Doyle Grisham was born in Temple, Texas. His early influences included Carl Smith and Webb Pierce. He started playing guitar professionally when he was fifteen. While attending Temple Junior College, he discovered he could make more money playing music than continuing his pursuits to become a teacher. At 21, while on tour with the Big “D” Jamboree, he began playing steel guitar professionally. In the ’60s, Doyle moved to Nashville, where he worked with Roy Drusky, David Houston and others, and he played the Grand Ole Opry. While working with Tompall and the Glaser Brothers at their studio and doing demos for their publishing companies, he developed a reputation and was asked to work with other producers around Nashville on their projects. It was during this period in the early ’70s that he played on his first Jimmy Buffett album, which opened him to the fields of pop music as well as country. Over the years, Doyle has played with Lynn Anderson, England Dan and John Ford Coley, Dr. Hook, Bill Anderson, Buzz Cason, The Hemphills, The Rambos, The Lewis Family, Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul & Mary), Freddy Weller, Dickey Lee, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, Jim Glaser, George Jones, Johnny Duncan, Reba McIntire, Dan Seals, Randy Travis, Mel Tillis, Frankie Lane, Roy Drusky and Kitty Wells, Del Reeves, Mac Wiseman, Leona Williams, Baillie and the Boys, Tiny Tim and, of course, Jimmy Buffett. In 1986, Doyle was chosen as one of the five finalists for Instrumentalist of the Year at the Country Music Association awards. During the past few years he has divided his time between studio musician and engineer, record producer, and traveling musician, most recently as the steel guitar player with the Coral Reefer Band. He has appeared on several of Jimmy’s albums over the last 25 years.
