NEW ALBUM: Where Is Harold?

Guitar virtuoso Cool John Ferguson may have passed away in August 2025, but his musical legacy lives on. Music Maker Foundation is proud to share Where Is Harold?, a never-before-heard solo acoustic album by Cool John recorded in Hillsborough, NC in 2006.

Born in Beaufort, SC in 1953, Cool John 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, he 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.

“He was a brilliant musician,” says Tim Duffy, Music Maker co-founder and Executive Director. “John could flow seamlessly between musical styles – blues, folk, country, gospel, jazz, whatever the moment called for. Taj Mahal met him, heard him play, and told me John was among the top five guitarists he had ever heard in his career.”

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, NC for many years, and toured with the Music Maker Blues Revue across the United States, Europe, Australia, and Central America.

“But at home, and out on the road,” says Duffy, “he would often just pick up my acoustic guitar and play for himself. Where Is Harold? captures that very intimate and personal music, the sound of John playing not for a stage or an audience, but simply because the music was in him.”

Recorded in 2006 in Hillsborough, NC, Where Is Harold? presents 11 never-before-heard acoustic tracks, all written and performed by Cool John himself.

“Listening to it, you can hear his genius plainly,” Duffy says. “He belongs up there with Bola Sete, Luiz Bonfá, Wes Montgomery — a pure instrumental genius. John passed away too young, and I wanted to share this deeply personal recording, because it shows another side of him, the side few people ever got to hear.”

Where Is Harold? is available now on CD, Bandcamp, and all major streaming services.