About John Ferguson
John Ferguson was born on Saint Helena Island off the coast of South Carolina. His mother is of the Gullah people and John grew up with the old ways all around him. His first guitar was a Harmony #1 with a one-coil pick-up, two knobs, and a Marvel amplifier. He still remembers the shape and look of it and the way it made him feel. He learned to play by listening.
Born December 3, 1953, John has been playing the guitar since age three. At five he was playing church music professionally, often out-seating musicians ten times his age. For three years he was a featured entertainer on the Low Country Sing on Channel 5 Charleston TV, appearing with his sisters (the Ferguson Sisters), a popular gospel trio. John was also featured on stage every morning at school, where the principal found that live music kept the students civilized before the start of class. In the seventh grade he was a mainstay of his high school band and chorus. In the tenth grade John formed his first band, the Soul Connection, playing rhythm and blues at school functions. In his junior year he attended the first integrated high school in Beaufort, SC and formed an integrated band, the Plastic Society, venturing into psychedelic pop music and beginning to play club dates. This began an extremely active period for John, playing dinner jazz interspersed with blues, soul and rock. "I always gave them a little more than they wanted. When it was time to beef things up I knew where to go."
John has recently come to Hillsborough from his home in Beaufort, South Carolina to lend his talents to the efforts of Tim Duffy and the Music Maker Relief Foundation. He performed on the national Winston Blues Revival Tour as a solo act and plays with artists Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, Carl Rutherford and Captain Luke both on the road and in the studio.
John's musical path is immersion. The man breathes music and plays from the inside out. He commands the rare ability to develop a theme on the fly, incorporating every element of the musical environment along the way and somehow summing them all up neatly when he feels the end coming. His improvised pieces carry the aesthetic sensibility of careful, painstakingly crafted works, which in fact they are; it is simply all done in real time. Coupled with the willingness to play with anybody, any time, in any style, familiar or not, John Ferguson possesses a formidable talent that is making him a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.
Born December 3, 1953, John has been playing the guitar since age three. At five he was playing church music professionally, often out-seating musicians ten times his age. For three years he was a featured entertainer on the Low Country Sing on Channel 5 Charleston TV, appearing with his sisters (the Ferguson Sisters), a popular gospel trio. John was also featured on stage every morning at school, where the principal found that live music kept the students civilized before the start of class. In the seventh grade he was a mainstay of his high school band and chorus. In the tenth grade John formed his first band, the Soul Connection, playing rhythm and blues at school functions. In his junior year he attended the first integrated high school in Beaufort, SC and formed an integrated band, the Plastic Society, venturing into psychedelic pop music and beginning to play club dates. This began an extremely active period for John, playing dinner jazz interspersed with blues, soul and rock. "I always gave them a little more than they wanted. When it was time to beef things up I knew where to go."
John has recently come to Hillsborough from his home in Beaufort, South Carolina to lend his talents to the efforts of Tim Duffy and the Music Maker Relief Foundation. He performed on the national Winston Blues Revival Tour as a solo act and plays with artists Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, Carl Rutherford and Captain Luke both on the road and in the studio.
John's musical path is immersion. The man breathes music and plays from the inside out. He commands the rare ability to develop a theme on the fly, incorporating every element of the musical environment along the way and somehow summing them all up neatly when he feels the end coming. His improvised pieces carry the aesthetic sensibility of careful, painstakingly crafted works, which in fact they are; it is simply all done in real time. Coupled with the willingness to play with anybody, any time, in any style, familiar or not, John Ferguson possesses a formidable talent that is making him a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.