Jan Garrett & J.D. Martin

Jan Garrett and J.D. Martin are a powerful team. Two soulful singer/songwriters whose styles and sensibilities have evolved along separate but complimentary paths for many years.

J.D. grew up singing 4-part a capella gospel music in church in Virginia and Illinois. He studied classical piano, got a degree in music, and eventually moved to Aspen, Colorado in the early ‘70s where he almost connected with Jan Garrett, a popular local folk and blues singer. They walked the same streets, knew the same people, even played in the same clubs. But for unknown reasons that we are now wise enough to respect, they never met face to face.

J.D. played for several years in the band “Tanglefoot,” then went on to become a successful songwriter in Nashville where he co-wrote 1 4 hit singles for artists such as Reba McEntire, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Tern Clark. After a brief recording career with Capitol Records, he moved to Los Angeles where he landed a writing contract for Warner/Chappell Music.

Back in Aspen, Jan’s band, “Liberty” recorded and toured with John Denver and Steve Martin, and appeared on the Tonight Show. Jan joined the Dirt Band for their historic 1977 Soviet tour, and was listed in the Rolling Stone “Who’s Who in Rock & Roll.” After the birth of her twin daughters, she began singing jazz and writing music for children’s theater. She made a living teaching non-traditional voice and piano-by-ear, and facilitating numerous workshops on creativity, improvisation, and, more recently, the Wild Woman Archetype. In 1992 she released “Don’t Go Back to Sleep,” a solo album of her original songs.

In August of 1995 some mutual friends invited both Jan and J.D. to a special wedding anniversary celebration at a high Alpine skiing shelter above Lenado, Colorado. All it took was seeing and hearing each other close up. The inevitable began to unfold.

They began writing and traveling back and forth and soon realized that they were not only co-inventing songs but were also calling into creation a whole new era for themselves and their music. In 1999 they co-produced Jan’s second solo album of original songs entitled, “Gypsy Midwife, Songs for Soul Retrieval”.

In August of 2000, Jan and J.D. were married in an intimate three day ceremony in their beloved mountains of Colorado, which is where they now live and continue to explore creative possibilities. J.D. recently released his first CD, “One Heart,” a collection of songs that he describes as “music from the heart and for the spirit.”

Booking and Contact Information