night sky (instrumental) Garnett, Karel, Rick, and Sascha

The New album released December 2021

cover artwork –36″ x 30″ acrylic on canvas by Lorraine Thorarinson Betts

Thanks to CFBX – FM for playing moonlight door!

Top 10 Roots Albums – February 2022

Sean McCann* – Shantyman (Independent)
Gordie Tentrees* – Mean Old World (Independent)
The Fretless* – Open House (Birthday Cake)
Leeroy Stagger* – Dystopian Weekends (Tonic)
Garnett Betts* – Moonlight Door (Independent)
Red Dirt Skinners* – Bear with Us (Independent)
Calico* – Under a Sudden Sun (Independent)
Jacquie Drew* – Lifelong Truth (Independent)
Jaclyn Reinhart* – Sleep with Ghosts (Independent)
Ben Caplan* – Recollection (Independent)

Singer-songwriter: album review

Garnett Betts ‘Moonlight Door’

March 7, 2022 Album reviews, Folk music album review, Garnett Betts, Moonlight Door, singer songwriter

Following his 2020 album Highfield (reviewed here), Canandian singer-songwriter, Garnett Betts, has a new album out. Like its predecessor, this latest offering Moonlight Door is another pleasingly eclectic selection of original songs rounded off with a couple of instrumentals.

“The thread of story is always central to my love of songwriting, and often the twill is spun from my observance of a friend, the village that surrounds us, or a personal event,” says Betts. “Gone Like The Wind is my telling of a friend’s life with his band-mates, who would throw their gear and a generator in the van and head out to the Joshua Tree Forest, from their regular house gig at the Starwood in L.A., to play in the desert for a day or two. Though his recounting of those days was richly detailed, I found that I could only ‘speak’ of it from the point of view of my imagined and mystified listeners in the desert.

With his laid-back country-tinged, bluesy vocal delivery and influences that take in rock, jazz and blues, Betts makes for a compelling storyteller. He’s also a fine guitarist, too. Top-notch musical back-up courtesy of acclaimed jazz pianist Karel Roessingh (piano and keyboards), Rick May (bass) and Sascha Enns (hand percussion) makes for a highly listenable package. Beautiful original cover art is provided by Lorraine Thorarinson Betts. Once again, another fine album from Mr Betts and well worth checking out.

Thanks to Grant Grindley
at Witney Radio!
West Oxfordshire, U.K. http://www.witneyradio.co.uk/

A community station – “no robots, no algorithms, just people passionate about music and it’s diversity – willing to open our ears to something new”.