Peter’s earliest memories are of multi-part family harmony. “In my mom's family there were six kids, all very musical. Whenever the family got together there was a lot of singing. My grandfather had been a professional clarinet player for a while before he worked for the Gulf oil company in Mississippi. He also played piano beautifully by ear. There was a Hammond organ in the corner of the dining room. I would crawl under the piano and listen to him play. I couldn't believe how amazing it sounded.”
He soon followed in the family tradition. “I was in an after school music class called "the music tree" with a bunch of other kids. There was a giant piano keyboard you could climb on. I remember the exercises being really easy. I was five years old.” A year later Peter began piano lessons, starting him on a long path of musical education, “I have way too much formal training.” He says, “I have a B.A. in music and a Master's in composition. I also studied film music for a year in Los Angeles.”
While in Los Angeles he began writing music for film and television. When Peter was working in a music production house he comprised one half of the now defunct duo East Mountain South.
The self-professed ‘late-bloomer’ says, ” My personal life is pretty ruled by my musical life. I’m a mess.” He describes his solo music as, “Americana, ambient, indie, folk-rockified, pop.” Peter enjoys reading but claims, “Music pretty much eats up all my time. I do what I do because it's all I know how to do. I have no other job skills. None.”
Signed by Robbie Robertson to Dreamworks Records in 2002, Peter has just released his second solo record, "Leavetaking", on Sarathan Records. His song “Unreconciled” was used this fall by the Lifetime Network show, ‘Army Wives’. Peter is now touring and his plans for the future include more of the same, “I would like to keep making records and performing. I’d like to collaborate more with other artists, and score films. I don't want to stop til I’m dead.”
