Larry Garner

Last updated
Larry Garner
Larrygarner2013.jpg
Garner in 2013
Background information
Birth nameLarry Garner
Born (1952-07-08) July 8, 1952 (age 72)
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Genres Louisiana blues, swamp blues
Occupation(s)Musician, singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals
Years activeEarly 1980s–present
LabelsSeveral including JSP and Ruf

Larry Garner (born July 8, 1952 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States) [1] is a Louisiana blues musician best known for his 1994 album Too Blues. [2]

Contents

Biography

Garner grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His first inspiration was the guitar-playing preacher Reverend Utah Smith. Garner made acquaintance with local musicians such as Lonesome Sundown, Silas Hogan, Guitar Kelley and Tabby Thomas. [3] His musical influences include Hogan, Clarence Edwards, Jimi Hendrix, and Henry Gray. [1] [4] He was taught to play guitar by his uncle and two other elders. Garner completed military service in Korea and returned to Baton Rouge, working part-time in music and full-time at a Dow Chemical plant. [1]

Garner won the International Blues Challenge in 1988. [4] His first two albums, Double Dues and Too Blues, were released by the British JSP label. The latter album's title was in reply to a label executive who judged Garner's original demo to be "too blues". [1] Thomas's nightclub, Tabby's Blues Box, provided Garner with a playing base in the 1980s and gave him the subject matter for the song "No Free Rides" on Double Dues. [3]

He recorded the albums You Need to Live a Little (1995), Standing Room Only (1998), Baton Rouge (1995) and Once Upon the Blues (2000). [1] The song "Go to Baton Rouge", from the album Baton Rouge, offered a tourist's guide to Louisiana music spots. [3]

In 2008, Garner was treated for a serious illness that was the inspiration for his 2008 album, Here Today Gone Tomorrow. [4] [5]

Discography

All eight of Garner's CDs have been released by labels in Europe or Britain: [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenny Neal</span> Musical artist

Kenny Neal, is an American blues guitar player, singer and band member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Louis Walker</span> American singer-songwriter

Louis Joseph Walker Jr., known as Joe Louis Walker, is an American musician, best known as an electric blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer. His knowledge of blues history is revealed by his use of older material and playing styles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruf Records</span> German record label

Ruf Records is a German independent record label, which was founded in 1994 by Luther Allison’s manager, Thomas Ruf, to promote Allison's career. The motto of the blues label is "Where Blues Crosses Over". The company's office is located in Lindewerra, Germany. As of 2008, Ruf had produced 120 releases, sold over one million albums, received two Grammy nominations and ten Blues Music Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katie Webster</span> Musical artist

Katie Webster, born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Pete Williams</span> American singer-songwriter

Robert Pete Williams was an American Louisiana blues musician. His music characteristically employed unconventional structures and guitar tunings, and his songs are often about the time he served in prison. His song "I've Grown So Ugly" has been covered by Captain Beefheart, on his album Safe as Milk (1967), and by The Black Keys, on Rubber Factory (2004).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucky Peterson</span> American musician (1964–2020)

Judge Kenneth "Lucky" Peterson was an American musician who played contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He was a vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist. Music journalist Tony Russell, in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray has said, "he may be the only blues musician to have had national television exposure in short pants."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lazy Lester</span> American blues harmonica player (1933–2018)

Leslie Johnson, known as Lazy Lester, was an American blues musician who sang and played the harmonica and guitar. In a career spanning the 1950s to 2018, he pioneered swamp blues, and also played harmonica blues, rhythm and blues and Louisiana blues.

Jesse "Babyface" Thomas was an American Louisiana blues guitarist and singer. Known at different times as "Baby Face" or "Mule", and occasionally billed as "The Blues Troubadour", his career performing blues music extended eight decades.

Michael Hill's Blues Mob is an American blues trio. The members have variously included Michael Hill, his bass guitar playing brother, Kevin, and singing sisters, Wynette and Kathy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Guy</span> American blues guitarist (1940–2008)

Phil Guy was an American blues guitarist. He was the younger brother of blues guitarist Buddy Guy. Phil and Buddy Guy were frequent collaborators and contribute both guitar and vocal performances on many of each other's albums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Red</span> American blues singer-songwriter and musician (1932–2012)

Iverson Minter, known as Louisiana Red, was an American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. A master of slide guitar, he played both traditional acoustic and urban electric styles, with lyrics both honest and often remarkably personal. His career includes collaborations with artists as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Eric Burdon, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Larry McCray</span> American blues guitarist and singer (born 1960)

Larry McCray, is an American blues guitarist and singer from Magnolia, Arkansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.P. Wilson</span> American blues guitarist and singer

Huary Perry "U.P." Wilson was an American electric blues guitarist and singer who performed Texas blues. He recorded five albums for JSP Records, the first being Boogie Boy! The Texas Guitar Tornado Returns! He was known for playing a style of deep Southern soul blues that was gospel inflected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buster Benton</span> American blues guitarist and singer

Arley "Buster" Benton was an American blues guitarist and singer. He played guitar in Willie Dixon's Blues All-Stars and is best known for his solo rendition of Dixon's song "Spider in My Stew." Benton was tenacious, and despite the amputation of parts of both legs in the latter part of his lengthy career, he never stopped playing his own version of Chicago blues.

Silas Hogan was an American blues musician who played swamp blues and Louisiana blues. His most notable recordings are "Airport Blues" and "Lonesome La La". He was the front man of the Rhythm Ramblers. Hogan was inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame.

The Butler Twins were an American Detroit blues and electric blues duo of the twin brothers Clarence and Curtis Butler. Longtime semiprofessional performers in the local blues scene in Detroit, they gained international recognition following the recording of three albums in the late 1990s. Their best-known track was "The Butler's Boogie".

James Armstrong is an American soul blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He released three albums on HighTone Records and is signed with Catfood Records. His songs have been used in the soundtracks of three films; Speechless, Hear No Evil, and The Florentine.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Dahl, Bill. "Larry Garner: Artist Biography". AllMusic.com. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  2. Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray (1st ed.). Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 4. ISBN   1-85868-255-X., quote: " One music journalist noted "If you define 'blues' by the rigid categories of structure rather than the flexible language of feeling allusion, Robert Cray... Larry Garner, Joe Louis Walker and James Armstrong are a new and uncategorizable breed, their music blues-like rather than blues, each of them blending ideas and devices from a variety of sources soul, rock, jazz, gospel with a sophistication beyond the reach of their forerunners".
  3. 1 2 3 Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 113. ISBN   1-85868-255-X.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Wirt, John (2008-08-15). "BR's Larry Garner Grateful to Be Here Today". The Advocate . p. 18FUN.
  5. "Larry Garner, Here Today Gone Tomorrow". Bluesweb.com. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
  6. "Larry Garner: Album Discography". AllMusic.com. 1952-07-08. Retrieved 2015-10-06.