Garnet Rogers

“The greatest interpreter and vocalist performing in the contemporary folk scene”

In a darkened bedroom, lit only by the amber glow from an old floor model radio, Garnet Rogers and his older brother would listen to the country music broadcasts from the Grand Ol’ Opry and practice their harmonies. Two years later, Rogers was playing the definitive eight-year-old’s version of “Desolation Row” on his ukulele. He soon abandoned that instrument to teach himself the flute, violin, and guitar.

Within ten years, and barely out of high school, Rogers was on the road as a full-time working musician with his older brother Stan. Together, they formed what has come to be accepted as one of the most influential acts in North American folk music.

Since then, Garnet Rogers has established himself as “one of the major talents of our time.” Hailed by the Boston Globe as a “charismatic performer and singer,” Garnet is a man with a powerful physical presence—close to six and a half feet tall—with a voice to match. With his “smooth, dark baritone” (Washington Post), his incredible range, and thoughtful, dramatic phrasing, Garnet is widely considered by fans and critics alike to be one of the finest singers anywhere. His music, like the man himself, is literate, passionate, highly sensitive, and deeply purposeful. Cinematic in detail, his songs “give expression to the unspoken vocabulary of the heart” (Kitchener Waterloo Record). An optimist at heart, Garnet sings extraordinary songs about people who are not obvious heroes and the small victories of everyday life. As memorable as his songs, his over-the-top humor and lightning-quick wit move his audience from tears to laughter and back again.

“Rogers is a master musical storyteller, often dealing in songs of the heart. His characters exude striking familiarity, revealing enormous inner strength, or wrapped within their own delusions, nearly always interacting and sympathetic. Garnet Rogers set the quality bar very high with his first release and has equaled it or raised it with each successive album.” —Penguin Eggs

“A first-class interpreter, setting the wheels in motion for his eventual emergence as a profound lyricist and respected composer.” —Toronto Star

“The greatest interpreter and vocalist performing in the contemporary folk scene.” --Sing Out

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by CNY Arts.

This project is made possible with funds from the Tier Three Project Support program, a regrant program of the County of Onondaga with the support of the County Executive and administered by CNY Arts.

  ~ This project is also made possible through the support and generosity of our Folkus members. ~