Cool John Ferguson Where Is Harold?
Cool John Ferguson
Where Is Harold?
Music Maker Foundation
Cool John Ferguson was born John Wesley Ferguson in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1953. He was as close to a born musician as anyone, moving between gospel, blues, soul, jazz, and even psychedelic pop music with ease. After joining Music Maker in 1998, Cool John had a hand in making countless albums on the nonprofit’s label, including classic recordings by Essie Mae Brooks, Carl Rutherford, and Captain Luke, as well as his own solo albums. Cool John was best known as a virtuosic electric guitarist, a true artist who could hold his own against the greatest blues and rock legends of his generation. He was a regular performer at the All Peoples Grill in Durham, North Carolina, for many years, and toured with the Music Maker Blues Revue across the United States, Europe, Australia, and Central America. But at home he would often just pick up his acoustic guitar and play for himself. Where Is Harold? captures that very intimate and personal music of John playing not for a stage but simply because the music was in him. This recording was made in 2006. Cool John passed away in August 2025.
Listening to Where Is Harold?, you can hear Cool John’s genius — he belongs up there with Wes Montgomery, Bola Sete, and Luiz Bonfá, a pure instrumental genius. The instrumentals include “If Harry,” “Foolin’ Around the Barn,” “Serious, Serious, Sadness,” the psychedelic “Durham Blues,” “Uncle Johnny,” “Australia,” “Marina,” “False Love,” the seven-minute “Good Man Gone Bad,” and “No Hidin’ Please.”
We finally get to hear Cool John croon on “Did You Ever See a One-Eyed Woman Cry?”: “Did you ever see a one-eyed woman cry? just look real close, tears only come out of one eye. Did you ever see a one-eyed woman cry? Did you ever see a one-eyed woman cry? if you look real close tears only come out of one eye.”
When Taj Mahal met Cool John and heard him play, he told Music Maker’s executive director, Tim Duffy, that Cool John was among the top five guitarists he had ever heard in his career. It’s time to check out Cool John Ferguson.
Richard Ludmerer
