Greg Garing and the Exile of American Roots Music [podcast]

If you’re a fan of old timey and traditional American rural music and you happened to catch an earful of the modern ‘Power Country’ or ‘Bro Country’, some of it might strike ya as written by city slicker bottom-liners trying to dumb the art down as low as possible, as if all us consumer cretins needed was a song about being driven in a pickup truck to a free-flowing whiskey bonfire by women in Daisy Dukes to separate us from our pork rind moistened cash. This is not just a cynic talking- I’ve heard them in recording studios and back stages separating themselves from the crap they’re shoveling, just so we know that they know it’s bad.

But there’s still some torch-carrying musicians out there mostly off the radar that both know the roots of the music and respect it enough to push it to new directions, much like the long-dead rule-breakers they admire. Greg Garing we believe is one of those fellers and he’s so dedicated, he’s about killed himself trying to keep it alive. In bad health, friends of Garing have set up a GoFundMe project to help this ragged troubadour get well. And on one of his better feeling days, Greg came Back by the Woodpile to share a few of the multitude of stories he’s picked up and live throughout his career.