At just eight years of age, Garrett Dutton, aka G Love, picked up a guitar. He wrote his first song in the ninth grade and began playing harmonica on a wire rack.
Last out here just a few years back with the Blues Festival with G Love and The Special Sauce, he makes his welcome return to play solo acoustic for the Byron Bay Surf Festival this month. It’s a mode that takes Dutton back to the roots of where it all began… with him, and with the music itself.
‘It’s pretty cool when I do my acoustic,’ says Garrett. ‘It’s ruder than the Delta blues, and with a trio, with The Special Sauce, we have a lot of freedom and a huge repertoire, but the solo there gives even more freedom. I can do a u-turn whenever I want. I generally start out in the Delta blues and folk blues realm, both covers of older people like Robert Johnson and Bukka White, and then make my way to my original streetside blues and then I take it more into a hip-hop realm…’
Not just a solo set, but something of a music lesson in the evolution of modern blues and hip-hop.
‘It really is,’ says Garrett. ‘That is the goal of my acoustic set, to start with the rootsy vibe and take it into a party mode. The blues is serious and folk is serious and hip-hop is serious too, but it really is all a big party! When you play music I think in the end music is meant to make people dance.’
While G Love performs more than 100 shows with his band, he only gets to play around 30 solo shows a year, so that makes them all the more special.
The birth of his new baby has only served to remind G Love of the power of music.
‘We have a 10-month-old baby and it’s funny to see his natural reaction to music; when you put music on, he doesn’t have a taste – you put a song with a beat on and he becomes a different person. I remember when my grandfather was on his last legs and he was in a nursing home and my father and I went to visit; he was non-reactive, man, he was done. There were songs he liked: he loved a Leadbelly song, Goodnight Irene. I played it; he had had a stroke and he was non-communicative but, when the music was playing, he went from staring at the floor to singing in a pure loud clear voice. Once the song was over he shut down again. Music has a hold over people.’
A regular collaborator with musicians such as Dave Matthews, Donavon Frankenreiter and Jack Johnson, Garrett reflects on a culture that encouraged ‘musical conversation’ of sorts.
‘Honestly, it’s such a natural thing,’ he said. ‘I would go to these parties and there would be a jam session room and I would end up there. I never really like standing around talking at the bar; I always wanted to play and that’s what I always did and what I always still do. It’s not that I don’t enjoy great conversation; I just like a musical conversation, and there is a lot of merit in that sort of communication. I strive to have that with everyone. I say, hey, let’s jam. Whether they are famous or can’t play at all, it’s my unofficial mantra and it has led me to play with some of the greatest musicians in the world.’
It’s something that G Love says is a natural thing.
‘As I have grown older, I can play with anybody. I play guitar pretty well and I play the shit out of the harmonica. With the harmonica I can blaze with anybody, with the best of them, so over the years after you’ve done it you do have a little more confidence, but you don’t need the confidence – you need the desire to play – and even if you are nervous about going in front of someone, just concentrate on the moment and the music, and the rest will follow.’
For a boy from New Jersey, Garrett admits that while he’s a gun on the stage he’s also not bad in the surf.
‘I have gotten to run shoulders with the best surfers in the world. I feel that there is something about a beach lifestyle that goes with music. It’s about having an acoustic guitar by the van or bonfire or on the front porch while waiting for the surf to come up. It goes well with travelling. It’s about the road trip. Matt McHugh, Xavier Rudd… I have surfed with those guys. They are great surfers, and Jack Jonson is a great surfer, and Kelly Slater can play a mean tune. It’s cool to see so many of these guys so great at music, and to be such great surfers as well.
‘I also think about when you are out in the water; there can be a lot of moments when you are out there and whether it’s because you are already relaxed or really in an open state of mind because you are in the ocean, or whether you are nervous because the waves are good and there’s competition – and you will start singing stuff in the ocean. I often come up with a good lyric or melody in the water and I have to sing it over and over so I don’t forget it. We were on this Hawaiian trip and I was out in the ocean when I had this idea for Humble Pie. I was tasting a lot of it out there for sure, and a big set came and I forgot it… till later.’
G Love will be playing at the Saturday Slide at the Beach Hotel on Saturday 25 February.
This will be his only show in Australia and he has promised that he’s going to let it all hang out.
‘I’ll be bringing my streetside blues, my 12-string, my 6-string and my dobro. I am really looking forward to laying down the beats!’
He is joined by Paula Fuga and Bobby Alu. For tickets and program info go to www.byronbaysurffestival.com.au.
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