Tony Garnier

Tony Garnier (born Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1956) is an American bassist (both double bass and bass guitar), best known as an accompanist to Bob Dylan, with whom he has played since 1989. He is Dylan's longest-running sideman, and has sometimes been characterized as his "musical director" as well.

In addition to his work with Dylan, Garnier has recorded with Tom Waits, Loudon Wainwright III, Paul Simon, Marc Ribot and Eric Andersen, and 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. He was also a long-time sideman for David Johansen in his Buster Poindexter persona.

His 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.[3] 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.[4] Tony Garnier is the younger brother of D'Jalma Garnier born 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. Both of their parents were musicians working with non-profits in California.

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.

In 2008, Garnier is working with Michelle Branch in her third studio album, Everything Comes and Goes, to be released in 2009.

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