Nick Garrett-Powell

Nick Garrett-Powell is a performer and recording artist from Southern Oregon. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and recording engineer, his philosophy is that "life is too short for one style of music."

Performing onstage with acoustic guitars since the year 2000, Nick found himself playing unaccompanied most of the time, prompting him to begin developing his alternative style in an attempt to sound bigger than one instrument and voice. By 2002, playing "slap bass" style on the acoustic guitar had become his calling card, studying VHS tapes of Victor Wooten, Michael Manring, Billy Sheehan and others. Having seen a Chapman Stick performer in 2001, the touchstyle method became the next focus when he discovered the work of Stanley Jordan. In the year 2006, he watched his recording instructor TJ Helmerich demonstrate a technique called 8-finger tapping, and Nick began working on his own touchstyle approach, which ultimately led to many of his own innovations and inventions.

As a member of the guitar duo The Fret Drifters since 2011, Nick has appeared on the eponymous debut album The Fret Drifters and the single Gatekeepers, as well as performing innumerable gigs touring the Pacific Northwest of the United States and in South Eastern Australia, headlining music festivals and concerts and also performing as an opening act for such luminaries as Tommy Emmanuel, Eric Johnson, Black Violin, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo, The Little River Band, Firefall, Orleans, Jeff Achison, Jeff Pevar, Claude Haye, Lachey Doley, Rick Springfield, Janeane Garofalo and many more.

A prolific performer, audio engineer, and artist, Nick is also an educator and inventor.