Harvey Reid

Harvey Reid has spent decades refining his abilities as both a songwriter and a multi-instrumentalist, performing in venues ranging from clubs and festivals to street corners, cafes, schools, and concert halls throughout the United States. Observers have occasionally labeled him the "renaissance man of folk music." He immersed himself in the broad catalog of American musical traditions and reshaped them into a singular, vividly personal approach. More than a dozen solo releases on Woodpecker Records highlight his command of varied acoustic idioms, spanning hip folk and country through slashing slide guitar blues, bluegrass, old-time, Celtic, ragtime, and classical forms. His command of the guitar in particular has established him as a prominent figure in acoustic circles, evidenced by victories at the 1981 National Fingerpicking Guitar Competition and the 1982 International Autoharp competition, along with a win at the Beanblossom Bluegrass Guitar Contest earned through his flat-picking prowess. An experienced session and ensemble player, Reid also sings with authority, writes incisive lyrics, composes and arranges prolifically, and handles mandolin, bouzouki, six-string banjo, and autoharp with equal assurance.

Although he maintains a somewhat withdrawn profile, his standing among fellow musicians continues to grow. Independent of major-label affiliations and mainstream promotional machinery, his work nevertheless registers within the wider field. Inclusion on Rhino Records’ 1995 compilation Acoustic Music of the 90's and the selection of his Steel Drivin' Man album as one of Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s Top Ten Essential Folk Albums of All Time in 1996 illustrate that reach. Tracks have surfaced in the BBC series Billy Connolly's World Tour of Scotland, and he appears regularly at leading American festivals and clubs, among them the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Walnut Valley Festival. Reviewers and broadcasters across the country have begun to recognize his catalog, while listeners nationwide attend his performances in growing numbers. Sales of his Woodpecker Records releases have approached 100,000 units and continue to rise.

Reid has shaped acoustic practice in additional respects. He is largely responsible for current understanding of the partial capo, having originated the most widely adopted tunings in contemporary use, including the Esus configuration, and he was the first to document and record music employing the device. In 1980 he co-established the Third Hand Capo Company and authored Modern Folk Guitar, the earliest college-level textbook on the subject, issued that same year by Random House and still available through McGraw-Hill. He persuaded Fishman Transducers to create the Acoustic Blender system, participated in its design, and composed the accompanying manual. Among the earliest independent acoustic artists to produce a CD and DAT recordings, he further advanced the transition to direct-to-digital methods through articles published in acoustic-music periodicals. He became Taylor Guitars’ first endorser in 1983, when the company employed only four people.

Reid’s self-reliant path has made him a model for numerous emerging musicians who operate outside conventional industry channels. He takes satisfaction in this independence and regards himself as a contemporary counterpart to the itinerant minstrels of earlier eras. Listeners frequently detect in his work traces of the traditional troubadour, the modern singer-songwriter, the American parlor picker, and the classical virtuoso, together with occasional flashes of Will Rogers-style wit. His playing draws on folk, country, classical, blues, ragtime, rockabilly, Celtic, bluegrass, and pop sources. A broad store of traditional and recent material informs his sets, which center on original compositions alongside older songs, creating performances that remain distinctive for audiences.