David Peel

David Peel was a street musician and political activist from the Lower East Side of New York City. With a collection of friends who became his bandmates and who were eponymously called the Lower East Side, he recorded two groundbreaking albums of social reflections, urban tales, and hippie mythology for Elektra Records. The first, entitled Have a Marijuana, was released in 1968. The second, The American Revolution, was released in 1970. Both were just exactly as you would think they would be from their album titles: musical countercultural manifestos presented with guitars and grins. Peel continued performing, recording, and agitating into the 21st century, succumbing to complications from a heart attack in April 2017 at the age of 74. ~ R.W. Hand