Lou and Peter Berryman began their musical partnership in high school in Appleton, Wisconsin, way back in the sixties. By the late seventies, they had established themselves as a prominent feature of the songwriting subculture of Wisconsin's capital, playing their original material every week for almost ten years in the run-down but trendy music room of Madison's Club de Wash. Gradually expanding their circuit, they began crisscrossing the continent and gaining national attention with appearances on such programs as Public Radio's A Prairie Home Companion and NPR's Weekend Edition. Regular appearances at festivals and folk music clubs all across the country now serve as venues for the songs contained in their sixteen recordings and three songbooks, which have been performed by everyone from Garrison Keillor to Peggy Seeger. The popularity of Lou and Peter Berryman—whose friendship survived a brief marriage in the seventies—is a testament to their intelligent and wickedly funny material which is never bawdy or risque but is rich with wordplay and witty images. This duo is not to be missed.
Tom Lehrer: Rhymes that rhyme! I love your material, and if I were still performing, I'd steal it!
Tom Paxton: When it comes to being funny, I think I've spent the first thirty years trying to be as funny as Tom Lehrer and the last part will be trying to be as funny as the Berrymans. They don't come any funnier than that.
Pete Seeger: Lou & Peter Berryman! Long may they wave! Their song "A Chat with your Mother" is one of the great American folksongs of the 20th century.
Christine Lavin: Lou & Peter Berryman are the funniest thing on four legs and brilliant songwriters.
Matt Watroba, Sing Out! Magazine: Every new recording is full of material that stretches and explodes with original ideas and fresh musical wordplay. It is that distinctive mosaic of melody and lyric that keeps their fans hanging on every line and sometimes every word.
The San Francisco Bay Chronicle: Once in a while a song comes along that so successfully crystallizes familiar thoughts that you feel you could have written it yourself...Alot of people feel that way about [Lou & Peter's] "Why Am I Painting the Living Room"
Grassroots Concerts, Brainerd, MN: Peter and Lou Berryman just have to be the funnybones of the Midwest. Public radio listeners know that this Madison-based duo is pure entertainment. Their huge bag of comic music is filled with gems sung daily by dozens of well-known entertainers, but never done better than by themselves. CHRONIC LAUGHTER ALERT: persons with recent rib injuries should wear their braces or prepare to leave the show early.
10# Fiddle, Lansing, MI: Their songs and performances are unfailingly wacky, and just as dependably 100% right. No one writes songs like Peter and Lou, but everyone recognizes the truth and the clear vision behind them .
The Freight & Salvage, Berkeley, CA: This once-married duo from the upper midwest is among the most entertaining acts we've ever had at the Freight. Their songs are crafted from often unpromising raw material (sports headlines, mother love, state pride) but invariably as the lyrics unroll the audience begins to roll on the floor...
