John Sferra

Phil Keaggy was a member of a mid-1960s garage rock band called the Squires; one of their songs, which he co-wrote, appears on the compilation album Highs in the Mid-Sixties, Volume 9.

In 1967 he moved on to briefly record with the band The New Hudson Exit.

At one point, the band had apparently considered Joe Walsh as lead guitarist.

Walsh would later establish himself as guitarist for the James Gang before embarking on a solo career and working with Eagles.

Glass Harp are a rock band formed in Youngstown, Ohio in 1968 consisting of Phil Keaggy, drummer John Sferra and bassist Daniel Pecchio.

In 1968, Keaggy and longtime friend drummer John Sferra, along with bassist Steve Markulin, formed the band Glass Harp.

The band gigged in and around the Youngstown, Ohio area, finding work anywhere from school dances to clubs.

This incarnation of the band recorded several demos and released the single "Where Did My World Come From?"

on the United Audio label in 1969.

Markulin left the group to join his Cousin Joe in another successful Youngstown band, The Human Beinz.

John Carazino then briefly served as bassist, after which Keaggy and Sferra recruited bass player Daniel Pecchio.

Pecchio, formerly of the band The Poppy, was also a flautist, a talent that would later be showcased on a few of Glass Harp's songs.

Having recorded a new set of demos and signing with new management, the band set out to polish their live act and shop for a recording deal.

The band quickly found a following in the thriving music scene of Northeast Ohio, particularly alongside contemporaries such as The James Gang.

Glass Harp were especially popular at the legendary JB's in Kent, Ohio, playing to packed houses during the volatile days surrounding the anti-war demonstrations at Kent State University.

With their latest demos having found the ears of Grammy Award-winning producer Lewis Merenstein, Glass Harp began work on their first album for the Decca label in the fall of 1970.

The eponymous debut album and two subsequent studio albums were recorded in Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios with Merenstein as producer.

Following the release of their 1970 debut album with guest John Cale on viola, Glass Harp soon began getting more high-profile opening spots for some of the biggest bands of the day, such as Alice Cooper, Chicago, Yes, Traffic, and Grand Funk Railroad, among many others.

Contrary to the tight production and song-oriented nature of their studio albums, the band's live shows at the time demonstrated Glass Harp's ability to stretch out and expand the boundaries of their compositions.

While Glass Harp could be classed among the progressive rock bands of the era, they were in fact one of the pioneers of what would later be known as the jam rock genre, with songs many times reaching over 30 minutes in length with extended solo passages and group improvisation.

By 1971, Glass Harp became one of the most popular (if not one of the highest-paid) groups in Northeast Ohio.

This led to both supporting and headlining shows nationally from The Fillmore East to The Winterland Ballroom.

On November 21, 1971, the band played an opening spot for The Kinks at New York City's prestigious Carnegie Hall, receiving a thunderous ovation at the end of their hour-long set.

1972 would be a pivotal year for the group.

Having recently released a second album (Synergy) Glass Harp were asked to perform a live concert on PBS in February.

This broadcast would become groundbreaking in that it was one of the first to be simulcast on both television and the then-nascent FM radio.

On August 6, 1972 (shortly before their third studio album It Makes Me Glad was released) Phil Keaggy played his final show with Glass Harp at My Father's Place, Roslyn, New York before embarking on a solo career.

Having already written Christian-themed lyrics throughout his time in Glass Harp, Keaggy found an audience in the burgeoning Jesus music scene, and later achieved worldwide fame as both a songwriter and instrumentalist as it evolved into Contemporary Christian Music.

With a tour of East Coast colleges and universities having already been booked for September 1972 in support of It Makes Me Glad, Sferra and Pecchio replaced Keaggy with guitarist Tim Burks.

In April 1973, violinist Randy Benson (formerly of Tiny Alice ) was added to the lineup.

This brief incarnation of the group lasted into October 1973, when they reverted to the trio of Sferra/Pecchio/Burks following Benson's departure.

Their last known concert before disbanding was on December 2, 1973 at Norwalk High School, Norwalk, Ohio.

All three members immediately moved on to other projects.

Sferra and Burks formed the short-lived group Hartship in 1974, while Pecchio became a founding member of the popular Michael Stanley Band.

In April 1981, Glass Harp reunited when Sferra and Pecchio made surprise appearances at two consecutive Phil Keaggy solo concerts in Ohio (Cleveland's Masonic Auditorium on April 10, and Akron's Civic Theatre on April 11).

Sferra and Pecchio would make a similar appearance at a Keaggy solo concert in Akron in 1986, before an official Glass Harp reunion show occurred at the Akron Civic Theatre on December 27, 1988

In 1993, John Sferra joined Phil Keaggy's band on the Crimson and Blue tour.

This performance was released as the Live At Carnegie Hall album in 1997.

While an off-air recording of this performance was heavily bootlegged on video for decades, the master tape was later located and subsequently released on DVD as Circa 72 2006.

The music of the four-piece lineup took on a more progressive edge, similar to King Crimson and The Moody Blues (while studio and live radio broadcast recordings exist from this period, they remain officially unreleased as of 2012).