Sing Out
Volume 45
#4

The word majestic captures Garnet Rogers.
Coming upon his heart vibrating baritone, deft picking, and epic songs resembles awakening to a vision of a great mountain range. You can t speed through the music on his new CD Firefly any more than you can accelerate down a Colorado highway.
Production ranges from simple guitar and voice to full rock. Like the wind through the mountains, Rogers also uses a variety of electronic effects that whisper and roar through some of the eight original songs, and two cover songs on this CD.

Firefly glows with Rogers voice, smoother and richer than ever, with an ever-burnishing maturity. As if taking Daniel Burnham's injunction to "make no small plans" to heart, Rogers writes no small songs. The shortest song on this CD runs 4:22 and the longest a few seconds less than 10 minutes. Their length comes not solely from the flow of words, but also from their sophisticated and winding musical preludes and epilogues.

No listener will mistake the songs on Firefly with those of any other singer-songwriter. Rogers is entirely his own man. "Underpass" effectively uses the chorus from the traditional "Wind And Rain" in its empathetic description of homelessness. It includes a brilliant line comparing the passing of semi-trailer trucks to a Chinese dragon. "Painted Pony" is a magnificent magical love story.
"Who Could Have Known" continues Rogers personal epic begun a couple of CDs ago with "Night Drive."
He insightfully interprets Ralph McTel' s "Girl From The Hiring Fair."
He flat out boogies on "Where'd You Get That Little Dress." My only quarrel is that he deliberately left a couple of false starts in the recording that would have been better edited out.

Garnet Rogers records music for the soul and the ear. If you wish to hear a CD of exceptional beauty, treasure this recording. -- R. Warr