Gary Calamar

Gary Calamar is an American film and television music supervisor, who has been nominated five times for the Grammy Awards. Calamar's notable credits include The Man In The High Castle, Six Feet Under, True Blood, House, Weeds, Entourage, Dexter, and Varsity Blues. He also hosted a long-running program on the radio station KCRW in Santa Monica, before moving to 88.5 KCSN in September 2018. Calamar is also a songwriter and recording artist.

Early life Born in the Bronx and raised in Yonkers, NY, Calamar developed an interest with music and radio by listening to WNEW-FM. He told journalist Tony Pierce in a 2007 interview: "I …was the kid who kept a transistor radio under his pillow. I was a big fan of WNEW-FM and their amazing staff of DJ's. I remember Scott Muni, Pete Fornatelle, Allison Steel 'The Night Bird' and Dave Herman. I was listening when John Lennon surprised Dennis Elsas on the air and guest DJ'd."

Career Calamar moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s. His interest in music eventually led him to manage Los Angeles-area boutique record stores Licorice Pizza, Moby Disc and Rhino Records. It was at Licorice Pizza that he met musician Jeff Davis. Calamar was enlisted to manage Davis' band, The Balancing Act, who went on to release three critically acclaimed albums on IRS Records. For the series, Calamar and Golubic were nominated for Grammy Awards for volumes 1 and 2 of the Six Feet Under soundtracks that they produced.

In 2006, Calamar founded Go Music to manage his various music supervision projects.

The success of Six Feet Under brought Calamar recognition as a music supervisor, leading to his work on television shows The Man In The High Castle, House, True Blood, Dexter, Weeds, and Entourage. "Somebody Somewhere" (HBO) and began work on "3 Body Problem" (Netflix) in 2024.

Calamar produced four soundtrack albums for the Alan Ball HBO series, True Blood (a vampire drama set in Northern Louisiana), which led to Grammy Award nominations in 2010, 2011, and 2013 for "Best Soundtrack Compilation."

In 2010 and 2011, Gary Calamar was honored as “Music Supervisor Of The Year (Television)” by the Guild Of Music Supervisors.

Songwriter and Recording Artist

“Gary’s songs are idiosyncratic gems. They’re reverent to great pop and classic rock but they have a spark of originality that is all Gary. They’re witty, catchy & fun and are a breath of fresh air.” – Michael Shelley (WFMU)

In the fall of 2014 Atlantic Records released Calamar's debut ep; "You Are What You Listen To."

Calamar followed up with the single “Looking For A Job” / Anti-Social, Young American Christmas Lovers Brigade” (2015), and “Little Tokyo / “Prince of Pico Blvd.” (2017), "Forgive Yourself" (2020), "Rough Patch (2023) and "Distractions" (2025).

Gary Calamar's new album, "ODD NUMB3RS and SLANTED RHYMES will be released October 2026 on Big Stir Records. The album is a compilation of his previous released singles with 3 new tracks and features Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh on "I Got An Idea" and Robyn Hitchcock on "Who Are We Gonna Be Today."

Record Store Days In 2010, Calamar's first book was published by Sterling Publishing -- Record Store Days: From Vinyl to Digital and Back Again—co-authored by music journalist Phil Gallo. The book featured a foreword by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and tells the story of the development of record stores.

Personal life

Calamar lives with his wife and daughter in Los Angeles, California.