by Alex Lloyd Gross
Peter Asher is coming to the Keswick Theater this weekend, Friday September 11, 2026. The show features Colin Blunstone, from the Zombies and The Fixx. That’s local. Should you happen to be in London on Halloween, you can bear witness to him playing a live show at Abby Road Studios. Only 100 people will be able to see that.
“That’s were I made my very first record, It’s where I produced my very first record and it’s obviously where the Beatles recorded their record”, Asher said. The show in Glenside said this Keswick show will be acoustic. “It’s songs and stories and stories about the songs. A lot of it is how I found a particular song or how somebody brought me a particular song,” Asher said.
One example he gave was “I was booked to play the Troubadour shortly before the Apple album came out, it was not very successful, but the Sweet Baby Jane album came out and this was going to be our successful homecoming in Los Angeles. I wanted the musicians who played on the album to play with the singer live, which they usually didn’t do. One of those people was Carol King, who I have been a fan of hers for a l0ong time. She was a composer. When opening night came, she was very nervous. We told her to do a few songs of her own. One of the songs was a song she had written the night before. That was when she played “You’ve got a Friend” for the first time., Asher said.
Asher said he will play songs he is not particularly fond of like “Lady Godiva”. I know some people like it and want to hear it, so I’m happy to play it”, Asher said.
In 1968, Peter became head of A&R for the Beatles newly formed record company, Apple Records, where he discovered, signed and produced James Taylor and worked closely with the Beatles on their individual projects. During this period, he became a key figure in the “revolution” of The Sixties, founding the book shop and art gallery “Indica” (where John and Yoko met and where Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs visited) and found himself at the center of an era of profound social and artistic change.
In 1969, Asher moved to the U.S. and founded Peter Asher Management, representing James Taylor and, beginning in 1973, the management and production of Linda Ronstadt as well. Peter Asher Management became one of the most successful artist management companies in the US, handling artists such as Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, and Carole King as well as James and Linda.
Asher actually jammed with Paul McCartney. “I’ve never actually played with him, I’ve had dinner with him but I found an old picture of Paul in the foreground playing the guitar and me in the background playing the bass. I have no idea of what I am playing or how I got the nerve to play bass in front of one of the world’s finest bass players of all time.
Peter Asher, CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) is his full title. That was bestowed on him by Prince William. Asher said that he got the phone call and he went to Buckingham Palace where he got the award. “It’s very exciting, when you get the phone call you can’t tell anybody”, Asher said.
A few tickets remain for the Glenside show.