Description
Considered one of the finest contemporary singer/songwriters of Americana and blues/roots music working internationally today, Peter Karp has carved out his own unique niche. Known by reputation as a forceful singer, a searing guitarist, a powerhouse pianist, a passionate performer, who writes with an unmistakable lyrical style that reflects tales of life’s journey. Spawned by passion and personal experience, blues, folk, Americana, and rock and roll all find common ground within his musical bag. His propensity for dynamic performances and has made him a remarkably rare talent in American roots music.
Peter Karp was born in Leonia, New Jersey, a town of culture and arts, wedged between the tough working-class river towns along the Hudson River, one mile across from NYC. His father was a decorated WWII B-17 bomber pilot and adventurer, and his mother was a creative director at JWT Advertising. He was also raised by his second mother, an African American woman named Ruth Turner, who was born in the Gullah region of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Karp was introduced to live music at the early age of 7. His family would take him across the Hudson River to NYC to see the most popular and iconic musicians of the 1960s. The Beatles, the British Invasion, and the slick and soulful sounds of the touring Motown acts became a weekly pilgrimage for Karp. At 9 years old, he went to live with his dad in a trailer park in rural Enterprise, Alabama, where he became aware of the musicians who laid the seeds for the seminal sounds of the blues. Sun House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and Howlin’ Wolf blared on a little transistor radio in kitchen of their mobile home.
In the early ’80s he formed his first band, They Came From Houses, which quickly became a staple of Hilly Crystal’s New York nascent underground scene, represented by iconic clubs such as CBGBs, Folk City, and the Mudd Club. He shared stages with the likes of Marshall Crenshaw, Mink DeVille, the Stray Cats, John Hammond Jr., George Thorogood, and David Johansen. However, Karp eventually became disillusioned with the music scene and walked away from a record deal, preferring to spend his time caring for a new family instead of living out on the road.
While working as a film director making commercials, documentaries, and short films and writing jingles, he continued his connection to his music. He frequently sought out other songwriters and performers to collaborate with and sought advice to further his songwriting skills, gleaning insights from such artists as Willie Dixon, Robert Lockwood Jr., Jonnie Johnson, Sammy Cahn, Bruce Springsteen, Van Walls, Richie Havens, and Jackson Browne. He also took time to expand his interest in African American culture and the indigenous music of the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina performing at The Gullah Festival in Beaufort, SC. In the ’90s, Karp returned full time to performing, and writing songs that reflected his accumulated life experiences.
An early indie recording of Karp’s brought him to Mick Taylor’s (The Rolling Stones) attention. Taylor subsequently flew to the States to play on Karp’s next effort, The Turning Point, and the two embarked on a tour together. Karp built a wider national following and in 2007 he released a follow-up, which cracked Billboard’s top 5, Shadows and Cracks. This was his first record for the respected blues label Blind Pig Records, making two more for them. He Said — She Said, which found him partnering with Canadian singer/songwriter Sue Foley, in 2010 also made it into Billboard’s Top Five. The duo’s follow-up, Beyond the Crossroads, came soon after and was cited by Alternate Roots Magazine as the #1 CD of the Year for 2012. In 2016, Karp released The Arson’s Match, a series of recordings made with Mick Taylor at New York’s Bottom Line. Nominated for 3 Blues Blast awards the profits from the project were donated to a charity in his wife’s memory. Three albums followed on his own label to critical acclaim in 2017, 2018, 2020: Alabama Town, The Blue Flame, Magnificent Heart. Due to his reputation as a writer and a performer, and despite his lack of any formal education, Karp was awarded a Masters Degree in Composition by the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
