News: March 23rd 2024: besides my solo gigs there will be some shows with my longtime duo-partner John Kirkbride (www.johnkirkbride.ferdleichner.de) and with Claudia Cane Trio Feb 19th 2023: "Find the Wild" is finished and online Jan 31st 2023: Four new songs are recorded and the first video of "Find The Wild" is coming soon... Nov 13th 2022: The Ukulele Song "See Me Through Your Eyes" is now online Oct 8th 2022: Video "Dust My Broom" is online Aug 1st 2022: New video "Snake Mountain Blues" is online Dec 10th 2021: The new single "Train To Extinction" is out now Nov 28th 2021: "Dog Train" is online Nov 22nd 2021: The next video is a cover of "Black Betty", this time as harpsolo... Nov 13th 2021: First video is online now: As The Crow Flies in Rory Gallagher´s version Nov 6th 2021: Songs are mastered and will be online available on Spotifiy etc. beginning of December Oct 10th 2021: new music and videos will be online beginning of November
It all started with losing a bet as a student and a harmonica. Ferdl ended up as a street musician on Berlin's KuDamm and had no idea how to play the thing. But this would change soon... Years later he turned out to be a bluesharp virtuoso and toured in many different line-ups and can be heard as a guest musician on numerous studio productions.
Now he appears mainly as a solo artist and relies entirely on the power of his simple line-up with guitar, blues harp and footstomp. He can not be completely tied to one musical genre. Some of his music is got some country feeling, some is like straight rock, a ballad on a Ukulele may be heard, but every note he plays is deeply rooted in the blues. The sounds vary from rough and earthy to sometimes more smooth and the music shows its class beyond all trends through its unadulterated authenticity. He takes over the legacy of old bluesmen like Muddy Waters and Son House or songwriters like Townes Van Zandt but he does not limit himself to mere reenactment. The magic lies in the way he plays these songs and makes them sound as if they were his own. Ferdl earned his nickname Air not only through his preference for big air jumps during his time as a freestyle skier, but also through his way of playing the harmonica. When it really gets down to business and he plays the 70ies classic rock version of "Black Betty" as a harpsolo, he proves that the blues harp is much more than the small pocket instrument that it is usually thought to be.