Pete Berryman
“Pete Berryman is one of the UK's hidden jewels. His playing displays maturity and subtlety that's an education for acoustic players” Guitarist         
“Highly singular and enchanting guitar playing” beGLAD           

“Quite simply, one of the finest” Time Out

"Caution - master at work ." fRoots


Guitarist, composer, singer, songwriter Pete Berryman arrived on the acoustic music scene in the 60's with the Famous Jug Band which also featured Clive Palmer of the Incredible String Band. At this time he also recorded with Ralph McTell, Wizz Jones and Al Stewart and in 1971 his influential LP with John James , Sky In My Pie, was released. Since then he has collaborated with many notable musicians, worked in theatre and film, and played as far afield as Hokitika and Abidjan.

Presently, as well as giving solo performances, he is touring " The Ghosts of May" with Pauline Sheppard, two Folk Jazz projects : PB3 and Burton Bradstock, and guitar duos with Adrian O'Reilly and Maarten Eijsker.  

 

Recent projects include

  • the CD “Duet” with Adrian O'Reilly
  • the stage show and CD “The Cry Of Tin” with Cornwall Songwriters
  • winning the International Pan Celtic Song Contest with his song “An Arvor” which he performed with West
  • “chasing Django's shadow” with Tony Oreshko.
  • the critically acclaimed solo albums "The Return" and "The Ghosts of May"

Pete performs regularly in the UK and occasionally in Europe.

His new CD "The Ghosts of May", a collection of compositions and arrangements for solo guitar based on traditional Cornish music, is enthusing both listeners and players alike. It is available on guitarcds.net .

"The Ghosts of May" is touring as a show - " An exciting new collaboration combining the very best of Cornish music and theatre. An exhilarating journey into tunes from Cornwall played on guitar by Pete Berryman, with a rich sprinkling of stories of the places visited from Pauline Sheppard ... a night to remember." Cornwall Calendar.

 

“Pete is one of the unsung heroes of the British acoustic guitar movement started by Davey Graham in the early 60's. Bert Jansch and myself usually get singled out as having followed in Davey's footsteps but we certainly weren't the only ones, and Pete was in there back then playing as well as any of us. It was Davey's duo recordings with Alexis Korner that set the mould, and Pete's early Transatlantic album with John James - “Sky In My Pie” a few years later was another milestone. It's difficult to understand how he could have been overlooked for so long. Maybe it has something to do with settling in Cornwall - “Once they crosses the Tamar they never returns” - kind of thing. But I guess it pays off in the long run. In fellow Cornish resident Adrian O'Reilly he has found exactly the right musician to rekindle the old magic and the results are wonderful. The world needs more of this music.”
John Renbourn