Synchronicity is a neat thing, and in times such as we’re experiencing now it gives a sense of stability and even hope. This week, I had the pleasure or reconnecting with singer-songwriter Pete Kilpatrick who I interviewed four years ago when he and his band were coming to Waterville for a concert. This round he’s got a new album, “Songs From The Green Room,” and an online concert series so, after a four-year hiatus, I decided that I had to hear from him about these new developments. He was reached at his camp near Sugarloaf on Sept. 9 via the phone line. I began by asking him to talk a little about this new album of his.
Kilpatrick: Well, it’s basically just a digital release that I put out on the 28th of August. The reason I just did it digitally is I probably sell 85% of my physical merchandise at shows. Seeing I don’t really have many shows with everything going on, I figured, at least in the short term, it would make more sense just to release it online.

Q: Have you done this in the past?
Kilpatrick: No, this is the first time I’ve ever actually only released something online, … and this is my eighth release. It’s been getting a pretty good response from people with them buying the album online.

Q: Sounds like a successful first-time event for you.
Kilpatrick: Yeah, and also I basically recorded this whole album at home. That’s the first time I’ve ever done that, as well. … It was one of the first things I thought to do when everything kind of shut down in March. I ordered a home recording set-up from the local music shop in Brunswick where I live and tried to teach myself how to record an album on my own.

Q: Now is this just guitar and voice?
Kilpatrick: Well, that’s what I set out to do. I was just planning to do just guitar and vocals and piano, as well. And when I had everything kind of finalized — I recorded it in March and April — in mid-May I sent it to our guitar player, Pete Morse, who’s in our band. He has his own recording studio in South Portland. I sent him the five tracks to have him kind of mix and master everything to release it, and then he said, “Would you be interested in me kind of collaborating with you on the tracks virtually?” We didn’t feel really comfortable being in the same place at the same time, … so we ended up making the album together — the two of us. But we never actually were in the same place at the same time. We did it all just by exchanging files back and forth. So (chuckle) it’s like a through-the-mail sort of recording style.

Q: What was Pete’s contribution to this album?
Kilpatrick: He added electric guitar and bass and drums, so it definitely sounds like a fully produced album, but it was done from both our houses.

Q: That’s wild! I’m 71 and have been a music journalist since the late ’60s, and it never ceases to amaze me what technology can allow folks to do from the comfort of their own home.
Kilpatrick: (Laughter) Yeah, I know, it’s crazy because when he sent me back the tracks I was just amazed how great they sounded from just recording them at home. Like I said, I’ve never tracked my own guitar or vocals. I was basically just going on YouTube looking up how to do it correctly (chuckle). … So it was definitely a learning process, but like I said, I got that recording set-up back on March 19 or 20. I didn’t know how long things would be shut down, but I just had a feeling that we wouldn’t really be performing for the foreseeable future. So I figured I might as well try to do something creative with my anxious energy at that moment.

Q: Well, at least something positive came out of all this pandemic negativity. Now when all of this COVID-19 chaos is over and you’re able to get out and perform again, will you put your album out on a physical CD?
Kilpatrick: Yes, definitely.

Q: You said you have five songs on it — are you thinking about expanding it to a full-length format?
Kilpatrick: Ah, I think I’d probably release it as the five songs that I did, but I’m planning on doing some more recording throughout the fall and winter now that I kind of know what I’m doing. Whether it will be some more acoustic versions of some of my older songs, because I’ve never really put out like a true solo album — like acoustic guitar and voice — I’m not sure. I’ve been doing an online concert every Saturday night since March 14th for 26 weeks in a row, … and that’s was what sort of inspired me. I said to myself “If I’m going to be doing this every week I need to come up with some new material to keep it fresh.” Then I started writing songs and then recording them; that was part of the inspiration to put out that new batch of songs.

Q: Now are you still doing those Saturday night concerts online?
Kilpatrick: Yes.

Q: Where can people find them? I’d like to put that in this article.
Kilpatrick: I’ve basically been doing it from our band’s Facebook page. So its www.facebook.com/pkband, and I’ve been doing them every Saturday night at 8 o’clock. It was funny, I almost missed one of the weeks, because I was driving home from Bar Harbor, so I ended up pulling into the Irving gas station in Ellsworth and doing a concert in my car (laughter from both of us). Yeah, it was two weeks ago so it was probably the 25th week. I pulled my guitar out of the back seat, sat in the driver’s seat and played a concert in the Irving gas station.

Q: (Laughter) Like I said earlier, today’s technology is unbelievable.
Kilpatrick: Yeah, it’s crazy (chuckle). I think one of the silver linings in everything, if there is one really, is the fact that I’ve been able to reach out to people across the country that I normally wouldn’t get to play in front of — even in a normal year — so that’s been nice.

Q: Is there anything, Pete, that you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article?
Kilpatrick: Well, I guess maybe just the fact that I wrote the album during all this that’s going on, so it’s inspired by everybody’s emotions around the pandemic, … but it’s a pretty hopeful batch of songs, I would say; … the songwriting is related to what’s been going on. (www.petekilpatrickband.com)

Lucky Clark has spent over 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.

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