Garrett began writing songs on guitar at the age of thirteen and put out several demos while living around Burbank, Glendale and Echo Park in Los Angeles in his youth.
Pierce then moved to San Francisco in 2005 where he began to perform at venues such as Bottom of the Hill and the Great American Music Hall and subsequently recorded his first full album, Like a Moth,[1] which featured fellow musicians Jolie Holland and Matt Bauer.
While touring with respected New York anti-folk artist Diane Cluck, Pierce met and began working with songwriter and instrumentalist Timothy James Wright and soon after recorded Garrett's second album All Masks in Wright's barn and house in the gold rush town of Columbia, California.
The City of Sand is Pierce's most successful to date with several music videos created for the singles "Everybody Breaks", "Why oh Why" and "Statue Song".
Pierce also made videos around this period covering Joy Division's "Twenty-Four Hours" and Seal's "Crazy".