About 70 years ago, Art Garfunkel formed his first musical duo when he noticed he blended voices nicely with an elementary school friend named Paul. He formed his second one several decades later when he discovered a similar chemistry with his eldest son, Art Garfunkel Jr. After years of performing together on concert stages all across the globe, they released their debut LP last month, Father and Son. They’ve dubbed themselves “Garfunkel and Garfunkel.”
Right now, Garfunkel and Garfunkel are sitting in a conference room at New York City’s Pierre Hotel, signing vinyl copies of Father and Son, and looking back at the formation of their musical partnership, which started when Art Jr. (then known as James Garfunkel) would come onstage at his father’s concerts at just 18 months old. “We got him used to the microphone,” says Art Sr. “When you’re young, you just hear the magnification in the reverb ringing through the house, and the microphone becomes a kid’s toy.”
Art Jr. remained fixated on that toy all throughout childhood, focusing much of his energy on training his voice and creating music. Art Sr. never discouraged him. “I praised him when he did the good stuff,” he says. “I left alone things that I didn’t agree with. I learned from the psychologist B.F. Skinner about white rat experiments. You praise it when it’s good, and you leave it alone when it’s not.”
As the years passed, Art Jr. became a regular part of his father’s stage show, helping him hit notes that were no longer in his rage. He moved to Germany as a teenager, learned the language, and eventually started performing Simon and Garfunkel classics in German to adoring crowds, releasing the 2021 LP Wie du-Hommage An Meinen Vater [Just Like You – A Tribute to My Father].
“I think that the Simon and Garfunkel sensibility fits well within the German way of thinking,” says Art Jr. “Somehow the less is more. Two men come on stage with no extra fuss, and sing with their real names. It’s the German direct sensibility. The folk fits in well.”
The idea of cutting a proper Garfunkel and Garfunkel album lingered in both their heads this whole time, and they decided to finally make it a reality last year. “The tremendously terrible thought of not doing it is what pushed me to do this,” says Art Jr. “We felt the need to make this happen now, and document the two of us, which ended up being this exciting new thing.”
While pickings songs for the project, Art Sr. gravitated toward classics from the mid-20th century, including “Let It Be Me” by the Everly Brothers, “Blackbird” by the Beatles, “Father and Son” by Cat Stevens, and “Vincent” by Don McLean. Art Jr. opted for Eighties tunes his father didn’t know very well, including “Here Comes the Rain Again” by Eurythmics, and “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper. “To me,” says Art Sr., “music fell off after the Sixties. I’m a vinyl records man.”
“And I’m an Eighties guy,” adds Art Jr. “And ‘Time After Time’ is now one of my dad’s favorite songs on the record.””
The songs may come from decades past, but it was important to Art Jr. to have a modern sound. That’s why he turned to German songwriter/producer Felix Gauder, Italian string arranger Davide Rossi, and producer/mixer Ash Howes, who has worked with One Direction, Dido, and Ellie Goulding. They created a lush, symphonic backdrop for the Garfunkel and Garfunkel vocal blend. “I wanted a modern orchestral album and I thought that my father would most likely oblige,” says Art Jr. “He felt it was a delightful idea.”
Art Sr. laid down his vocals at the Power Station in New York City alongside Art Jr. and Gauder, who finished the album in Stuttgart, Germany. “I let them define the experience and I stood on the microphone and they played producer,” says Art Sr. “And it became what it is without my direction, but their direction.”
The only song on the album from the Simon and Garfunkel catalog is “Old Friends. “From the opening chords, ‘Old Friends’ is magnificent,” says Art Sr. “A man in his twenties, Paul Simon, had the maturity to project how terribly strange it is to be 70. To pull that off in such a touching way with that advanced maturity at a young age is extraordinary.”
They’ll be playing “Old Friends” along with a smattering of other S&G classics and selections from Father and Son during a week-long residency at New York’s Cafe Carlyle between Nov. 12 and 16. They’ll be joined onstage by Art Jr.’s little brother Beau, and their mother, Kathryn Garfunkel. (They’re billing themselves as The Garfunkels as opposed to Garfunkel, Garfunkel, Garfunkel, and Garfunkel.)
The Garfunkels will be joined by guitarist Tab Laven along with a pianist and a percussionist. “I’ve made up a rough setlist and I’m dying to define it and make it a definite 17-song set list,” says Art Sr. “It’s an hour show. It uses all the permutations and combinations of four talented people. Beau is a wonderful harp player and he’ll be playing that. He’ll sing ‘Danny Boy’ too. I think we’re going to open with ‘Let It Be Me.’”
Art Sr. has played live very infrequently since the outbreak of Covid in 2020, and the shows are a test run of sorts for future road activity. “I have a feeling I’ll come off the stage after these five shows and say, ‘That was great,” he says. “It should remind me of how much fun it always was. And that should lead to more bookings.”
But don’t expect to see the entire family on the road. “This is a one-off family show that we’d like to do from time to time,” says Art Jr. “But Garfunkel and Garfunkel is a dynamic duo.”