FOOD | ARTS | COMMUNITY | STYLE+LEISURE
SPORTS
TEXANS JONATHAN GRIMES
SAYS WE ARE IN A “TURN UP” MUSIC ERA
By Jayme Lamm | Photography by Max Burkhalter
Pair of Peter Protzmann armchairs for Hermann Miller, circa 1970,
available at www.lynngoodevintage.com
Succulent planter by David Brown.
Most of our talents come to us by way of our parents. For JONATHAN GRIMES, that story is no
different, not just on the football field in a Houston Texans uniform but when it comes to music.
And particularly behind the piano.
Although the William & Mary graduate only has
one official start under his NFL belt, last season
Grimes became the third player in Texans history
to score a rushing and receiving touchdown in
the same game. The 26-year-old has talent for
sure, hopefully more of which we’ll continue to
see on the field, but his talents go beyond the
field. Grimes started playing the piano about the
same time he got into football, which was part of
a deal he made with his dad. “I started playing
football when I was 7 and started playing piano
at the same age because my dad said ‘if I let you
play football this year, you have to promise to
play the piano,’ Grimes shares. “I wasn’t really
that excited to play the piano at first. I just wanted
to play football so I agreed to it, but I would say
I started really liking it once I started playing
songs I knew and other people knew.” He liked
it so much, he actually got a degree in music,
while playing football. Talk about making your
dad proud.
If you see the similarities in Grimes and former
Texan Arian Foster, you’d be paying him a compliment. And be spot on. The two are incredibly
close and make music together often. Both are
running backs and both are incredibly artistic
and deep and spiritual guys, finding meaning in
things so many of us overlook. “He’s not on the
squad but he will always be my boy,” Grimes
says of his friendship with Foster. “Music is a message that you constantly hear in your mind all the
time over and over again – it can really affect the
way you go about things, the way you think without even realizing it,” Grimes says on the importance music plays in his life. “Music is about
bridging gaps and just relating to other people.
My love for music has been growing, even just
this past year. I’m realizing how important music
is just in life in general. I feel like the things you
eat and consume and everything else is just as
important as the things you hear, like music,” he
says. Grimes says music is what keeps him sane
right now.
Originally from New Jersey, he loves the concert
and karaoke scene here in Houston. “I love
Houston, but, man, it gets scary hot,” he says. “I
don’t come outside unless I have to.”
At just 5’ 10” and a little over 200 lbs., Jonathan
Grimes has enough personality to fill an entire
team’s roster. Starting with a White Men Can’t
Jump quote to playing the keys and sharing his
favorite Pandora stations (D’Angelo or Michael
Jackson are his choices for being stranded on an
island with only one station), he can talk about
music all day. “It’s going to be hard to keep me
off the piano if I see it,” he warns.
If he had a walk-up song like baseball, Grimes
said it’d have to be Finna Get Loose by Diddy
and Pharrell.
Best quote of the interview: I’ve sat