As a young guitar innovator, Harvey Mandel soaked his playing in feedback and sustain, pushing his amps to the brink on early recordings with Charlie Musselwhite before making his way to San Francisco to rub elbows with Jerry Garcia and Elvin Bishop.
He soon landed a surprise gig with Canned Heat – and a few days later found himself in front of a massive crowd at Woodstock. “I didn’t realize it at the time how iconic that gig would be,” Mandel tells Guitar World. “Nobody did! It was pretty mind-blowing. I was kind of nervous; it was scary getting up on stage and seeing that massive audience. But it turned out good!”
