Sound exotic? Sure, but it’s not really. They're just the four kinds of music I found myself making over the course of a lifetime:
Grew up in Leonia, New Jersey in a musical Irish-Portuguese-American family
where I was bathed in Celtic song and poetry;
Fell in love with the Blues and R&B and played them professionally through my teens and twenties.
Lived in the Maine-New Hampshire boonies where I learned Cowboy/Country;
Then spent several years studying yoga in India, where we played and sang Kirtans and other sacred chants daily.
As for the harmonica, it’s been my axe of choice since I first heard one amplified back in the late Sixties.
Add to this mix Robert Raposo, a great guitarist, bass player, percussionist, arranger, producer and my first cousin, with whom I grew up.
Put them all together with a few other secret ingredients, shake (don't stir), and you get... Petey-Boy!
But better than my describing what Petey-Boy is, have a listen for yourself. Just click on the ⇒ to the right of songs you'd like to hear. Or click Download to save it to your computer.
Cowboy/Country
| See Ya, Babe Noir | |||
| is a country ballad with a bluesy hook. It’s about infidelity – and love. We call it Noir because this version is something Robbie and his guitar dreamed up. A live recording of See Ya, Babe Classic will be available soon. Words & Music by Peter Hayes Arrangement by Robert Raposo Personnel: Guitar & vocal: Peter Hayes Guitars, bass & vocal: Robert Raposo |
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Blues/R&B
NEW!!!
Doncha Wish Your Baby (Was Hot Like Mine?) |
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When I’m asked what I studied at college, I sometimes answer, “Junior Wells and Memphis Charlie Musselwhite.” Not that Harvard was offering courses in these two great blues harp players at the time. (Still isn’t!) Nonetheless, I spent the better part of my freshman year in a room in Wigglesworth Hall playing harmonica to the albums Hoodoo Man Blues and Standback!, attempting to emulate on my Marine Bands the licks, chops and tone of what sounded to my ears like the infinitely-boss gestalt of these two harmonica virtuosos. So it’s only fitting the first blues issued by Petey-Boy is a cover of a tune by one of those Kings of Chicago Blues: Charlie Musselwhite’s My Baby. Words & Music by Charlie Musselwhite |
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Celtic
NEW!!!
Mary Moore |
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Lest you fear I passed a misspent youth, I did study some English — or rather Irish —literature. Petey-Boy’s Mary Moore is the William Butler Yeats poem John Kinsella’s Lament for Mrs. Mary Moore set to music. Mary Moore was a prostitute — whom Kinsella clearly adored — and the song’s chorus poses the provocative question: None other knew what pleasures man at table or in bed. Even while disclosing their commercial arrangement, Kinsella’s song is a wry, deeply-felt lament, and the harp line was inspired by the sound of a bugle blowing Taps. It is also Petey-Boy’s first offering in the style of music here deemed Celtic. Words by William Butler Yeats Personnel: |
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Devotional/Kirtan
| Girl with the Moon in her Hair | |||
| This song is an upbeat hymn to Mother Earth, though the inspiration for it came from an Indian shawl with a picture of Shiva on it, with the crescent moon is his long hair.
I was also thinking of a woman I know named Julianna Jones Muth, who’s been like a second Mom to my son, Siddhi. Children and mothers like it. It’s a good song for harmonica. Words & Music by Peter Hayes Personnel: Harmonica & vocal: Peter Hayes Guitars, bass, calliope, percussion & vocal: Robert Raposo Shortly after its release, Girl with the Moon in her Hair was picked up by the excellent indie music blog: Luxury Wafers.
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| Lotus of the East | |||
consists of some new words I put to the old folk ballad Lily of the West. I was listening to Mark Knopfler and The Chieftains sing it, when I thought of this version, based on my experiences in India. Later, I learned that people have been doing similar things to this song for centuries – there are different Irish, English and American covers. The melody remains the same, but the name of the girl, the flower and her country – or county – change. It was nice to find oneself spontaneously part of an old musical tradition. A recent interviewer asked Petey-Boy if it were true that all of the band’s songs were about women. He responded with a quatrain from Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of The Rubaiyaat of Omar Khayyam, the medieval Sufi poet: You know, my Friends, with what a brave carouse Words by Peter Hayes Music: Traditional air Personnel: Harmonica & vocal: Peter Hayes Guitars, bass & tamboura: Robert Raposo |
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These 5 songs are only the tip of the Petey-Boy iceberg. We have many more we’re in the process of recording and mixing, and more songs are getting written all the time. So come back soon and download more. The music is free, though in the accepted tradition, we ask, if you like what you hear, to please “throw that minstrel boy a coin” – or bill – and drop some money in The Hat. |
Hear Petey-Boy Live
If you’d like Petey-Boy to perform at your party, yoga center, wedding, feast, event or club, please contact peter@petey-boy.com. We’ll be happy to create a program that accents the type of music you want to hear, be it Country, R& B, Celtic or Devotional/Kirtan – or a mix of all four. A schedule of upcoming gigs will be posted shortly.
Contact Petey-Boy
One ray of the inspiration behind this site was to showcase the splendors of the humble harmonica. If you’re a harp player or musician, or just a Petey-Boy fan, and want more information about the music or the instruments used, email Peter or Robert and we’ll answer your question as best we can.
Let Petey-Boy Contact You
If you want to be on Petey-Boy's mailing list, you can sign up for it here. Petey-Boy won’t share your info or use it to spam you, only to inform you of new tunes and upcoming Petey-Boy events and gigs. Hope to see you at one of them soon!
LINKS:
Petey-Boy does pro bono work for New River, a well-established non-profit for the arts, and will be appearing this year at several New River fund-raising events. New River is a great organization, dedicated to raising the art and excellence of storytelling in drama, fiction, poetry and song. Check out their website at www.newriverdramatists.org
Petey-Boy! - The Early Years
Robert Raposo & Peter Hayes
