“Awe-inspiring” Canadian singer-songwriter comes to Glen Arbor

– from staff reports
In a darkened bedroom, lit only by the amber glow from an old floor radio two young brothers, ages 6 and 12, listen to the country music broadcast from the Grand Ol’ Opry, and practice their harmonies. Two years later, the youngest one, Garnet Rogers, is playing the definitive eight-year-old’s version of “Desolation Row” on his ukelele. Soon he abandons that instrument to teach himself the flute, violin and guitar.

Within 10 years and barely out of high school, Garnet is on the road as a full-time working musician with his older brother Stan. Together they form what has come to be accepted as one of the most influential acts in North American folk music.
The Glen Arbor Art Association is pleased to announce Garnet Rogers, one of Canada’s most acclaimed singer-songwriters, as part of its Manitou Music Festival Concert Series, to be held Sunday July 20 at 7:30 p.m. on the graduation green at the Leelanau School north of Glen Arbor.
“I love playing in beautiful northern Michigan,” says Rogers, who speaks from experience. He has performed in Traverse City, Cadillac and Manistee before. “Certain types of people gravitate towards this area – people who want to escape from what some call civilization.” Whenever possible Rogers avoids playing gigs in big cities. “I dislike the added hassle and security issues at those kinds of venues, whereas performing in small towns is more relaxing. I’m also able to make contact with the local community and learn about what’s going on there.”
Since picking up the flute, violin and guitar, Rogers has established himself as “one of the major talents of our time”. Hailed by the Boston Globe as a “charismatic performer and singer”, Rogers is a man with a powerful physical presence, as he stands close to six and half feet tall, with a voice to match. With what the Washington Post calls his “smooth, dark baritone”, his incredible range and thoughtful, dramatic phrasing, Rogers 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 and highly sensitive with deep purpose. Cinematic in detail, his songs “give expression to the unspoken vocabulary of the heart,” Kitchener Waterloo Record quips. An optimist at heart, Rogers sings extraordinary songs about people who are not obvious heroes and of small, everyday victories. As memorable as his songs are, his over the top humor and lightning-quick wit moves his audience from tears to laughter and back again.
“Garnet Rogers is capable of awe-inspiring stuff-and that includes more than just music.”
Rogers has been the featured performer on numerous television and radio programs, including Much Music, The Country Beat, Listen Up, Gabereau, Morningside, Mountain Stage, Central Michigan University’s Our Front Porch and All Things Considered. He has headlined at concert venues and festivals such as Wolf Trap, Lincoln Center, Art Park and the Dennos Museum Center. He has shared the stage with performers such as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Billy Bragg, Bill Monroe, Ferron, Greg Brown and Guy Clark.
Resolutely independent, Garnet Rogers has turned down offers from major labels to do his music his own way. Amidst numerous albums produced over his musical career, perhaps the Boston Globe’s review of Garnet’s Sparrows Wing release best describes Rogers’ gift. It writes: “He mixes the powerful and the gentle and demonstrates his mastery off both…One of the major talents of our time.”
John Gorka says of Garnet: “musically, I am a direct descendant of Stan and Garnet Rogers. Their music is my blood. When I listen to “Sparrows Wing” I not only hear Garnet’s distinctive voice, I also hear him reclaiming his heritage as co-creator of what became known as Stan’s Rogers’ sound. Garnet is an eloquent songwriter and a passionately gifted musician who is commanding as both a singer and a performer.”
The summer twilight of July at the Leelanau School will offer the perfect moment for an audience to experience the magic of Garnet Rogers. Tickets for this concert are $15 and available at the door or by calling the Glen Arbor Art Association at 334-6112.
As part of Rogers’ ongoing commitment to the local community food banks, concertgoers are requested to consider bringing in non-perishable canned goods for donation to the Empire Food Bank.
“Making money is one thing, but being able to do something good for the local community is very important to me as well,” says Rogers.