Gary Ferguson

Blessed with a distinctive voice that is smooth, sweet, full-bodied, and slightly dark, Gary Ferguson is at home on a stage fronting a bluegrass band before a festival audience of several thousand or appearing as a member of a duo in a cozy club or private home before an audience of less than 50. Gary brings together all of the elements that go into making a great show. He is not only talented as a singer, songwriter and musician, but he also excels at all of the other aspects of performing that are necessary to truly entertain an audience. Gary has a knack for finding great songs from many different genres of music and incorporating them into his sets along with many of his own originals. The result is a collection of material that sounds comfortable and familiar, yet fresh and new all at the same time. //Gary lists many artists as his influences – from the Rock and Roll of The Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, to the Bluegrass sounds of John Starling, and Larry Sparks, and more recently well known icons of the folk genre such as Mark Knopfler, and Mick Hanly. Gary first got into Bluegrass by attending the Union Grove Fiddler’s Convention in Union Grove, NC 1977. From there he “slid” into the Folk/Americana scene through listening to the Lee Michael Demsey show and other Folk shows, buying CD’s and attending concerts. He wrote his first song in 1969 while living in Texas and since then has gone on to write many songs which have been recorded by both himself and many other Bluegrass artists such Larry Sparks etc.Gary’s music has been featured on NPR’s “Car Talk” and he has placed several songs on the Bluegrass charts. He has had two number 2 songs on the “Bluegrass Unlimited Top 30 and 3 of his songs were in BU’s Top 200 Songs of the 1990’s. His song “Last Day at Gettysburg” was not only a big hit for Larry Sparks, but has also become somewhat of a “Bluegrass Classic” and can often be heard around campfires at Bluegrass festivals. The song also earned Gary a nomination for Song of the Year and Songwriter of the Year at SPBGMA in 1998. Gary also owns the Gunny Sack Music Publishing Company.//Gary has recorded or performed with: Tom Gray, James Bailey, Chris Warner, Bill Emerson, Ronnie McCoury, Robbie McCoury, Alan O’Bryant, Randy Howard, Tony Furtado, Mike Auldridge, Mark Schatz, Ron Stewart, David Parmley, Fred Travers, Ronnie Simpkins, Jimmy Gaudreau, Emory Lester, Junior Barber etc. His musical travels have taken him onto stages at the Birchmere, MerleFest, The Kennedy Center, Strawberry Music Festival, Grey Fox Festival, and numerous other venues across the US and Canada. Most recently, Gary has started a tradition of doing a musical tour of Ireland each summer. The summer of 2008 will be his fourth visit there.