Garnet Rogers

Don't wait for the rest of the band to show up when Garnet Rogers takes the stage of the Trumpeter Hotel Saturday night. Though it may not look like it, Rogers is a solo act.
"It's just me and a bunch of guitars," he said in an interview last week. "People sometimes just stare at me because the stage is full of guitars and amps and they're waiting for the rest of the band," he chuckled.
It's a simple matter really. "I find I like using a lot of different instruments that give me a lot of different sounds," he explained.
Not surprising from a guy who started out as an instrumentalist. Rogers was just barely out of high school when he hit 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.
Rogers just released his eighth solo recording, Sparrow's Wing, last year on his own label Snow Goose Records. He has enough material to put out a new record and is hoping to have it done by the fall. What will it be like? Well, with Garnet Rogers you never really know.
"I'm always tinkering with the songs, so it's whatever happens at that moment. All bets are off as soon as you step in that door and at the end of the day I guess that's the way the record sounds. That's what it is, just a record...a snapshot of what those songs sounded like on that particular day."
Rogers has been approached by the major labels to record his music, but he remains resolutely independent.
"I can't see any way of working with a label," he said, laughing, "I think one of the things that was always on my report cards as a kid was "Does not play well with other children"."
For Rogers, independence is key to his creativity. "I need to be able to do what I do on my own terms and I live or die by that."
Living that credo means a good amount of time on the road, taking his music to the public. "Things are going pretty well given that I never expected to be doing this for a living," he chuckled. "It's a great job. The upside is that you get to travel - the downside is that you have to travel."
Whether on the road or at home with wife Gail, experimenting with the music and writing new songs is a continual process for the Canadian musician. "If I'm not doing music, I'm thinking about it," he explained. "I do a lot of writing, and re-writing and editing. It's like when everything gets thrown into a big colander and some drips through - some ideas work and some never do."
Keeping things fresh is Rogers' creative edge. "I need to scare myself every night," he chuckled. "I don't do things by rote and I think that makes the audience become more focused and aware. They realize that this guy is working without a net."
You can hear the rich baritone of Garnet Rogers at the Trumpeter Hotel, Saturday, April 21.