Amos Garrett

Detroit native Amos Garrett launched his career as a professional guitarist by heading north of the border to Toronto. There he joined the Dirty Shames, a folk jug band, before accepting an invitation from Ian and Sylvia Tyson to play with their country-rock group Great Speckled Bird. His guitar work appeared on Maria Muldaur’s hit single “Midnight at the Oasis” and on Anne Murray’s “Snowbird.” Additional sessions paired him with Stevie Wonder, Emmylou Harris, Jesse Winchester, and Paul Butterfield. These studio engagements eventually drew him to California, where he kept contributing to other artists’ recordings. Later he issued more than half a dozen albums of his own on Stony Plain Records, supported by the Eh Team. In 1989 the release The Return of the Formerly Brothers earned a Juno Award and included pianist Gene Taylor, previously of Downchild and the Blasters and subsequently of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, along with Doug Sahm of the Texas Tornados. Garrett and the Eh Team maintained a schedule of club dates across Canada while he made his home in Alberta. A 1990 tour of Japan took him to Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo; those performances surfaced on a live album in 2001.

Acoustic Album arrived in 2004, spotlighting his instrument across a blend of swing, country, blues, and American Songbook standards as he sustained an active touring schedule. That same year he assembled a full band for Get Way Back: A Tribute to Percy Mayfield, delivering distinctive yet faithful readings of eleven songs by the blues songwriter and promoting the project at festivals on three continents. Five years passed before another studio project emerged, owing to his heavy road commitments. The next release was the concert recording Jazzblues, captured with his trio of guitarist Keith Smith and string bassist Greg Carroll and featuring guest vocals by Roberta Donnay and John Hyde. Two years afterward came Guitar Heroes, another live recording that placed him on a bill with fellow guitarists James Burton, Albert Lee, and David Wilcox.