GREG GARING performs the song "AM I EVEN A MEMORY" for BalconyTV. Subscribe to us right now at http://bit.ly/15yj4oc
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PRESENTED BY RHYAN SINCLAIR
"The best country singer I heard in 30 years." - Johnny Cash to Rick Rubin
Greg Garing has been a Nashville insider legend for a long time. When the city's Lower Broadway area was a no man's land, Garing helped make it a haven for singer-songwriters and lovers of roots music - although he might bristle at the terms. Finding a word to describe Garing, or even what he likes, is not easy.
At the age of 18, Garing moved to Nashville to find what he considered the real musicians - bluegrass and old-time greats, classic country artists from the beginnings of the Grand Old Opry "I played with the Crook Brothers," says Garing. "They were still on the Grand Ole Opry, and nobody knew it. They were there since the original broadcasts. I sat with Curly Fox (another vintage Opry veteran) for three days and learned all I could. I remember playing for hours with Jimmy Martin and Carl Story.
"I look back at it, and it seems like a dream," he says. Garing mourns the loss of fiddle great Vassar Clements, Martin, John Hartford, Roy Husky and Benny Martin.
He made 36 recordings with Clements and, he says, Hartford was "like a dad" to Garing when he moved to Nashville. And when Garing played with the musicians, he was in awe.
"There I was, standing with my idols," he says. "It was just so powerful."
He played fiddle in Jimmy Martin's band, the Sunny Mountain Boys, for two years.
In the mid-1990s, Garing moved to New York City, where he attempted to create a similar environment to what he had created in Nashville. While there, he released the album "Alone" (1997), which received great reviews.
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CREDITS / SPONSORS Produced by: Little Haunted Girl Music, LLC (Rhyan Sinclair, Toni Karpinski, Julian Karpinski) Camera Operator: Julian Karpinski Audio Recording: Wes Kawaja Host: Rhyan Sinclair Location: The Lexington Center
