Friday, December 3, 2010

Pete Berwick on Indie Spotlight this Sunday!

I just wanted to take a moment and remind everyone that the one and only Pete Berwick will be joining us on the show this week. Pete's always been a great friend of the show and it's been way too long since we've had him on.

From his website...

Berwick's journey began in Illinois in the mid seventies, hammering out irreverant country, roots rock and reckless honky tonk rave ups night after night to anyone in the midwest who cared to listen. Then after after almost fifteen years of non stop performing he headed to Nashville with a fistful of songs and the clothes on his back. By the time Berwick arrived in the music city, Steve Earle was on his way to jail and Jason & the Scorchers had broken up. Signed by an up and coming independent record label in the heart of music row, Berwick was heralded by many in town as the one to run with the cowpunk gauntlet left at the roadside. After years of belting it out in biker bars and nowhere dives, Pete now found himself opening shows for Charlie Daniels, Doug Kershaw, and other musical legends. He was invited to make cameo appearances in music videos by The Kentucky Headhunters and Travis Tritt, and also appeared on a commercial for Monday night Football. But as fast as luck goes up in Nashville, it comes down even faster. The promising record deal went bust, but not before the recording of the critically acclaimed "Ain't No Train Outta Nashville." Recorded in Waylon Jennings old studio, The album was shelved in 1991 due to contractual disputes and economic hardships. Disgusted with the politics of the music industry, Pete bought several acres of land fourty miles east of Nashville and resigned to shooting his guns, writing some of the songs that would become his third album "Just Another Day In Hell" and working at the local factory.

Berwick later moved back to his hometown in northern Illinois, and free from the publishing and other legal disputes tying up the album, he released "Ain't No Train Outta Nashville" on his own label in 2007. From there it shot to #5 on Cross Country Satellite Radio and #20 on The Roots Music Report Charts, and the title song appeared in Paramount Pictures "The Thing Called Love" starring River Phoenix. Prior to releasing "Ain't No Train Outta Nashville" Berwick recorded and released also on his own label "Only Bleeding" with Brian Wilson bassist Bob Lizic, and as the critical acclaim started pouring in, he hit the road once more in support of both albums.

After thirty years of belting out his sweat soaked ballads and rockers in bars and clubs, and thousands of shows and two albums later he delivered his third recording, "Just another Day In Hell", co-produced with Jason Botka and Mike Kozitka at Skye Bleu Studios In Villa Park, Illinois. An eighteen song epic of non fictional tales which colorfully and often brutally describes the trials and hardships left behind on the long hard trail, "Just Another Day In Hell" is Pete Berwick's biography and heart and soul worn on his tattered sleeve. From shattered relationships, broken dreams and drug abuse, to prison walls and battles with angels and demons, this is as real as it gets. Pete's rough and ready vocals spit out stark tales of heartache, pain and redemption, and just like life, the endings aren't always pretty.

Now in 2010 Berwick delivers his fourth album, "Give It Time." An in-your-face- assualt of blistering biker rock, hopeless romantic ballads and heartbreak anthems.

Though well below the radar throughout most of his career, Berwick's die-hard spirit and gritty songs have earned him due respect from critcs and fans weary of the cookie cutter fluff churned out by the pop and country music industry, and his albums have earned several top ten album of the year awards, and americana/roots rock artist of the year awards.


Please join us this Sunday starting at 9 pm (eastern) it's never a dull moment with Pete on the show!

No comments:

Post a Comment