jimmie vaughan, early period freddie king, denny freeman, charlie haden, jimmy nolen, mark hitt, johnny guitar watson, billy butler, bill jennings, lee morgan, keith ferguson, marc ribot, richard thompson, leo nocentelli, robert nighthawk, junior barnard, muddy/jimmy, eddie taylor, klaus voorman, blue mitchell, louis and dave myers, kenny dorham, groove holmes' feet, bb king, rocco prestia, all periods miles davis, tommy bolin, milt hinton, robert cray, robert jr lockwood, martin barre, maceo parker, bill kirchen, ransom knowling, george smith, jimmy donley, keith richards, joe stanley, django reinhardt, monk, albert king, all the james brown rhythm sections, eddie vinson, cliff gallup, hop wilson, wilbur ware, carl radle, little beaver hale, joni mitchell, art pepper, paco de lucia, quentin warren, conrad lozano, jeff beck, hollywood fats, wes montgomery, george jones, dave douglas, papa lightfoot, pancho sanchez, george porter, steve cropper, charles tolliver, otis spann, jaco, gene ammons, fred below, sonny freeman, steve guyger, rick estrin, herlin riley, teenie hodges, paul burlison, lowell fulson, sinatra, roy haynes, ov wright, freddie stone, little walter, big walter, magic sam, emmet ray
edited from a 2002 interview with Larry Beniciewicz:
"Pete spent his formative years in Poughkeepsie, NY, where as luck would have it got his first full time job in a record warehouse and was influenced by such disparate artists as bluesman Junior Wells ("It's My Life Baby" was the first record he ever bought) and jazz piano giant Thelonious Monk: "My all time favorite musician. I unknowingly started playing bass again on the very day Monk died, Feb. 17th 1982. I had laid off music for a few years to concentrate on college (Pete is a Culinary Institute of America alumni, Class of '83) and one day while living in NYC i trudged in the slush and snow down to 48th street to buy a bass and practice amp. When i came home and turned on WKCR they announced Monk had just died. I had'nt touched an instrument in over three years and so i took that as a strong sign that i was on the right path. It was one of those fork in the road moments that you get in life. So i made a vow right then and there to stop screwing around and get serious about my music". Pete credits a 1987 blues pilgrimage to Antone's in Austin, Texas (then on Guadalupe) as sealing his fate as a musician. "I came home from that trip and gave my boss notice pretty much right away, it affected me that much. And i have'nt looked back since.
Originally starting on both bass and guitar, Pete had by then switched mostly to guitar in his own bands and was a member of a succession of harp-led units such as the Fat Tuesday Blues Review, Rockinitis and the Knockouts. As a sideman he did the majority of his work as a bassist for hire. While in the Knockouts Pete and his friends Doug Price (of WVKR'S famous "Blues Ater Hours" radio show) and Scott Westergard were instrumental in the re-discovery of Little Sam Davis, at the time retired for 17 years. Sam went on to record a critically acclaimed album for Delmark Records and won the WC Handy Comeback Artist of the Year Award in Memphis that year as well as the Little Walter Award in Los Angeles. By the early 90s, with this latter NY-based group and to a large degree with Steve Guyger, the Philadelphia trad harp virtuoso, Pete was making quite a name for himself in the blues dens of the quad state area. He struck up a friendship with the great guitarist Mark Ross of Queen Bee and the Blue Hornet Band, who brought Pete's name to the attention of Mark Wenner of the legendary Nighthawks. He spent the next nine years as guitarist for that venerable Washington DC institution, performing around 2000 gigs worldwide with them and appearing on 3 albums and one final dvd with blues icon Hubert Sumlin before departing in the beginning of 2004".
The catalyst for my leaving The Nighthawks was the formation in the summer of 2003 of The Shambells with Dave Goodfriend, Russ Beeker, Tommy Hannigan and Nick Ruggieri, who was replaced by the monstrous Clark Matthews. That band was a damn wrecking crew, very much in the tradition of the great English pub-rock bands of the 70's. The Shambells created rock & roll havoc up and down the DC/Baltimore corridor and all the way down to Norfolk, fueled by Glenfiddich and nicotine. The band temporarily disbanded during the winter of 2005, and during that hiatus i moved to Baltimore and went back on the road. The Shambells re-formed in the fall of 2006 with my bro the great Mike Dutton taking my place until they finally broke up for good in 2007, leaving behind an incredible but sadly unreleased live album. But you never know, there may be some choice reunion dates someday, complete with onstage bar....
Currently in 2009 i'm dividing my time between The Remnants, a truly great original roots rock band out of Annapolis Md and my own blues band, which is geared towards the more traditional side of things. Since i've been on the road so long as a guitarist and have finally settled down in baltimore i'm also getting a lot more calls for my bass work once again, which thrills me to no end. Lessons are being offered covering the classic blues, r&b and rockabilly guitar styles, including in the trenches type stuff you won't get out any book. I'm also accepting basic guitar repair work (i worked as a full time repairman in a big NYS guitar store for a a time in the 90's) including setups, parts replacement, some fretwork, and made-to order aftermarket guitars and basses in real nitro finishes. For this year i suppose my big goal is to break the 4000 gig mark, hard for me to believe but it's fast approaching; that's a lot of miles in the old band van and a million memories for sure. anyway thanks for looking, and there'll be more pics/vids/info coming real soon.
For information about gig/tour availability, lessons and basic guitar repair rates feel free to drop me a line on this page. Bright Moments To All, Pete
Performance Highlights:
I've either played with or opened for Jimmy Rogers, Little Sam Davis, The Paladins, BB King, Albert King, Hubert Sumlin, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Pinetop Perkins, Lowell Fulson, Carey Bell, Elvin Bishop, Chris Cain, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Lee McBee, Buddy Guy, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Little Feat, The O'Jays, Ben E King, Bobby Parker, Paul Oscher, Paul DeLay, Anson Funderburgh and Sam Myers, Lazy Lester, Roomful Of Blues, Jeff Healy, George Thorogood, Tracy Nelson, Sister Sarah Brown, Duke Robillard, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, Rufus Thomas, Bobby Rush, Johnnie Johnson, Bill Kirchen, Bob Margolin, Tom Principato, Big Time Sarah, Valerie Wellington and dozens more.
Some Brief Carreer Highlights:
The Kennedy Center - Year Of The Blues Celebration
Rolling Thunder Veteran's Day Celebration - Lincoln Memorial
Peer Festival Belgium - Nighthawks 30th Anniversary reunion with Jimmy Thackery
nine tours of Japan
numerous European tours
Two Time Washington Area Music Association Award Winner
shaking Mr Louis Myers' hand
Partial Discography:
Roger Girke Band - Live at Puck: The Remnants - American Grit:
Rylo - Automatic Oil (co-producer, with Billy Horton):
The Bourbon Dynasty:
Little Scotty and The Knockouts - In This Corner:
Cellophane - Hangups (lap steel on "Corner Of No Regret"):
The Nighthawks - Pain And Paradise:
The Nighthawks - Still Wild:
The Nighthawks - Live Tonight:
The Shambells - Exit Wounds:
The Shambells - You're Breaking Up (live):
The Nighthawks - Live At The State Theatre (DVD, with Hubert Sumlin):
Pinetop Perkins - Born In The Honey (DVD):
Bad Influence - Tastes Like Chicken:
Kurt Crandall - True Story:
Lil' Ronnie and The Grand Dukes - Too Fast For Conditions:
Homicide: Life On The Streets (HBO):
The Wire (HBO)
Hey pete. great hearing from you man. Always loved your playing a lot too!. Wish we could all hear that Shambells record sounds intriguing. You recording anything with that blues band of yours? need a harp. tell Mark I said hi.
A friend of mine wants to know if you teach lessons...I was going thru Pop's vault of tapes and let him here some stuff from Rockinitis, The Knockouts and Lil Sam Davis. He asked me" Who the hell is going off on the guitar"? I said the King Of Tone...I think you have a disciple on the come up!!!! HA ! Hope all is well...Your lil bro
Hey petey bro shoot me you address again and number...Sorry i havent contacted you in a while...Life has been hell this last year and a half..thinkin about escaping nyc for good....hope all is well..i need jimmy's contact as well....all the best bro
Hi everybody, just here to say our new RORY GALLAGHER HAWK BOOSTER is ready for shipping. Have a listen if you get a chance, All the best, Stevie Flynn.
Hi everybody, just here to say our new RORY GALLAGHER HAWK BOOSTER is ready for shipping. Have a listen if you get a chance, All the best, Stevie Flynn.
Thanks for the add. We are looking forward to our relocation to the Baltimore scene in June. Hope that we can connect and jam, pick some tunes and network together. Until then. Cheers! Enjoy the music in your soul!
Thank you so much for your note. It meant even more coming from you. The music sounds great. I like what you're doing. I hope to see you live someday...from the front row!
