Janet McGarry

“I like the honesty of bluegrass music!”

Interview with Interview with Janet McGarry – bluegrass singer from Canada.
© Lilly Drumeva-O’Reilly.

Interview with Janet McGarry – bluegrass singer from Canada.
by Lilly Drumeva-O’Reilly

Janet McGarry is a Canadian bluegrass singer and mandolin player who I met in Raleigh, North Carolina, during the International Bluegrass Music Association conference in September 2013. She gave me her new CD “Wildwood Rose” and answered for me these questions:

-How did you get involved in bluegrass music?

I got into it when I started attending bluegrass festivals and realized how much I liked the music, and it was very similar to the music I was singing already. It was mostly a matter of teaming up with people who liked the same kind of music.

-What do you like about it?

I like the honesty of bluegrass music. It is authentic, and the folks who play it are authentic. My early influences in music were, of course, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Kitty Wells, Wilma Lee Cooper, etc. The more I listened to bluegrass, I became aware of Hazel Dickens’ music and loved her songs. And there were all the ladies who were making inroads at the time: Rhonda Vincent, Laurie Lewis, Claire Lynch, Lynn Morris to name a few.

-Do you have a website?

Yes, it is: www.janetmcgarry.com