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“I like
making records,” reflects songwriter Peter Mulvey, “but my job is
the live show: getting up in a room and taking people somewhere.”
Peter’s latest tour is on his 12th CD, Letters From A Flying
Machine.
Over the past 20 years, Mulvey has pursued a restless, eclectic path
as a writer and musician – immersing himself in Tin PanAlley jazz,
modern acoustic, poetry, narrative, and Americana stylings.
Relentlessly touring as a headliner – his attitude is, “When you
love what you do, you can work all the time,” – he has also shared
the stage with luminaries such as Emmylou Harris, Richard Thompson,
Ani diFranco, Indigo Girls, and Greg Brown, and has attracted an
audience that stretches from Anchorage to Amsterdam.
Peter Mulvey began as a self-described “city kid” from Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. He played, wrote, and sang in bands while studying
theatre there, and then traveled to Dublin, Ireland, in 1989, where
he learned the trade of the street singer. Returning to the States,
he relocated to Boston with two self-released CDs in hand: Brother
Rabbit Speaks (1992) and Rain (1994). In Boston he took to playing
in the subways as a full-time occupation. The seven hour sessions
playing to passers-by and commuters not only strengthened his
accomplished guitar playing but also sharpened his innate gifts as a
communicator. In a few short years he had made the transition to
touring songwriter. He signed with indie upstart Eastern Front
Records, released Rapture (1995) and Deep Blue (1997), and threw
himself into a life on the road. He quickly released Glencree
(1998), a CD recorded live in Ireland.
The road years further seasoned his abilities as a performer.
Whether playing solo or with a band in tow, Mulvey has a rare
ability to hold an audience’s attention and transport them, using
wit, humor, and a subtle but sophisticated melodic and harmonic
sensibility to gracefully introduce complex and provocative concepts
and characters.
Having since resettled back in Milwaukee, Peter has continued his
touring life while making seven solo records with Signature Sounds,
the venerable singer/songwriter label in western Massachusetts’
fertile musical Pioneer Valley. His sixth release, The Trouble With
Poets (2000), features the title track which remains among his
best-known songs. 2002 brought Ten Thousand Mornings, a CD of cover
songs recorded live on Boston’s Davis Square subway platform. The
name refers to the collective number of commuters’ mornings Peter
hoped he was entertaining, or touching, in some way. His albums have
always maintained the spontaneity and edge of his live performances,
including his 2004 Kitchen Radio and 2006 CD, The Knuckleball Suite,
both of which were recorded in just a few days with a band of
sympathetic co-conspirators. He followed the ensemble vibe of these
records with Notes from Elsewhere (2007), which consists of solo
acoustic recordings of some of his most popular songs.
Collaboration is another source for Peter’s continued growth. In
2003, he released the trio album, Redbird, with fellow songwriters
Kris Delmhorst and Jeffrey Foucault. The album’s 17 songs range from
jazz standards to old country tunes to contemporary covers, all
recorded in three days around one microphone. Peter’s annual
hometown holiday in-the-round gigs have become an institution over
nearly a decade. He can sit in with nearly any musician or ensemble
and improvise in the common language of music.
As a complement to his touring and recording, Peter has also kept a
hand in education; teaching guitar and songwriting workshops across
the country. His songs and deep baritone voice have been heard in
documentary films, major television shows, and by dance and theater
companies. In 2004 Peter released a full-length DVD, On the Way,
featuring interview and concert footage.
For the past several years Peter has done an annual Fall tour
entirely by bicycle, partly for environmental reasons and partly for
the sheer fun of continuing his creative, unorthodox approach to a
long and fruitful career as an artist.
In every aspect of his career, Mulvey draws on an extremely broad
swath of influence; he is always reading, listening, and eager to
hear new poetry, modern minimalist composers, old-time fiddle tunes,
Argentinean trip-hop, or top-shelf bar bands. Said The Irish Times:
“Peter Mulvey is consistently the most original and dynamic of the
US singer-songwriters to tour these shores. A phenomenal performer
with huge energy, a quick fire, quirky take on life, and an
extraordinary guitar style. A joy to see.”
Still, it is the live performance that defines that work. Night
after night, whether performing solo, duo (with David “Goody”
Goodrich), or sometimes even with a band, Mulvey attempts to be the
sum of his parts, to draw on all the musical legacies he has
studied, to make a fresh, vital moment out of everything he and the
audience have brought to the table that night. “People need this. I
need this. To come together in a room, to try to make music come
alive, for real, for right now, and then to let it go…that is the
whole deal for me.”
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Artist's Web Site
Hear an mp3 clip from Peter Mulvey
See a YouTube clip from Peter Mulvey
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