said.

And playing music to the town about the town is altogether a heavenly experience. The euphoria of hearing the crowd singing her lyrics back to her is scintillating.

“When I see people singing these songs back to me, when we’re singing, it’s awesome. It changes the world,” she said.

Gregg, who moved here from Spokane, had all but sworn off music when she and her husband Sam arrived in Palouse. Gregg had been creating music for years by the time of their move.

Gregg said after daughter Emmy Lou was born she tried to push playing music to the back of her mind. But slowly, day by day, the fluid singer inside her “just had to get out.”

“Sometimes it seems like grownups are supposed to shelve their dreams and get on with reality… I was so unhappy not doing music,” she said.

So the live music nights at the Green Frog struck up. Today, these CDs are just another fruit of Gregg’s passion for song.

The Baby and Ends Meet can be purchased at the Green Frog Café.