Preview

We're delighted to welcome back this truly legendary Canadian guitarist, songwriter and singer - he was one of the star attractions of our 2001 Festival.

The teenage Garrett learned his trade at the Esquire Club in Montreal, at the feet of T-Bone Walker, Fats Domino, B.B. King and Ben E. King. In the 1960s he joined Ian and Sylvia Tyson's groundbreaking country-rock band Great Speckled Bird. In the early 1970s Garrett was a pivotal figure in the rural Woodstock music scene, where he toured and recorded with Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Maria Muldaur, Bobby Charles and many more. Moving to California, his distinctive guitar skills were employed by over 150 diverse artists, including Stevie Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Todd Rundgren, Jesse Winchester, Rodney Crowell, the McGarrigles, and John Sebastian.

Amos is now based in Alberta, and (when he's not fishing or storing elk in his freezer!) has found the time to release nine albums in recent years, among them a set of duets with Geoff Muldaur, and two high-energy collaborations with the late great Doug Sahm (of Sir Douglas Quintet/Texas Tornadoes fame). His most recent CD is the storming 'Off The Floor Live'.

Amos returns to Tregaron with his crack British touring band, featuring Jim Condie (Van Morrison, Tracy Nelson), Ted McKenna (Alex Harvey, Rory Gallagher), and Alan Thompson (John Martyn, Jerry Donahue). Amos plays guitar like no-one else - come and see 'one of the most lyrical and original guitarists playing today' on-stage at the Talbot, dubbed 'my spiritual home' by the man himself on his last visit. Welcome home, Amos!

'Garrett charmed the crowd and then left them open-mouthed with his wonderful guitar playing.' - Get Rhythm

'A mammoth talent' - Guitar One Magazine

Review

A blues night for grown-ups, this, with the welcome return of the charming Amos and his dazzling band. The veteran Canadian guitarist, whose illustrious CV renders the appellation 'legendary' woefully inadequate, drags himself away with some reluctance from his beloved Alberta rivers annually for a European visit (although he had his rods with him this time, and a couple of days fishing booked in Scotland before his return - he still vows to stay at the Talbot for a week and empty the Teifi Pools, when his itinerary allows). His 2001 visit to Tregaron was part of his first UK tour with the mighty Ted McKenna on drums (ex-Alex Harvey and Rory Gallagher), bass wizard Alan Thompson (ex-John Martyn), and ex-Van Morrison guitarist Jim Condie, and, two years (and two tours together) down the line, this is now a supremely cohesive blues outfit, an object lesson in taste, but never flashy.

A delightful opening set was provided by Jim Condie, in his guise as the driving force of The Distant Cousins - the names of the musicians listed on his/their much-praised CD are all precise anagrams of James Condie ... hey, you don't suppose they could all be one and the same? Employing a variety of tasty acoustic guitars, including a dazzling Dobro, Jim displayed mastery of authentic picking technique and feel in a programme that ranged from Rev. Gary Davis to Woody Guthrie, from Joseph Spence to the ethereal Skip James - a set to warm the heart of any devotee of the acoustic blues genre.

It goes without saying that Amos Garrett (a lofty, weather-beaten and avuncular figure, white pony-tail concealed beneath his trade-mark hat) lays on a feast for any fretboard fanatic, too, with a self-devised technique that defies all known laws, both melodic and physical - having fingers half as long again as you and I may help, but quite how he achieves his phenomenal glissandos and string bending must remain a mystery to all but Amos. With his laconic pipes and engagingly hesitant inter-song patter, he's a warmly compelling performer, perfectly complemented by his sympathetic band. Jim Condie was given plenty of space to shine on lead guitar, including some incisive slide work, while Alan Thompson's bass was terrific throughout, especially his monumental solo on The Meters' 'Cissy Strut'. Ted McKenna's drumming is consistently beyond reproach, too. As for the material, the opener, Nick Gravenites' splendid 'Buries Alive In The Blues' set the tone for the evening, which encompassed interpretations of Jimmy Reed ('Big Boss Man'), Percy Mayfield (Please Bring Me Somebody To Love'), Leadbelly ('Grasshoppers In My Pillow'), and Robert Johnson ('Walkin' Blues'), among others. The jewel in the crown of any Garrett gig, though, is his astonishing take on Santo & Johnny's instrumental 'Sleepwalk', on which his ability to bend strings in approximation of Hawaian-style slide is enough to involuntarily slacken the jaw muscles of all observers.

Once again, it was a delight to play host to Amos and the boys, albeit for an audience that made up in enthusiasm what it slightly lacked in numbers ... post-gig beverages in the back bar were notable not least for Alan Thompson's blood-curdling account of his years on the road with the (er, let's just say) unpredictable John Martyn ... after which experience an annual tour with the urbane Amos Garrett must be sheer paradise.