Garrison Leykam hadn't stepped on a stage since 2002, but a knee replacement this past summer changed that. The 77-year-old West Hartford resident has signed recording and songwriting agreements with Verdict Music, a Massachusetts-based label, and the deal traces back directly to his recovery from surgery on June 25.
Leykam received a guitar while recovering from the operation, and it reignited something that had lain dormant for two decades, according to the Hartford Courant. He rediscovered writing and performing music while recuperating, and he has said he feels reconnected to music and like he is 18 again. Music, he has said, has always been part of his life, even during the years he spent away from the stage.
From Knee Pain to a Record Deal
Out of that recovery came “Knee Replacement Blues,” a song that, per a pr.com release, draws humor and hope from his own surgery and rehabilitation. Leykam has since written about 14 songs centered on growing older, part of a project he calls Senior Rock, telling contemporary stories about aging through original rock, blues, country and Americana music. His catalog covers ground including artificial intelligence from a senior's perspective, being a long-distance grandfather, using technology to stay in touch with grandchildren, self-driving cars, and his granddaughter's future and the environment.
About a month before the release went public, Leykam reached out to Steve Berger, president and owner of Verdict Music, the Hartford Courant reports. He submitted his seasonal ballad “Merry Christmas, My Boy” — a song about a father mourning a son lost in war — to Berger and a colleague identified as Vivian. Berger has said he decided to sign Leykam after hearing the song, and Verdict Music, which the pr.com release describes as an independent label and publisher with worldwide distribution through Sony Music, has signed him both as a recording artist and as a songwriter who will write for other artists. Berger plans to release “Merry Christmas, My Boy” later this year for the holiday season.
A Rehabilitation Celebration and a National Stage
Leykam's comeback has already reached beyond his own living room. Christopher Carlin, Hartford HealthCare's vice president of operations for its community network, played “Knee Replacement Blues” before speaking at a National Association of Rehabilitation Providers and Agencies conference, incorporating the song and Leykam's patient story into his opening presentation, according to the pr.com release. Carlin has said the song was received very well at the event, and he received a recording of it from Leykam in recognition of his physical therapist.
Hartford HealthCare has invited Leykam to share his story and music at a rehabilitation celebration on November 6, where roughly 400 people are expected to attend. Leykam expects to recover fully within a year of his surgery. NBC Connecticut also featured Leykam and the Senior Rock project on CT Live in September, per the same pr.com account.
A Music Career That Started More Than 50 Years Ago
Leykam's return to the industry isn't his first act. He began performing more than 50 years ago while attending Iona University in New Rochelle, New York, where he was classmates with Don McLean and later performed on the same bill as him at other venues, according to the Hartford Courant's reporting. He has also performed on the college coffeehouse circuit and opened for The Beach Boys and The Four Tops, according to his own website, garrisonleykamphd.com.
Walt McGuire, who was London Records' vice president of A&R in 1970, signed Leykam to the label after seeing him perform, Leykam has said. Leykam spent a decade at London Records, from 1970 to 1980, working in production, engineering, A&R and recording studio operations, and working as a producer and engineer alongside prominent musicians, including the Rolling Stones, the Moody Blues, Eric Clapton and John Mayall, and David Bowie, per the Courant. His personal website separately credits him with work on the mastering and production of the Rolling Stones' compilation album Hot Rocks 1964–1971. London Records was sold to PolyGram in 1979, and Leykam eventually left the music industry for corporate life before signing a new record deal decades later after writing more than a dozen songs about aging.
Leykam's embrace of his age is part of a broader public persona. A prior Hartford Courant profile described him as a West Hartford resident developing a YouTube show called Geezers, Gadgets, and Gizmos, and noted that he has embraced the word “geezer” with humor as a way of showing that older people live full lives.
