Jeremy Garrett has been playing music since he first picked up the fiddle at the age of three, encouraged by his father, a guitarist steeped in Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys and its guitar/banjo duo of Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs. The two formed a band together, the Grasshoppers, and that helped launch Jeremy’s 45-year – and counting — career as a musician.
Born in California, Garrett grew up in Idaho, before moving to Nashville in 1998, co-founding the Infamous Stringdusters when a musician friend, dobro player Andy Hall, approached his bandmate in a group named the Ronnie Bowman Committee (along with ex-mandolin player Jesse Cobb) to join forces with his Berklee College of Music classmates, banjo player Chris Pandolfi and former guitarist Chris Eldridge, in the group’s first iteration in 2005. The band’s current lineup includes double-bassist Travis Book, who came aboard in 2005, and guitarist Andy Falco, who replaced Eldridge in 2007. Since that time, the Stringdusters have garnered a Grammy Award in 2018 for Best Bluegrass Album (Laws of Gravity) and two nominations, the most recent in 2022 in the same category (A Tribute to Bill Monroe).
Since that time, Garrett has released seven solo albums, with his latest, Storm Mountain, his first since 2022’s well-received River Wild. Now living “off the grid” in a cabin on 12 acres with his wife and eight-year-old daughter in a remote section of Theodore Roosevelt National Forest outside of Drake, Colorado, Garrett recorded the album in a one-room studio outside of Fort Collins, CO, at the foothills of the mountains, before he added his parts at his own Storm Mountain home studio.
Storm Mountain deals with such serious topics as a fall from grace (“Son of Perdition”), the bitterness of fate (“The Cold Hard Truth”), lost love (“Fly Away”), the meaning of life (“Anchor in the Deep”) and hopes for his daughter (“You’re Gonna Fly”). In addition, there are playful stabs at modern phenomena from social conventions (“Don’t Ask’) to UFOs (“Rosewell”).
“I’m interested in World Music and how the fiddle has been played around the globe,” said Garrett, whose previous albums have explored a wide range of fiddle effects, including loops and pedals, showing the instrument can be as eclectic as the guitar. “It’s been integrated in all forms of music as one of the most versatile instruments on the planet. There’s something about fiddle players that’s unique.”
“I wanted to draw on something a little different than what I do with the ‘Dusters, by touching on my more traditional lineage in gospel, country and blues. These are songs that don’t quite fit in with the crowds we usually play for. When I go back to the band, I’m way better and more fulfilled for having done these solo records.”
At 48 years old, Garrett is relatively young for a bluegrass veteran and looks forward to performing his music live for audiences. “When I write songs now, it’s from the standpoint of someone who’s been through some life experiences over the past 20 years. My goal is for this record to be uplifting at the same time as it’s more reflective in terms of healing."
With the Dusters about to celebrate their 20th anniversary next year with a new album, Garrett looks forward to finding time for the occasional solo performance along with his “day job.”
His ultimate inspiration are guys like Larry Sparks (“Slow Train” on the new album is a tribute to him), Del McCoury and the late Ralph Stanley, who have performed into their 70s, 80s and 90s.
“I want to play this music forever,” said Jeremy. With Storm Mountain, he continues on that path.