His violin days are now over
Shoulder injury means Garnet Rogers won't be picking up fiddle for Kitchener concert
ROBERT REID
KITCHENER (Feb 10, 2007)
Two weeks after finishing his latest album, Garnet Rogers and his wife were in a serious car accident.
His wife, Gail, broke her neck and Rogers damaged his shoulder. Both have recovered; however, both suffer the lingering effects of injuries sustained in the crash.
"We're both dealing with general pain," Rogers acknowledges over the phone from Northern Wisconsin en route to Minnesota and then Winnipeg.
The accident also has had serious consequences for his music.
For his 11th solo album, Shining Thing, Rogers had adopted a new violin technique.
"My violin days are (now) over," he asserts.
The self-taught musician on guitar, fiddle, cello and flute replaced the style he had developed when he first picked up the instrument as a teenager with a classical style.
He describes the change in technique as "a significant breakthrough after 20 years of playing the instrument."
He adds: "I had vague plans of recording a string quartet instrumental album, but my right shoulder won't go in the proper position."
The timing of the accident is a little spooky in the context of the title track of Shining Thing. The song is a deeply felt and elegantly expressed meditation on the cycle of life and the mysteries of beginnings and endings.
"It was painful to write," he recalls, "but the degree of difficulty made it a high-water mark for me in terms of songwriting."
Rogers explains the song deals with thoughts, feelings and emotions he "had been carrying around for a long time but was reluctant to re-live."
He won't pick up the fiddle when he performs in concert on Feb. 22 at the Centre in the Square's On Stage Series, but his acoustic and electric guitars will be close at hand.
Normally, he would have been in the studio by now recording his next project, but Shining Thing and the events that followed exacted their toll.
"I went through a drought," he confirms. "The well was empty."
Although he has no dates set to return to the studio, he has about half an album's worth of material.
He plans to perform much of the new material when he returns to the centre, where he first appeared in 2002 for a Songwriters' Circle with Stephen Fearing and Aengus Finnan.
"People will hear things they haven't heard before, either my own stuff or stuff I've found and really like by other songwriters."
Meanwhile, he has started the creative process that eventually leads to albums.
"I'm just now looking at my notebooks to see what bits and pieces might work themselves into songs."
Rogers has written about political and social issues before, but his approach has tended to be poetic rather than direct.
But drastic times require drastic measures and, accordingly, one of his new songs takes aim at U.S. President George W. Bush.
"It's a mean, mean song," he admits.
Another new song is a monologue in which a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan talks to a new recruit.
"I've always allowed audiences to make up their own minds rather than impose my opinion," Rogers explains, "but those who engage in evil as a matter of choice demand another approach."
He recalls recently getting into an argument with a male audience member.
"He defended Bush and demanded I respect his opinion and I said I didn't respect his opinion."
Rogers remains adamant.
"If it means losing some of my audience, so be it."
rreid@therecord.com
GARNET ROGERS
Centre in the Square
8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22
Tickets ($29)
519-578-1570 or online at
www.centre-square.com
