The Lethbridge Folk Club opened their new season with a sold out show with Garnet Rogers at the Lethbridge College Cave, Sept. 17.
I arrived at the end of his first set, which he was winding up by reading a passage from his new memoir “Night Drive: Travels With My Brother,” about touring in the ’70s and ’80s with his brother Stan Rogers.
He talked about his beautiful old acoustic guitars and made them sound like multiple guitars as he tenderly plucked their strings with a hand full of finger picks.
Rogers told stories, cracked jokes and played plenty of staggering acoustic guitar, but not many of his own songs preferring to play obscure covers from folks like Mary Chapin Carpenter and old Motown song which he turned on it’s head into an impressive fingerpicked folk song. He also played a few requests audience members had made during the intermission.
He switched guitars almost every song which gave each one it’s own unique sound.
He also read a few more passages from his book to wind down his show, promising not to do one of those fake show endings before returning for an encore.
After reading a passage from his book about an encounter with bikes when he and Stan were teenagers, he lead the crowd through a singalong of “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” and “Night Drive.”
To finish the show, he welcomed back David Allan Eadie, the original bassist for their trio with Stan Rogers, to add extra guitar and harmonies.
