Pete Molinari : Making country cool.

Written by Rachel Preece

Sunday, 18 July 2010 00:00

Richard Hawley once said of Pete Molinari: "He could sing the f***ing Yellow Pages and make it sound cool". A country/blues artist with a breathtakingly inimitable vocal style, the Kent born musician has spent time in New York and Tennessee developing his art. The American influence is evident - in both his lyrics and the style of music. Enkindled by the literary greats, Molinari is a trailblazer for honest art. With his new album A Train Bound For Glory now in stores, Matchless caught up the young singer-songwriter.

Pete Molinari

Matchless: Hey Pete, thanks for letting Matchless catch up with you. Your summer's pretty packed with gigs in the US and UK, how is everything going?

P. Molinari: It's going good thanks, it’s good to be busy. I like playing and travelling. And I am working on getting my first novel out in September.

Matchless: We saw you play Hop Farm last week (excellent show by the way), what’s it like to play festivals? Do you prefer the smaller, more intimate gigs?

P. Molinari: I think a lot of people know I don't dig festivals that much. I don't want to be too negative about them. I am pleased I am asked to play and make the most of any situation but most of the time they are wet and even when they are not the sound is not very good. It’s always quite hard to get a good atmosphere going that you would get in a small club or even a big theater.

Matchless: Did you get to see Dylan at Hop Farm? What did you think of his show?

P. Molinari: I didn't see a great deal. I saw a little from the side of the stage. I wasn't really impressed. It’s difficult to be impressed when you have listened to great records and songs by someone like him or Leonard Cohen since you were a kid then when you see a quite flat and unrecognizable performance you can only try and justify it and excuse it.

It’s too much to live up to. I like to think of someone like that being close to his audience in cafes and theaters. It’s a romantic view you have of such artists and really the only way an artist can be great is to be close to the earth and to the people. Once you detach yourself from that you’re in trouble. You don't connect with society and what's going on around you in the world like he once did. Woody Guthrie and Billy Childish always have and I can't imagine Van Gogh surrounded by security people. Dylan seems to be gated and more like Elvis now sadly. I love and respect him all the same.

Matchless: You seem to be very influenced by the Beat Generation – Kerouac and Dylan for instance, and you spent some time in the US – what is it about the US that’s so appealing to you?

P. Molinari: I guess I am to a degree. I'm never overly influenced by any one thing apart from my own experiences and what's going on around me. NYC was a big influence so I guess 'The Beat' comes from there. I'm just as influenced by Hank Williams and country, Little Richard and rock’n’roll, Tennyson and Victorian poetry, war poetry, Charlie Chaplin and silent film - with one or two records it’s hard to see all of my influences. Like at first with Dylan it was obviously all about Woody Guthrie - he had adopted that persona and wanted to be him. But then all the other influences come through and you become an artist in your own right. More like a magpie - it’s not taking, it’s research. The thing is, people see a harmonica and that's enough for them. Or you know, you play a certain guitar and wear black glasses and they easily think that you are like Roy Orbison. All songwriters get likened to someone like Dylan and that's ok if it’s to do with content and substance.

I was based in Tennessee last year recording. I am based in Kent again at present in England and my love for it grows. I also spent much time in New Orleans where I wrote my novel 'With Good Intentions'. I love America and I always think of NYC and New Orleans, but I still hold a bigger love for Europe and its history. Especially England. I am fascinated by English history and Victorian poetry and art. Nothing quite like seeing those forty shades of green is there?

Matchless: Your lyrics strike me as particularly thoughtful and story-centered, are you influenced by any writers in particular?

P. Molinari: I like stories within things. As a kid I would always analyze something to find the story within it – why John William Waterhouse painted The Lady of Shallott and was influenced by the poem from Tennyson for instance. And how the Pre-Raphaelites were influenced by Victorian poetry and also by Greek mythology. And then the same with Guthrie and Tom Joad in The Grapes Of Wrath.

Perhaps like many, I am a balladeer in that same tradition. Maybe there aren’t so many around today. Like a Tennessee Williams play or Steinbeck, or the romance of a particular city, or the first and second world wars and the poetry. There are too many to name. I like the romance in something. I like seeing that spirit and am drawn to it. In Pablo Neruda or Oscar Wilde, even with its whole melodrama. Tennyson, Browning and Blake. I love the Italian renaissance, the pre-Raphaelites, Shakespeare, the Art Deco painters, Van Gogh, Billy Childish, Charles Dickens, Chaplin, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon etc.

Matchless: When you were at school, Britpop was the in thing – what made you choose folk and blues instead?

P. Molinari: It’s funny how that whole thing never made any kind of impression on me. I grew up in quite an impressionable family. Mediterranean food and culture and the music was handed down to me too. I just seemed to be obsessed by the sound of certain songs and the imagery they brought to me like Billie Holiday or someone that great. When you hear her sing you don't just hear her sing. It changes your whole way of thinking if you allow it to. It changes the way you feel. That in turn can have a deep effect on your soul. It’s not that what was going on with all my friends and what they were listening to wasn't good or cool. It just didn't move me. I learned very early on that music, art and literature is something that I needed to help me find answers and escape and dream. Something I needed to identify myself with.

Matchless: You’ve played Glastonbury, were nominated for a MOJO breakthrough award, appeared on Later with Jools Holland and recorded your album in Nashville – what dreams are left to fulfil?

P. Molinari: The Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall of course! Haha! No, really it’s to carry on making music and do whatever I do with substance and content over style or form. To keep a firm grip on this torch and to keep close to the true spirit of creativity and be inspired and in turn inspire the people. That's where it all comes from in the end.

Matchless: Lastly, do you have plans to come back to Germany soon?

P. Molinari: Of course, I went there and played a few support shows before but I really love Germany. The German people are steadfast and loyal and I love that. I hope to see you soon.

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Matchless recently came across filmmaker Matt Frost's documentary on Pete Molinari. If you want to find out more about Pete, check out this fascinating short film about Molinari's inspiration, shot at Nashville's Playground Sound Studios : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvJIqvmUv6M

For more music from Pete and to view his upcoming gigs, click here : http://www.myspace.com/petemolinari

Written by Rachel Preece