Greg Garing has been a Nashville insider legend for a long time. When the city's Lower Broadway area was a no man's land, Garing helped make it a haven for singer-songwriters and lovers of roots music - although he might bristle at the terms. Finding a word to describe Garing, or even what he likes, is not easy. "The whole retro thing turns me off," says Garing. " I can't deal with all the watered-down alt-country stuff. Bluegrass music today isn't bluegrass music to me. You know how the old guys are about the new stuff? That's me." Garing began his professional career at the age of 10, playing boogie-woogie and ragtime piano at the local VFW hall in Erie, Pa. He was unimpressed with the music loved by his school-aged contemporaries. "At 15, I didn't even know who Kiss was," he says. At the age of 18, Garing moved to Nashville to find what he considered the real musicians - bluegrass and old-time greats, classic country artists from the beginnings of the Grand Old Opry "I played with the Crook Brothers," says Garing. "They were still on the Grand Ole Opry, and nobody knew it. They were there since the original broadcasts. I sat with Curly Fox (another vintage Opry veteran) for three days and learned all I could. I remember playing for hours with Jimmy Martin and Carl Story. "I look back at it, and it seems like a dream," he says. Garing mourns the loss of fiddle great Vassar Clements, Martin, John Hartford, Roy Husky and Benny Martin. He made 36 recordings with Clements and, he says, Hartford was "like a dad" to Garing when he moved to Nashville. And when Garing played with the musicians, he was in awe. "There I was, standing with my idols," he says. "It was just so powerful." He played fiddle in Jimmy Martin's band, the Sunny Mountain Boys, for two years. "I was the only Sunny Mountain Boy that he allowed to drink with him," says Garing. Well, sort of. Garing says that the legendarily capricious Martin would give Garing one drink of a fresh bottle and finish the rest himself, but Garing was honored nonetheless. On his own, Garing set up shop on Nashville's Lower Broadway. The area became a scene for fans of old-time country and honky-tonk traditionalists. Garing bemoans that the group BR-549 ended up getting most of the credit for the scene. In the mid-1990s, Garing moved to New York City, where he attempted to create a similar environment to what he had created in Nashville. While there, he released the album "Alone" (1997), which received great reviews, but sold little. Garing spent much of his time playing with and learning from the Harlem All-Stars, which included Al Casey (who had played in Fats Waller's band), Eddie Swenson (who had performed in Louis Armstrong's group) and other veterans of the classic jazz era. Garing returned to Nashville earlier this year to be with friends who were dying of cancer (Clements and old-time singer Jim Calvin). Both have since died. With precious few of country's greats still living, Garing says he's "out in the cold, cruel world, trying to figure out what to do" with all the information that has been imparted to him. What he's doing at the moment is hosting the "Music City Circus," a traveling concert featuring Garing and other artists whom he considers the "real thing." The Knoxville show will include multitalented performers Rosie Flores and Chris Scruggs. Yet Garing is hoping the show helps him find other artists to join the pack. "We're looking for our peers," he says. ---"Playing with Old-Time Idols was Powerful Lesson for Roots Musician" by WAYNE BLEDSOE bledsoe@knews.com November 4, 2005