Terryman is a musician, singer, songwriter, who has been in many scenes and many different styles of music. He is a fabulous live performer.

Woman love his voice, men his guitarplaying.

His career started in New York City, he was hired by John Lennon, David Peel, Debbie Harry, The Waterboys, Leslie West, to name a few, he's been on the road with The Grateful Dead, P-Funk, Richie Blackmore and Nazareth.

As a staff member of the infamous Fillmore East, he saw performances by, and hung out with Janis Joplin to Jimi Hendriks, Roland Kirk to Miles Davis, Mountain to Moby Grape and The Grateful Dead.

He recorded a single which ended up on the indie charts with great reviews. But when he did a follow up single, a song about a guy who shot some muggers on the subway. The record company said it was not politically correct so they did not want to release it.

Being fed up with agents and recordcompanies who limited his musical expression, he came to Europe and travelled in his VW van from city to city and from country to country to play on the townsquares. Free to develop his music and songwriting he became a streetlegend people still talk about.

Festivals and clubs wanted him and when the streets became overpopulated with musicians Terryman left the streets to play once again on a stage.

All these experiences made Terryman into an allround musician with a unique performance.

Terryman interviewed by Blues Monthly:

To his many fans, Terryman is a mystery. His shows are hard to describe, and
all the articles about him don't help much in defining his constantly
surprising performances. I go to his shows whenever I find him in town, and
interviewing him seemed like a good way find the truth and dispell the many
rumors about him. The following interview was taped between sets at a small
club in Amsterdam.

When asked where you're from, you answer New York as opposed to America.
Is a New Yorker really different from the rest of America?

New York isn't part of America. America is a suburb of New York.

I was told that all New Yorkers were cynics. Do you think this true?

Do you think I'm cynical? Let's be generous and say, like all true New Yorkers
I have dry sense of humor. We're all Woody Allen wannabes.

What was it like to grow up in New York? How did you get involved in
music?

Do you want the short or long answer? How long is your tape?

I've got lots of tape.

Ok. I'll be long winded. I grew up in greenwich village which was always a
little artsy fartsy. The area was a working class, mafia run, low rent, mish
mosh of ethnics. It was cheap to live there, so artists moved in, making it
even more trendy.
My involvement with music was accidental. I'd always written
poetry, and there was a piano in the house for my older brother who took
lessons. I began banging on the piano and singing my poems and wham! I was
suddenly a songwriter. I never took it seriously. I probably still don't.
Anyway, I got a job at a local theatre, the Fillmore east. This was the
beginning of my rock and roll education. You should google it to see what
it really was. Every night I got to hang out with and see performances by
people who weren't very big yet.
Janis Joplin, ( smarter than people think), Jimi Hendrix, ( totally musical
space cadet ), Roland Kirk, ( God), Miles Davis, ( hated white people), every
British band except the Beatles and the Stones, ( I later hung out and played
with some of them), and above all else my favorites, the Grateful Dead. They
were the original jam band, and had the greatest effect on my performance.
There was nothing like it, (the Allman Brothers were close), and there never will be again.
It's their spirit I try to capture in my shows.

How did you get to tour with big groups like Nazareth and the Grateful Dead?

It's all about who you know. After the Fillmore closed, and I had signed a bad
record deal, I needed a job. Since I knew so many people in rock, I went on the
road doing lights. It was fun to be part of a team.

There's a rumor that you're in the movie Hair. Why?

Why? I made a bunch of money doing that movie. It was a big party, and I was
being paid to be in Central Park. Maybe Milos Forman, (director) will read this
and call me for another movie.

What about Woodstock?

Yes! I was at Woodstock! I admit it! I worked at woodstock! Originally
Woodstock was to be a little festival. The Fillmore East and other assorted
hippie theatre organizations put it together. Well, there we were doing
whatever it was we were doing when… zap! Hundreds of thousands of people showed
up! I worked harder and did more muddy things that week than I ever had before,
or ever will again. My biggest memory of Woodstock, (aside from the music), is
mud.

How is jamband music different from rock?

Jambands are the opposite end of the music industry. It's music of the moment,
fast on it's feet and unafraid. Usually it's drug induced and floats away into
the cosmos. I hate to sound like a relic from a past era, but I sometimes
wonder if anyone remembers fun. I'll always be a jammer, and I'll always take
the audience with me when I go into that space.

Is this when you developed your songwriter skills and lyrics?

Oh. That's an easy one. As soon as I could hold a pencil I started writing poetry.
When I combined it with piano and guitar, it became song. It's what I still do
for fun. It's been my private world for so long that I'm having a hard
time commercializing it. Other people are starting to do my songs, but it's
like letting go of children.

In your bio you mention names like John Lennon, David Peel, Leslie West
these are persons unreachable for most people, how did you get to play with
them?

We all hung out in the same places. I've played with a lot of
"famous" people, but I didn't really notice. I did it for fun and the
money. It would have been a good joke if I'd taken pictures with all the
famous people I've know. I can just picture myself throwing my arms around
Miles Davis, ( a rather foul tempered and sullen man, prone to fits of
violence.), and saying to him, " Hey Miles, (I called him MR.DAVIS.), pose
for this picture so I can show it to everyone. I laugh now to think how he
would have reacted.

Who influenced you most ? Why?

Interesting question. Who influence YOU most in your life? Probably our
parents. My father was an amateur drummer. He used to go to the jam sessions on
52nd street and sit in with people like Charlie Parker and Telonius Monk. From
what my mother tells me, he was an embarrassingly bad, and was only allowed to
sit in because he was a nice guy. Sounds like a lot of the people who want to
sit in with me. I don't let them. Guess I'm not as nice as Charley Parker.

With so many musical geniuses around you what kind of sound were you most
drawn to yourself? Why?

For me the key word here is geniuses. I've been privileged to hang with so
many, and hope a little rubbed off. I look for brilliant and great things. It's
what makes life worth living. I'm happy that for some people I can do what
other artists do for me.

Were you always a singer, songwriter, guitarist? Did you
write all the songs you played?

I've always been a writer, and I rarely sing the songs I write, sometime I play
my original songs in a show and don't tell them the songs are mine. Then the
crowd starts singing my choruses. That's an ego thrill. Even more fun is
writing a song on the spot about something going on in the room andthem
thinking the song was written long ago. This improv spirit is how I have the
most fun. At my best I can take them on a journey somewhere they've never been
for an hour or two. I just share my private space with them.

You recorded one of your own songs, broke the charts. The song a mixture of
reagae and police with a solo that takes the audience into a new experience.
Did you know what you wanted when you wrote the song?

You've really done your research!

I listened to it and read the reviews.

I don't know about breaking charts, but I did get on the indie charts for a
while, and enjoyed being mildly successful and making almost enough money to
support my habits. I didn't expect anything to happen with the song, I'd
been working on other people's projects in the studio for years, but this was
actually my first attempt at doing something on my own. There's actually a video
that was out there for a while that went with it.

Great reviews.

I like this interview. You keep using words like grerat and success. Does that
mean wealth is soon to follow?

Everyone wanted to hear more, but nothing. Why?

Actually, I did do a follow up single called "Barbarian Times." It’s
the story of a white nerd who shot some black muggers on the subway. The record
company said it wasn't politically correct so they didn't want to release
it. A year later, this mild mannered nerd Bernie Goetz shot some muggers
on the New York subway and became a hero. The record company reissued the
single, and talked me into doing a video for it. I did, but the whole episode shows the true
character of the music industry Artistic interference doesn't come close to telling it like it is.
The suits needed to control the artist to justify theirhigher than high salaries. It was modern
day urban slavery. I'd rather not. An artist need's musical freedom to develop and grow. If he
makes money in the process all the better, but doing it the other way around is
heartbreaking and torturous.

You left America for Europe to find musical freedom. You became a street
musician travelling the continent with a vw van. How was Europe different from
New York?

I was lucky. I got to experience Europe before it became Americanized. Just a
few hours driving and I was in another country, another language, a
different culture, different music. I learned the value of entertainment.
People just wanted to have fun and be distracted from the bullshit. I'm still
drawing on the street experience for the club shows I do today. One year I did a thousand shows
on the street! If a show wasn't good, I had the chance to correct it an hour later. The best part was if you
weren't any good, you didn't make any money. That kept me on my toes and developing.

How did you become so successful on the streets?

I had no choice. The streets are a great place to learn. If you're good,you
survive. If you're not you'll soon get better....or get a day job. I was crappy
at it when I started. I thought I was all that, and people would look at me as
if I were crazy and keep on walkin'. Then I learned to entertain them. It took
a few years to get the hang of it.

Articles written about you all speak of your improvisation and use of the
situation and the joy of the audience. How did you develop your improvisation
skill?

I've had this weird rhyming ability since I was a kid. I used to make rhymes to
remember my schoolwork. The nuns used to smack me for mumbling and singing. I
still remember one from the fourth grade

What was it? Can you still sing it?

Sure. That's easier than answering all these questions.

Spain, Italy, France and Greece, for countries we do know,
They are around the same sea and the same crops do they grow.
They only have two seasons their climate is quite hot,
We get our olives grapes and dates all from this same spot,
Once long ago there lived along this very same sea,
Phoenicians, Romans and the Greeks, important these three,
Phoenicians made an alphabet and traveled far in boats,
The Romans conquered many lands, just look into your notes.

The nuns smacked you for that?
The nuns smacked you for everything back then, but in their defense they never
got to hear the songs, just the mumbling. They probably thought I was possessed
and tried to exorcise my demons.

Would you musically have reached the level that you are on if you had stayed
in New York?

I'm sure I would have become a serial killer if I'd stayed in New York. New
York is for the most part filled with yuppie transplants now. Rents are too
high, and people are afraid and have bad attitudes. I wrote a song about it
called "Fear City". There's a version of it on Myspace. You should
have a listen. It'll make you laugh.

I listened to it. Your lyrics are very real. Where else do you find the
inspiration?

I'm inspired every day. I have to stop myself from writing songs and stories
and scripts, because there's just too much inspiration for me to handle. Just
between the two of us, I think I'm going nuts. Maybe the serial killer thing
wasn't a joke after all. Did you tell anyone you were coming here?

No, but I've studies kung fu for ten year.

Ok. So much for that idea. Any more questions?

When do we finally get to hear the rest of the album and music we fans
have been waiting for for so long?
Well, it would go a lot faster if I didn't have to do promotional thingslike
interviews. Just joking. Actually, I've enjoyed this. Now with thehome studio
revolution, I'm having fun recording again. With the possibilities of the
internet, I'll soon be putting out the cd's and dvd'sI want without the
annoyance of the grim suits. How long did you study kung fu?

A long time.It sounds like you've led a full life and had great experiences.
Any regrets?

Only that you've studied kung fu. I'm getting into this serial killer idea.
Sure you won't stay for dinner.

No.

Oh well. Maybe next time. I'd love to serve you.

Thanks.