September 29th 1941-May 15th 1995

Perry Lederman, who died May 15 at his home in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, after a long battle with cancer, was one of the little-known legends of the folk revival. Born in Brooklyn, NY, he was inspired to learn guitar after seeing Tom Paley playing in Washington Square Park and quickly became one of the foremost fingerstyle players in the city, exploring and reviving traditional styles in the company of friends like Danny Kalb and Roy Berkeley. He was also a peerless seeker-out of vintage ¾-size Martin guitars, which he continued to favor throughout his life.

Perry continued to play during a brief college stint in Ann Arbor, Michigan, then moved to Berkeley, California, where he became a leading folk performer in partnership with writer and poet Al Young. His playing, notable for its passion and imagination, and an astonishing, controlled vibrato, was a major influence on later West Coast players like John Fahey and frequent housemate and jamming partner Michael Bloomfield. It was during this period that he made his only issued recording, on a Bay Area sampler for the Arhoolie label. More interested in the music itself than in commercial success, Perry put the guitar aside just as his West Coast followers began to receive national attention, preferring to spend eight years studying sarod as a student and friend of Indian master Ali Akbar Khan.