Garnet Rogers (born May 1955) is a
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...
ian, singer, songwriter and composer. He was born in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
with
Maritime roots.
Early life
Rogers was born in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
to Nathan Allison Rogers and Valerie (née Bushell) Rogers, who had moved to Ontario from
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
to find work. Rogers, along with his elder brother
Stan, was raised in
Binbrook, Ontario,
and spent summers in
Guysborough County, Nova Scotia.
Career
Rogers began his professional career working with his brother Stan,
arranging Stan's music.
After Stan died in a plane crash on June 2, 1983 (just a few weeks before Stan, Garnet and bass player Jim Morison were to tour the US), Garnet began to pursue his own career.
At first, Rogers had difficulty getting a permit from the U.S. Immigration Service, which only granted one after a campaign on his behalf was launched by
Odetta, ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'', and a PBS TV station in New York.
While his brother's style of writing was more traditional and often based on Canadian Maritime styles, Rogers' style is more modern, utilizing influences from
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
,
rock,
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
/
bluegrass, and
classical.
Rogers' instruments include the guitar, mandolin, violin, and flute. In live performances, he usually sits beside a guitar rack that includes three vintage Gibson acoustic guitars, a National guitar, a Fender Stratocaster, and sometimes a Hammertone Octave 12 (half-scale electric 12-string guitar).
Rogers' songs include ''The Outside Track'', ''All That Is'', ''Sleeping Buffalo'', ''Night Drive'', ''Under The Summer Moonlight'', ''Summer Lightning'', ''Small Victory'', and ''Frankie and Johnny''. They range from slices of life to mild social commentary and humour. His humour is also seen in his on-stage banter between songs,
mostly unrecorded, except for a couple of interludes on his brother's posthumous album, "Home in Halifax". In addition, Garnet has covered other folk artists' work, including
Roy Forbes' (Bim's) ''Woh Me'', and
Archie Fisher's ''The Final Trawl''. His collaborators include Doug McArthur and Doug Long.
Rogers has also written "Night Drive," a memoir of his travels with his brother Stan, who died in a fire aboard an
Air Canada flight in 1983.
Personal life
Garnet lives on a farm in
Brantford
Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...
,
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
where his wife Gail raises champion thoroughbreds.
They also own a house in Nova Scotia.
Solo albums
* ''Garnet Rogers'' (1984)
* ''The Outside Track'' (1985)
* ''Speaking Softly in the Dark'' (1988)
* ''Small Victories'' (1990)
* ''At A High Window'' (1992)
* ''Summer Lightning''
ive(1994)
* ''Night Drive'' (1996)
* ''Sparrow's Wing'' (1999)
* ''Firefly'' (2001)
* ''Shining Thing'' (2004)
* ''Get a Witness''
ive(2007)
* ''Summer's End'' (2014)
Other albums
* ''Off the Map'' with
Archie Fisher (1986)
* ''Doug McArthur with Garnet Rogers'' (1989)
* ''All That Is (The Songs of Garnet Rogers)'' (2002)
ed House Records* ''
Live at the Black Sheep'' (2003)
* ''The Best Times After All''
ivewith Archie Fisher (2019)
See also
*
Eileen McGann—Irish-Canadian female Celtic folksinger. They started out professionally in the same timeframe, played many of the same venues in their early days, and Garnet Rogers appeared on some of her early recordings.
*
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. (November 17, 1938 – May 1, 2023) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved worldwide success and helped define the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Widely considered one of Canada's greatest songwriters, ...
*
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...
References
External links
Garnet Rogers' official webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Garnet
1955 births
Living people
Canadian folk guitarists
Canadian male guitarists
Canadian folk singers
Canadian male songwriters
Canadian male composers
Musicians from Brantford
Musicians from Hamilton, Ontario
Red House Records artists
20th-century Canadian composers
21st-century Canadian composers
20th-century Canadian male singers
21st-century Canadian male singers
21st-century Canadian singers