Acoustic/fingerstyle guitarist Edward Gerhard is one of the genre's most gifted and highly regarded players. Although he currently resides in New England, Gerhard is originally from Philadelphia, where at the age of 14 he began playing guitar after being awestruck by the legendary Andrés Segovia. But it was another renowned guitarist, John Fahey, that inspired Gerhard to begin experimenting with open tunings, which would eventually become one of his trademarks. Gerhard issued his solo debut in 1987, Night Birds, which was chosen at the time as one of the Top Ten Albums of the Year by the Boston Globe Critics' Poll. While he released a collection of holiday songs in 1991, simply titled Christmas, it wasn't until 1993 that Gerhard issued his proper second solo release, Luna, which made the Record Round Up Critics' Top Ten Albums of the Year. Since then, Gerhard issued solo albums on a more regular basis, including 1996's Counting My Ways, 1998's On a Cold Winter Night, 1999's Live Album, and 2001's House of Guitars. In addition to his own albums, Gerhard has played on recordings by Arlo Guthrie and Bill Morrissey, was featured on the All-Star Guitar Night by Homespun Tapes video, and released A Fingerstyle Summit With Martin Simpson and Adrian Legg by Alfred Publishing. A longtime player of Breedlove Guitars, the company issued Gerhard's own signature model, which won the 2000 Player's Choice Award by Acoustic Guitar Magazine. ~ Greg Prato, Rovi
