JON HERRINGTON & LESLIE MENDELSON

Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Leslie Mendelson is supporting her most recent studio album ‘If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…,’ as well as a solo acoustic EP ‘In The Meantime,’  Described by Relix Magazine as an artist with “a loyal, cross-generational audience that hugs the hippie, hipster, coffee shop and society crowds,” Leslie’s timeless musicality and evocative songwriting indeed cuts a wide swath. All Music writes that Leslie evokes “1970s songwriter influences in the vein of Carole King and Carly Simon,” while The Aquarian calls her “the closest thing one can get to a truly honest musical experience.”

Mendelson’s previous work, including 2009 Grammy-nominated debut album ‘Swan Feathers’ and 2017 album, ‘Love & Murder’  Also ” Leslie’s duet with Jackson Browne for the documentary film, ‘5B,’ released in 2019 to name just a few

If Leslie’s only collaboration with a legendary musician was Jackson Browne, it would be a worthy point to celebrate. What’s truly telling is that Leslie has also drawn the attention of The Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir who recorded a duet with her on Roy Orbison’s standard, “Blue Bayou,” while no less than classic rock royalty The Who invited her  to open two shows at Madison Square Garden. With some of rock music’s most legitimate voices seeking Leslie out, it leaves no doubt the rarefied air she inhabits as an artist.    

 Tony Garnier

• Bass player, member of Bob Dylan’s backing band since June 10, 1989
• “bass player and musical director” (Duke Robillard)
• The musician who has played most shows with Dylan ever.

May 10, 2019: Tony Garnier is 63 years old today.

Both double bass and bass guitar player, Garnier has been an accompanist
to Bob Dylan since 1989. He is Dylan's longest-running sideman and his
musical director.

Many accounts claim that Garnier was born on August 18. However, that
sprung from Dylan wishing Garnier a happy birthday as a joke during a
performance. Garnier confirmed his actual birthday is May 10.

In addition to his work with Dylan, Garnier has recorded with Tom Waits,
Loudon Wainwright III, Paul Simon, Marc Ribot and Eric Andersen. He was
a member of Asleep at the Wheel (from 1976-78) and The Lounge Lizards.

He also played with Robert Gordon in the early 1980s, and was a
long-time sideman for David Johansen in his Buster Poindexter persona.
For a brief time, he was a member of the Saturday Night Live house band.

Garnier's musical heritage descends from the Camelia Brass Band in New
Orleans led by his grandfather, D'Jalma Garnier, (also spelled Ganier
while with Camelia Brass Band), a legendary early jazz player noted on
the Preservation Hall roster in the New Orleans French Quarter.

Garnier is one of numerous grandsons descended from D'Jalma Thomas
Garnier, the New Orleans bandleader, trumpet player, pianist and
violinist said to have taught Louis Armstrong at the New Orleans Boys
Home for Colored Waifs.

Tony Garnier is the younger brother of D'Jalma Garnier (born in 1954),
the fiddler, composer, guitarist and "pedestrian scholar" of Louisiana
Creole fame. The two brothers are the only descendants of Papa Garnier
to become professional musicians in the legacy of this significant New
Orleans musical family. 


Before joining Dylan's Neverdending Tour Band in 1989, Tony added bass
tracks to films by Jim Jarmusch, most notably Down by Law, filmed in
Louisiana. He appeared in Bob Dylan's 2003 film, Masked and Anonymous.
Garnier worked with Michelle Branch on her third studio album,
Everything Comes and Goes, released in 2010.