PETER ONE’S HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ALBUM COME BACK TO ME OUT TODAY
NEW ALBUM IS A SUBLIME BLEND OF AFROPOP AND COUNTRY MUSIC THAT MARKS THE 67 YEAR OLD IVORIAN COAST FOLK SINGER’S SECOND ACT, RETURNING TO MUSIC STARDOM AFTER 30 YEARS
WATCH HIS INTERVIEW ON PBS NEWS HOUR
LISTEN TO HIS INTERVIEW + PERFORMANCE ON WNYC ALL OF IT
Photo credit: Angelina Castillo, High resolution download HERE
AFTER MAKING HIS GRAND OLE OPRY DEBUT, OPENING FOR JASON ISBELL AND THE WALKMEN, PETER PLAYS THE BLUE ROOM IN NASHVILLE TOMORROW NIGHT AND HEADS TO LONDON TO DEBUT AT THE LEGENDARY ROYAL ALBERT HALL
PLUS – JUST ANNOUNCED APPEARANCE AT NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL THIS SUMMER
Album Cover Art - Hi Res Download Here
“The 67-year-old Ivory Coast-born musician was a star in his heyday but political and economic unrest forced him into a life out of the spotlight. Now, he’s making a comeback.”
The Guardian
“Peter One developed a unique style that crisscrosses the ocean musically”
PBS Newshour
“Sweet and charming”
NPR All Songs Considered
“His unhurried, supple fingerstyle guitar playing and vocal melodies…split the difference between his heroes Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Cameroonian crooner Eboa Lotin”
Garden & Gun
“Beautifully fusing the rhythms and harmonies of African pop music with the tender warmth of Nashville country-folk.”
Brooklyn Vegan
“Peter One had his musical career on pause for three decades. Now, as a father of two adult children who’s retiring from his nursing job, he’s on a mission to make up for lost time.”
Rolling Stone
“Sublimely beautiful”
SPIN
“When you hear Peter One singing…you feel like you’re seeing somebody who is a legendary singer.”
Jason Isbell
5 MAY 2023 (TORONTO, ON) – Today, Peter One, 67 year old country-folk musician originally from the Cote d’Ivoire and now living in Nashville, releases his highly anticipated major label solo debut Come Back To Me. The stunning album marks his return to music nearly 30 years after he was a star in his home country. At the age of retirement, Peter One is boldly embarking on his second act, after years of working as a nurse, to return to his passion, music.
Listen to Come Back To Me HERE
Watch Lyric Video for “Sweet Rainbow” HERE
Watch “Cherie Vico” Performance HERE
Watch “Birds Go Die Out Of Sight” Performance HERE
Come Back To Me is a sublime multi-lingual blend of afropop, 70s influenced country, folk, and French chanson: singular sounds from an artist that has been on the most unique journey and now fast rising again. There is truly only one, Peter One.
After breakout performances at SXSW, Luck Reunion, making his Grand Ole Opry debut and opening for the likes of Jason Isbell and The Walkmen, Peter is hitting the ground running on his second act. Tomorrow night, he performs at Nashville’s The Blue Room at Third Man Records, and will perform at Royal Albert Hall in London on May 16 opening for Gipsy Kings. Plus, the legendary Newport Folk Festival recently announced Peter One as part of the lineup this summer.
Originally from the Cote d’Ivoire, Peter One was once a star in West Africa, as one half of a duo (alongside his writing partner Jess Sah Bi) who created a seminal folk album Our Garden Needs Its Flowers in 1985. The album gained momentum across the region, and found Peter performing his music for presidents, first ladies, adoring sold-out crowds, and even soundtracking the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990 as shown on the BBC. Peter moved to the United States in the 90s, due to political unrest in his home country and suffering political persecution for creating the Ivory Coast’s first musicians union as well as an attempt to pursue his music career stateside. However, due to cost of living, he was forced to switch jobs and has been working in relative obscurity as a nurse first in Delaware, then Tennessee, for the better part of 20 years, until now.
A 2018 re-issue of Our Garden Needs Its Flowers reignited attention on Peter One, with coverage from Pitchfork and Rolling Stone, and now Peter returns to the music scene with a unique blend of Afro-pop and 60s and 70s influenced country-folk soundtracks.
Come Back To Me was co-produced (alongside Peter One) and engineered by Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, John Prine) and features some of Nashville’s finest musicians including Pat Sansone (Wilco), Ken Coomer (Uncle Tupelo), Paul Niehaus (Calexico), and more. The result is a heartfelt collection of folk songs sung in English, French and Guro, sharing tales of painful divorce, love and loss, as well as reflecting on concepts of the healing power of music, diaspora, immigration and home.
Peter’s forthcoming album is quickly gaining fans from PBS NewsHour to Rolling Stone to SPIN to Jason Isbell, with whom Peter has been touring, who told Rolling Stone, “When you hear Peter One singing, it sounds like he’s singing from a place that is not commercialized. He’s singing something he really means…you can tell this man has performed many times for many people…and you feel like you’re seeing somebody who is a legendary singer.”
As anyone who hears the first ebullient, inviting notes of “Cherie Vico” on Peter’s new album will surely tell you, Peter One has once again arrived, and he has brought with him a set of songs that might just transport their listeners to new vistas, new moods, and new modes of experience, because they are the reflection of Peter’s own unpredictable, ever-surprising journey.
Says Peter One, “I feel lucky. I feel also really, really happy because it’s kind of a revival,” he says. “It’s an opportunity for me to get back to an unfinished job.”
Track List - Come Back To Me
- Cherie Vico
- Kavudu
- Ejie
- Staring Into The Blues
- Sweet Rainbow
- On My Own
- La Petite
- Joue-Moi Le Piano
- Bonne Annee ft. Jess Sah Bi
- Birds Go Die Out of Sight ft. Allison Russell
U.S. TOUR DATES 2023
May 6 - The Blue Room, Nashville, TN
May 15 - Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
May 16 - Third Man Blue Basement, London, UK
Jun 24 - Red Wing Roots, Mt Solon, VA
Jun 25 - Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI (supporting Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit)
July 28 - Newport Folk Festival, Newport, RI
Sep 23 - Pilgrimage Festival, Franklin, TN
Oct 8 - Rebels & Renegades Festival, Monterey, CA
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