About Gary

I’m so fortunate and grateful to live my life in music…

And…I’m grateful you’re here…

A bit about me…

After 20 years of playing nightclubs, private events and touring I opened my teaching practice. There I found my passion and my purpose. As you read my reviews, I think you’ll get a feel for what a heartfelt honor it is to do what I do in my teaching life.

 

“It takes enormous talent and skill to be good enough to be on the stage at all—stars are well and good, but without the musicians outside the spotlight, you don’t have much. Gary Vogensen has been one of those guys for nearly fifty years, and as you’ll hear at any one of his performances there were excellent reasons why he’s been up on all those stages.”

Dennis Mcnally, Author and Publicist for The Grateful Dead

 

In my life as a professional singer/guitarist, I’ve contributed vocals, harmonica playing and guitar playing to many live performances and recordings by artists I’ve worked with. The list includes Elvin Bishop, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Commander Cody, Etta James, Irma Thomas, Norton Buffalo, Maria Muldaur, Box Scaggs, Steve Miller, Carlene Carter and so many more…

My latest recording project “Shot of Hope” on the Little Village record label is available on most platforms and can be heard on Youtube Music

My current musical projects include “The Rivertown Trio” with my old NRPS bandmate Russ Gauthier and Singer Julie Bernard and “A Night At The Fillmore” with the amazing harmonica player and singer, Mark Hummel. We play Blues, some originals and iconic tunes by artists we saw play at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium and Avalon Ballroom in the ‘60s…Think Fleetwood Mac, James Cotton, Grateful Dead, Big Brother, Taj Mahal, Traffic, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Albert King Country Joe and the Fish…….

The 60’s

Music was always there where I grew up in San Rafael, CA. I grew up singing in choirs—my Mom always said that I sang in tune before I could talk. Mom kindly bought me a guitar when he was 17, and I never put it down. Vocally, my influences range from George Jones to The Mills Brothers, the Beach Boys and Ray Charles…and about a million other Country, Soul, Gospel, and R&B singers. At the local College of Marin, I was in the “Purple Fox Blues Band”. When I headed off to Chico State, there was a soul band, “The Fabulous Dynamics” and of course a jam band, “Special Jellies”.

My commitment to music became absolute on the memorable night of November 1st, 1968, at the Avalon Ballroom. Genesis was the opening act, which interested me…not at all because they didn’t have a guitarist. The closers were the Byrds, with Clarence White playing his famous Fender Telecaster. But the middle act was Taj Mahal backed by Jesse Ed Davis, and it was Jesse Ed who got under my skin and heart and left me saying, “I just have to do that.”

The 70’s

I was a normal Marin guy in the ‘70s, used to seeing Jerry Garcia drive out of the Dead’s office at 5th and Lincoln, knowing that the Dead were a part of the community, even though I’d not met any Dead family formally….yet.” In 1972 I was spending time at Marin Recorders, watching people rehearse. One night during the recording of Barry Melton’s record “Melton, Levy and the Dey Brothers” album, the band was jamming with their producer, and guitar icon of the time, Mike Bloomfield.

My friends said “Get out there Vogensen!” and more or less put my guitar in my hands and shoved me into the jam. “Could I sit in?”…And Bloomfield said sure. In fact, he was so generous that he followed it up by suggesting to Barry that he should take me into the band and on tour as the rhythm guitarist. “Square as a pool table and twice as green” I was…but those first shows changed my life.

That band was followed by lots more—Top 40 bands, blues bands, you-name-it bands. A little more seasoned, in 1976 I ran into Bloomfield again, and through him came more high-level bands. I backed Mike on gigs and recordings, then a tour and an “Austin City Limits” with harmonica ace Norton Buffalo. Michael introduced me to Maria Muldaur and I’ve worked with her off and on since 1978. Then Elvin Bishop called, which led to several years of national touring with the author of “Fooled Around And Fell In Love”.

The 80’s and 90’s

In the 1980s and ‘90s I was part of Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen, and was privileged to tour and record with John “Marmaduke” Dawson and the New Riders of the Purple Sage. For the past 15 years or so I’ve been part of the band on guitar and harmonica for “The Blues Broads”, which features Angela Strehli, Tracy Nelson, Annie Sampson, and Dorothy Morrison. Over the years and in between things, I’ve worked with pop artists Boz Skaggs, Steve Miller, Rick Danko, Kinky Friedman…R&B greats Lloyd Price, Etta James, Sugar Pie Desanto, Irma Thomas and Jerry “Swamp Dogg” Williams…Country singers Carlene Carter and Rosie Flores to name a few… …So many stages, so many roads…

Currently

And now since 1994 I’ve worked at maintaining the Gary Vogensen School of Guitar, which is not only enjoyable, but a way to pass on what I’ve learned over the years (and the miles!) and a place where I can mentor young musicians and continue to “Learn, learn, learn.” Since 2012 I’ve served as Band Specialist and Music Specialist at Kenwood School in Kenwood California. Gary lives in Novato, CA with his wife Laurie and their cat Scarlett…

Gary In Action

“Gary presents the foundation of technical guitar mechanics in a zen-like, matter-of-fact manner: This is the road to enlightenment. No shortcuts, no excuses.”

— Steven W, Sebastopol, CA