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Amos Garrett: A
fascinating,
understated, and
powerful
portrayal of a
blues legend
Is this
collection of
Percy Mayfield’s
songs the
guitarist’s
masterpiece?
Amos Garrett, if
truth be told,
has been part of
the roots music
scene for well
over 40 years,
and right now
he’s enjoying
the fruits of
his labor. Laid
back, and with a
sense of humor
so dry that one
could light
matches on his
pants, he is
marking a new
level of
independence —
and has released
what his fellow
musicians are
already calling
the best record
of his long
career.
Get Way Back: A
Tribute to Percy
Mayfield
is a collection
of songs by one
of the very best
— if
lesser-known —
songwriters in
American roots
music history.
And Garrett, in
his wonderfully
contrary way,
found some of
the very best
tunes by the man
who was called
“The Poet
Laureate of the
Blues” — but did
not include the
man’s
most-covered
songs,” Hit the
Road Jack” and
“Please Send Me
Someone To
Love.”
“Well,” Garrett
explained,
“those songs
have been
sung before.”
Get Way Back,
for once, puts
the emphasis on
Garrett’s deep,
supple voice,
with his
trademark guitar
style perfectly
complementing
the lyrics, but
more understated
than usual. And
the songs — many
of them deep,
dark and full of
foreboding —
make for a
remarkably
satisfying
listening
experience.
Produced by
Garrett himself,
and recorded in
Toronto and
Calgary, the
record features
long-time
collaborators
Ron Casat on
keys, and sax
player Dave
Babcock, who
also arranged
the quietly
effective horn
parts, which
feature trumpet
player Alistair
Elliott. Bucky
Berger on drums
and bassist
Victor Bateman
are also
veterans of
Amos’ band,
which he long
ago christened
the Eh! Team.
Ken Whiteley,
whose Toronto
studio was used
for some of the
recording, plays
piano.
AMOS GARRETT:
BRIEF BACKGROUND
NOTES
It’s difficult,
with any
successful
musician, to sum
up four decades
of hard work and
noteworthy
accomplishments.
Here are just a
few notes about
Amos Garrett.
• Born in
Detroit in 1941.
• Raised in
Montreal and
Toronto.
• Early
influences:
Hearing Fats
Domino, T-Bone
Walker, B.B.
King and dozens
more at
Montreal’s
long-gone
Esquire Club on
Stanley Street.
• First band:
Toronto-based
folk group The
Dirty Shames.
• First major
U.S. appearance:
At Carnegie Hall
with comedian
and JFK imitator
Vaughn Meader.
• First choice
session
guitarist:
During the ’70s
and early ’80s,
Amos recorded
tracks with more
than 150 artists
— from Stevie
Wonder to Bonnie
Raitt, not to
mention Anne
Murray, Bonnie
Raitt, Emmylou
Harris, Elvin
Bishop, Pearls
Before Swine and
Maria Muldaur
(everyone
remembers his
one-take solo on
Midnight at the
Oasis), and
Jesse
Winchester.
• Touring:
Worked as a
member of Ian &
Sylvia’s Great
Speckled Bird
and Paul
Butterfield’s
Better Days;
toured with
Elvin Bishop and
with Maria
Muldaur as her
bandleader. Has
had his own
band, The Eh!
Team, for more
than 25 years.
• Guitar heroes
Chet Atkins,
Richard Thompson
and Mark
Knopfler have
all praised
Garrett’s unique
style.
His musical
partnership with
Geoff Muldaur
led him to his
Stony Plain
debut with the
release of a
laid back album
of duets by the
pair in the mid
’70s. Now sadly
out of the
catalogue, it
was followed by
Go Cat Go,
Make My Home in
My Shoes,
Third Man In,
and the
Juno-winning
collaboration
with Gene Taylor
and Doug Sahm,
Return of the
Formerly
Brothers. A
live album with
Doug and Gene,
recorded in
Japan, followed,
and
Amosbehavin’,
Off the Floor
Live, and
Acoustic Album
added to the
catalogue.
Garrett has long
been one of
Stony Plain’s
signature
artists, and the
thought of
recording an
album of Percy
Mayfield songs
was eagerly
endorsed by
artist and label
alike.
After all, there
are very few R&B
singers who
haven’t recorded
at least one of
Percy Mayfield’s
songs, and that
list includes
Ray Charles,
Etta James,
Bobby Bland,
B.B. King,
Johnny Adams,
Jimmy
Witherspoon,
Junior Parker,
Amos Milburn,
and Nappy Brown,
not to mention
more recent
interpreters
including Mose
Allison, Luther
Allison and Long
John Baldry
AMOS UP TO DATE
“I’m celebrating
the fact that
I’m now,
officially, the
recipient of
pensions from
the United
States and
Canada, and my
wife is
working,” Amos
Garrett explains
from his
Victorian house
in High River,
Alberta.
This does not
mean Amos has
retired, He has
another Japanese
tour on the
books for next
year, he’ll be
leading the
famed House Band
at the Edmonton
Folk Festival
again, there are
summer festival
dates and there
will be dates in
eastern Canada
in the fall.
Meanwhile, he
plays in town
with a
jazz-based trio;
small group
bop-tinged jazz,
he says – “Monk,
Miles. Very
accessible.”
He loves the
small-town life.
“Joe Clark (once
Canada’s Prime
Minister) was
born and raised
down the road,
W.O. Mitchell,
the great
Canadian
humorous writer,
lived three
doors down from
my house. I can
go fishing
nearby whenever
I want, and my
wife and I are
taking a course
in digital
photography.”
The new CD?
“Percy’s songs,
when I was
introduced to
them in the
early ’70s,
really set my
direction. I’ve
recorded some of
his songs
before, but this
brand new
collection is my
tribute to a
giant
songwriter.
Sharing these
songs is very
special to me.”
A
QUICK NOTE ABOUT
PERCY MAYFIELD
Born in 1920, in
a tiny Lousiana
town, he was
possibly the
greatest R&B
songwriter in
the years
between 1947 and
the mid-’60s. He
was also
handsome, a
convincing
singer, and was
tipped as the
next upcoming
star, ready to
eclipse Billy
Eckstine, the
hot black
crooner of the
day. Meanwhile,
his songs were
getting covered
— and his own
version of one
of them, “Please
Send Me Someone
To Love,” was a
#1 hit.
Then tragedy
struck. A
horrendous auto
wreck left his
face terribly
disfigured.
Loathing being
seen in public
he rarely
performed after
that and then
only because he
needed money.
However, he did
continue to
compose and most
of his
masterpieces
were written in
the next 20
years. His most
popular song,
“Hit the Road
Jack,” was a #1
Billboard pop
hit for Ray
Charles in 1961,
who then signed
Percy to his own
Tangerine label
and produced
Percy’s two best
albums (My
Jug and I,
and Bought
Blues).
He died of a
heart attack in
1984, at the age
of 63, living in
relative
obscurity. As
Garrett points
out in his
sleeve notes for
Get Way Back:
“Despite the
dark nature of
his songs, they
always
maintained a
high level of
dignity and
beauty — never
maudlin or weak
in any sense.
“This album is a
tribute to Percy
Mayfield and to
the triumph of
survival itself;
sometimes that’s
as good as it’s
going to get.”
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