The Lost 1966 Waldeck Audition

Pearse, John

1-CD-Album DigiPac - four panel - with booklet. 18 tracks. Playing time: 41:45.
This set contains informal backstage tapes, previously thought lost, from 1966 Waldeck Festival. John Pearse has near-mythic status among guitar players, builders & designers. 'The folk guitarist who taught the protest generation how to play' - The 'Guardian' (UK). John Pearse is 'The Nation's guitar teacher.' 'stern' (Germany). Pearse recorded now-collectable albums like 'Guitar Train' (1958) and 'Blues, Rags & Raga' (1972) and hosted 1980s PBS show 'String Along.' 'John Pearse provided us with the right tools to play better music.' - Chris Hillman. He designed strings used and endorsed by Doc Watson, King Crimson & Dixie Chicks.
To many students of folk and blues guitar, John Pearse was a hero - the man who taught, performed, and helped popularize the genre. 'He left his mark on the musical world,' says Cindy Cashdollar.
This is high praise, and it hardly stops here. Bear Family Records offers a unique glimpse of this highly esteemed musician, drawn from these informal, unguarded performances. The 18 tracks presented here - for the first time ever - showcase Pearse backstage at the Waldeck Folk Festival in 1966. Pearse appeared at this premier German festival on four consecutive years, between 1965-68. The tapes offer a rare glimpse of his casual, non-studio persona. Unless you were in the first ten rows, you wouldn't have heard him so clearly.
Pearse taught designing, building and playing of stringed instruments to countless members of a European and American audience through his BBC, ITV and PBS shows - more than he could have ever reached through the endless touring of folk venues.
Despite his untimely death in 2008, John Pearse continues to reach an appreciative audience. The unmarked reel-to-reel tapes that gave rise to this unexpected CD will delight his legion of fans and draw new listeners to him.