BIG Pete Pearson has been singing the blues onstage for 65 years. His first gig was at the Triple J in Austin, Texas, on guitar and vocals, when he was 9. These days, you can find him most Sunday afternoons in the intimate venue of the Blues Wagon in Trenton, though he's also likely to turn up on a stage someplace in Europe singing to a crowd of 86,000.
Born in Jamaica, Pearson came to the US with his grandparents when he was about 5, eventually settling in a small community on the edge of Austin, with gravel roads, no sidewalks, and lots of opportunities to play music.
That first gig at age 9, earned him $ 1.50, "enough to buy a good-sized bag of groceries," he says. Over the next several years, he continued to build a reputation around Austin until, as a teenager, he pulled the cigar box with his considerable savings out from under the porch, bought himself a 1946 Ford coupe that left a tail of smoke in its wake , and struck out on his own. For years, he performed seven nights a week in Austin to packed clubs. When he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in the 1950s, he affiliated himself with a club there, assembled a new band, and launched a Phoenix-based career of playing on multiple nights to packed houses. In 1995, he was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame.
For years, Pearson played guitar and bass and also sang with his own band and many others. But 35 years ago, he came to the conclusion that a microphone was a lot easier to carry around and gave up the instruments. "I can carry all my stuff in my little briefcase, and I'm loaded for good," he says.
At Pearson's estimate, he's been part of over 100,000 live performances, sharing the stage with blues legends like Muddy Waters, Gatemouth Brown, John Lee Hooker, BB King, Pinetop Perkins, Ray Charles, Big Walter, Little Walter, T-Bone Walker, Ike and Tina Turner.
BIG Pete Pearson has been singing the blues onstage for 65 years. His first gig was at the Triple J in Austin, Texas, on guitar and vocals, when he was 9. These days, you can find him most Sunday afternoons in the intimate venue of the Blues Wagon in Trenton, though he's also likely to turn up on a stage someplace in Europe singing to a crowd of 86,000.
Born in Jamaica, Pearson came to the US with his grandparents when he was about 5, eventually settling in a small community on the edge of Austin, with gravel roads, no sidewalks, and lots of opportunities to play music.
That first gig at age 9, earned him $ 1.50, "enough to buy a good-sized bag of groceries," he says. Over the next several years, he continued to build a reputation around Austin until, as a teenager, he pulled the cigar box with his considerable savings out from under the porch, bought himself a 1946 Ford coupe that left a tail of smoke in its wake , and struck out on his own. For years, he performed seven nights a week in Austin to packed clubs. When he moved to Phoenix, Arizona, in the 1950s, he affiliated himself with a club there, assembled a new band, and launched a Phoenix-based career of playing on multiple nights to packed houses. In 1995, he was inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame.
For years, Pearson played guitar and bass and also sang with his own band and many others. But 35 years ago, he came to the conclusion that a microphone was a lot easier to carry around and gave up the instruments. "I can carry all my stuff in my little briefcase, and I'm loaded for good," he says.
At Pearson's estimate, he's been part of over 100,000 live performances, sharing the stage with blues legends like Muddy Waters, Gatemouth Brown, John Lee Hooker, BB King, Pinetop Perkins, Ray Charles, Big Walter, Little Walter, T-Bone Walker, Ike and Tina Turner.
sorry folks I could never find a flac for this great live show
feat Bob Corritore on Harp
Ripping Frog
Tracklist (thanks to dr.golgo):
01 Someone to Love Me
02 Stop and Think About It
03 Mr Coffee
04 Worried About My Baby
05 Finger in Your Eye
06 Tin Pan Alley (quite different from the SRV version)
07 Coming Home
08 Gamblin' With My Love
09 Short Change
10 One More Drink
Link
