“The Sound of Silence” was the breakthrough smash for Simon & Garfunkel, which became the iconic pop-folk duo’s initial chart-topper in 1965. However, there was another later kind of silence for Art Garfunkel that wasn’t music to the ears of the entertainer. During a 2010 show with Mr. Simon, the longtime smoker noticed he had trouble singing in his mid-range — a problem that only worsened.
“I had a couple of extremely difficult years,” Mr. Garfunkel said during a call from his home in New York. “Losing a voice for Artie Garfunkel is a tragic thing.”
Mr. Garfunkel has regained his unparalleled vocal ability. To prove it, the 75-year-old vocalist, who will perform Tuesday through Thursday at The Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, sings a few bars from “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
“I can’t tell you how thankful I am,” Mr. Garfunkel said of still being able to hit the dirge’s high notes. “I’m still very capable.”
During his three-night stand at the Virginia venue for his “In Close-Up” tour, Mr. Garfunkel will offer a potpourri of songs from both his collaborations with Mr. Simon as well as from his extensive solo career.
“It will be all about feel,” he said. “When I’m about to perform the fifth song [in the set], I’ll decide what to do when the whole house is feeling the last bar of the fourth song. I’ll be asking myself, ’Where do I go next? Do I talk to the audience? Do I try and change the mood?’
“I ask myself quite a few questions.”
A question that is impossible not to ask Mr. Garfunkel is if there will be another Simon & Garfunkel reunion. Their “Old Friends” tour in late 2003 was eagerly enjoyed by sell-out audiences and drew rave reviews, with the tour raking in over $120 million stateside alone. But then the old familiar squabbling began anew; the duo has not performed together since the 2010 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
“Unfortunately, our delightful blend of voices live inside human beings, who are much messier than two beautiful voices,” Mr. Garfunkel explained. “The human beings have personalities, flaws, sticky points.
“It’s not that easy for two human beings to mesh like two voices,” he said.
The New York duo, who first met as children in 1953, split up as a musical unit in 1970, right at their commercial and cultural peak and hits like “Mrs. Robinson,” “The Boxer” and “The Sound of Silence.”
Despite occasional reunions, it’s hardly a secret that relations have been largely frosty ever since.
“It’s not easy,” Mr. Garfunkel said. “I haven’t spoken with him in quite a while now. … I hope he’s healthy. We have mutual friends, but I don’t know what’s going on.”
Mr. Garfunkel, who has frequently been considered the lesser member of the famous duo, remains open to the possibility of again rejoining his old partner on stage, while acknowledging that both parties would have to take a substantial reverse-ego trip to make it happen.
“If we could leave out the personalities, we would have a beautifully recorded session,” he said of a theoretical return to the studio.
However, Mr. Simon was quoted in Entertainment Weekly that a reunion with Mr. Garfunkel is “out of the question” since the two no longer speak. Mr. Simon has been busy with his own solo pursuits, and his wife, Edie Brickell, wrote the music for the Broadway music “Bright Star,” based on a story by Steve Martin.
“What we do isn’t about money,” Mr. Garfunkel said. “It’s never been about that. It’s about doing what we want to do.”
The same can be said for Mr. Garfunkel’s career as an actor, which has included lauded work in such films as 1971’s “Carnal Knowledge,” 1980’s “Bad Timing” and 2010’s “The Rebound.” He also spoofed himself on an episode of the musical comedy “Flight of the Conchords.”
A look back is also in the works for Mr. Garfunkel, who is penning a memoir, which he believes will hit shelves during the fall of 2017.
“It’s about the wonder of it all,” he said of the autobiography. “It’s about my love life, music and, well, everything. It’s wild. I get to write this book and sing. What more could I want?”
Putting aside the burdens of the past, Mr. Garfunkel says he is just happy to be able to sing once more — and perhaps lift the spirits of those, like himself, troubled at the presidential election results.
“You come to the show, and you’ll forget about things for awhile,” he said, calling his show a “less is more” project.
“My level of vitality is very healthy,” Mr. Garfunkel said. “I’m very happy where I am now.”
Art Garfunkel appears Tuesday through Thursday at 8 p.m. at The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Rd., Vienna, Virginia, 22182. Tickets are $80 to $90 by calling 703/255-1900 or visiting WolfTrap.org.
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