2025 Graduate Feature: Graydon McGrannahan

Music Professor Found a New Path in the Law After Unexpected Diagnosis 

Graydon McGrannahan grew up surrounded by music. His parents met as music majors in college, and he spent his childhood attending concerts and playing piano and trombone. At 14, he landed his first professional gig as a trombonist. He later earned three degrees in music and became a music professor.

“That was part of my DNA,” he said of his passion for music and the trombone.

However, in 2015, McGrannahan learned that cancer treatments from nearly 15 years earlier had caused significant hearing loss. At the time, his wife was pregnant, doctors said he would need to give up music if he wanted to hear his child speak one day.

Faced with this life-changing news, McGrannahan had to find a new path. That journey led him to law school, where he recently graduated as part of the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law Class of 2025.

The years following the discovery of his hearing loss were a rollercoaster. “I had this ultimate low where my identity was just thrown off the curb,” he said. But McGrannahan said he also felt the amazing high of becoming a dad.

McGrannahan said his family decided to leave Des Moines, Iowa, where he had served for about a decade at Drake University as a music professor. After returning to Reno, Nevada, McGrannahan took various classes as he explored other career options.

A new career path began to take shape when McGrannahan’s stepdad, a practicing attorney in Reno, Nevada, offered him an open paralegal position at his law firm. His stepdad recalled how much McGrannahan had enjoyed a class on legal ethics in higher education administration and thought he might enjoy working in the legal field. McGrannahan’s initial response was he’s “just a trombone player” and suggested seeing how things went. But he soon realized that he enjoyed the mental stimulation from working in the law firm. He also improved his writing skills and started thinking about law school.

When it was time to start applying for law schools, McGrannahan and his wife chose to move to Kentucky to be closer to family. Having spent summers in the state with his grandparents since he was a child, McGrannahan already had ties to the area. 

Then he had to overcome some challenges.

“I had to learn to be a student again,” McGrannahan recalled. “That was difficult.” He also sometimes struggled to hear in class, but his professors and peers were eager to help. McGrannahan said one reason he loved attending UK Rosenberg College of Law was the camaraderie among his classmates.

“I love my class so much because we all respected each other,” he said. “For the most part, we all were just sort of in this together.”

Now, as a recent law graduate, McGrannahan plans to remain in Kentucky to practice law.