Pete Molinari and a mixture of fine session musicians.
Influences
Billie Holiday, Son House, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rodgers, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Billy Childish, Leadbelly, Cisco Houston, Ramblin Jack Elliot, Mississippi John Hurt, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynne, Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Holly Golightly, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Chopin, Shakespeare, Dante, Rimbaud, L.F Celine, Checkov, Dostoevsky, Walt Whitman, Robert Browning, Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Blake, Steinbeck, Tennessee Williams, Earnest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Allan Ginsberg, Pablo Neruda, Marlon Brando, Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Fellini, Rossellini, Helena Blavatsky, Oscar Wilde, Carravagio, Tamara De Lempica, Alphonse Mucha, Vincent Van Gogh and life altogether.
Sounds Like
A mixture of the greats from the past. Really sings like no one you've ever heard before.
Pete Molinari is a folk blues singer/songwriter of Egyptian / Maltese parentage, raised in from Chatham, England, where he was discovered by Billy Childish. Hes been playing solo for a few years, and has become a fixture in his hometown and various London acoustic clubs like Whats Cookin in Leytonstone and The Spitz.
During an 18 month stint in America, he honed his unique vocal style playing the bars and cafes of New Yorks Greenwich Village like the Bitter End, the Gaslight, Cafe Wah, Café De LArtists places where Jack Kerouac and his beat poets read and also the likes of Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Ramblin Jack Elliot and Dylan all played. On his travels, Pete got to play with some of the best players that were part of Dylan/ Phil Ochs scene like Justin Devereaux and Eric Fransen who was later invited by Dylan to join his Rolling Thunder Revue. Pete says: They thought it was real strange that a kid of my age from England could play this kind of music in a more authentic way than any of the Americans they normally see in the Village. In NYC Pete also won fans like Vincent Gallo and legendary photographer Louis Stettner.
As Pete says: "Ive traveled a long road to get here. These songs have been on that road. From playing little places in Chatham and London to the late night coffee houses of Greenwich Village, Memphis, New Orleans, San Francisco, LA and Paris. I seem to be drawn to these places. There's something more real about it for me. More close to the earth and thats where my music belongs. Thats at the heart of this album.
Walking Off The Map' is his first release, recorded live on half track in Billys kitchen - which is how Billys wife Julie came to sing on Alone And Forsaken? and duets with Pete on We Belong Together?. Two other friends, Wolf and Jim, sat in on percussion and blues harp respectively. Says Pete: By recording with Billy on his old tape machine in his kitchen I feel we got a bit of that old spirit that I love so much about those old records. The ones that were thrown to one side in my house as a child...Hank Williams, Johnny Cash...I can only thank God that they were.
"Molinari's voice and haunting melodies left me feeling that the musical void in the British music scene will most definitely be filled. He can follow in the footsteps of Dylan and Guthrie" NME
"A singular talent....his distinctive voice and guitar establish him as a Medway Hank Williams. Worth investigating." - UNCUT
"The soul of American music distilled into the voice of a Cuban-heeled greaser from the Medway Delta" THE GUARDIAN
"An extraordinary new British talent...4.5/5" - THE SUN
"A spellbinding, wondrous voice....an amazing album - STOOL PIGEON
"Young, finger-picking, country-blues marvel Molinari has a thrillingly ambiguous voice...Virtual Landslide is an actual triumph" - TIME OUT
"A superbly realised piece of folk blues heartache" - MOJO
"Sweet-voiced blues-folk...a cherishable artefact even before you fall under the spell of the actual music" - NME
Dear Pete (if you read this) thanks mate your music has inspired me into heaven itself. This is no meaningless compliment I mean it from the bottom of my heart. Thank you!
Peeeeeeeeeeeeete! I really wanna come see you friday night camdencrawl...but i don't have a ticket...help! Love your voice and music. I FEEL it. Cheers for add...do come by and listen to my demos, hope you dig my voice. We should collaborate on something. Dolores
