Prior to 2014 Pete’s musical history included playing in cover bands throughout the Wheatbelt over 40 years. He had not written and/or recorded an original song in an official sense.
Pete’s interest in music began in his teens when the only music teacher in town taught all his mates who in turn taught him to play guitar.
The teacher was a post war immigrant, one of many who shaped Pete’s town and him. Pete’s family on both sides are musicians including bar room players on one side and church and big band players on the other.
Both sides came together in the local theatre group – a perfect mix maybe?
In early 2014 he wrote a song called Wialki about driving a tractor on a family farm on the edge of the wheat belt in the 1960’s.
The song was picked up by Western Australian Music’s (WAM) Sounds of the Wheatbelt project and was recorded in April the same year.
Pete said the recording experience was so encouraging that he set to work and wrote a further sixteen songs, seven of which accompanied Wialki on his debut album “ONE” released in 2015.
The album was awarded “Album of the Year” at the 2016 WA Country Music Awards where he received a nomination for male artist of the year in 2016 and 2017.
He also received a nomination for country song of the year at the WAM awards in 2016 and a nomination for Best Regional Act at the 2017 awards.
Pete has gone on to record another three singles since and toured Australia from January to June 2019 on his “Back to the Garden Tour” playing at farm gates, community gardens and bush tucker trails. As a precursor to the tour Pete was invited to speak and perform at TedXPerth in late 2018. The single “There’s a treaty in the air” released September 2020 was inspired by this tour and Pete’s disappointment at the way Australia portrays it’s “colonial” history. The sequel to Pete’s treaty song was released on 2 April 2021. Truth Speak represents Pete’s support for the first people of Australia and their quest for truth telling of colonial/invasion injustices.
2020 was a quiet year for live performance, however 2021 has included a southwest tour, two midwest tours and plenty of local gigs around the Avon Valley.
