Pete Thelen

A review for my latest album, Best for Last from blueshighwayus61.com

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A review of my album Best for Last, from hvy.com

Read it here

A review of my latest album Best for Last by blog Professor Johnny P’s Juke Joint

Read it here

I have just received the new release of “Travels To The Edge” by Pete Thelen. This is certainly not in the standard blues vein and stretches your imagination to define at all. Read more at http://www.bmansbluesreport.com

Check it out http://www.americanbluesscene.com/2012/01/iconic-rhythm-room-is-site-of-20th-anniversary-benefit-for-paz-de-cristo-outreach-center/

For the twentieth consecutive year, Phoenix singer-songwriter Pete Thelen (pictured) hosts a benefit concert at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix for the Paz de Cristo Outreach Center. Thelen’s Blues Dinosaurs perform along with other special guests at the Sunday, January 15 event. Fore more information log onto www.rhythmroom.com.

Iconic Rhythm Room Is Site Of 20th Anniversary Benefit For Paz de Cristo Outreach Center Hosted By Phoenix Singer-SongwriterPete Thelen

(PHOENIX) – Blues for a great cause take place on Sunday, January 15 at the iconic Rhythm Room in Phoenix, which is the site of the 20th Anniversary Benefit for the Paz de Cristo Outreach Center in Mesa. As he has done for the past twenty consecutive years, longtime Phoenix singer-songwriter Pete Thelen hosts the event and performs with his band, the Blues Dinosaurs. The Rhythm Room is located at 1019 E. Indian School Road. Doors 7 p.m. Show 7:30 p.m. $10. donation requested. Info: (602) 265-4842 or  www.rhythmroom.com. (Thelen and the Blues Dinosaurs also perform at Paz de Cristo on Friday, January 13 from 5:30-6:30 p.m.).

Past guest performers at this very special yearly event have included famed drummer Chico Chism; Lester Chambers of R&B legends, The Chambers Brothers; harpist Bob Corritore; and Delta blues guitarist, K.K. Martin, among many others.

“My friend Greg Sheldon and I formed the Blues Dinosaurs in 1992 in Tempe, AZ. One of our first paying gigs was a wedding, and the band agreed to give the money to Paz de Cristo, a food pantry that helps the working poor and homeless in Mesa,” explains Thelen.  “That was the start of twenty years with the Blues Dinosaurs raising money to help Paz de Cristo.  For the past several years the benefit has been at the Rhythm Room, and over the years some of the finest musicians in the Phoenix area and beyond have performed.”

Thelen has just released a new album, Travels To the Edge. “Something unique…has the darkness of the Delta Blues laid over the ethereal sounds of, say, King Crimson or Trey Gunn. If you’re up for something totally different, you should give this a listen. It will stretch your imagination!” (BMan’s Blues Report). Read a recent in-depth interview with Thelen here.

Travels to the Edge

I have just received the new release of “Travels To The Edge” by Pete Thelen. This is certainly not in the standard blues vein and stretches your imagination to define at all. That being said… I like it. One of the reasons that I get releases like this is because I have an open mind and don’t want to hear new uncreative artists doing 100 year old songs not… changing a note or phrase. Pete Thelen has certainly put together something unique. Born in Chicago, Pete was raised in the lap of modern day blues music but went off to the army and saw the world. This had a profound influence on his perception of life.
Working many years in a suit and tie after his return, Pete got reacquainted with the music business writing and producing music. Now Pete is on another journey and has invited us along. The music that I hear has the darkness of the Delta blues laid over the ethereal sounds of say King Crimson or Trey Gunn. Included is an 8 page booklet with lyrics and pictures. If you are up for something totally different, you should give this a listen. It will stretch your imagination!

Enjoy

Original Post here http://www.bmansbluesreport.com/2011/11/bmans-review-spider-lake-music-artist.html

Pete Thelen
Travels to the Edge
By Jaks Schuit – UP Magazine

From accountant to musician. Pete Thelen is a bard who is fullfilling his dreams. With a stack of songs he stept into the studio with producer Hans Christian. ‘Travels To The Edge’ has become a very diverse album. Titles like ‘Voodoo King’, ‘Spider Lake Woman’, and ‘Wind in the Chime’ tell where Thelen looks/finds his influences. Americana, electronics, silent streets and well-filled small European concert rooms.

The lyrics are somewhat enigmatic/mysterious, they touch the gutter of life, but also reach behind the American musical horizon. In the song, ‘Footsteps’ he even tells about Paris, London and Madrid.

The music is light-footed and stirring/rousing. It’s as if T-Bone Burnett did look over the shoulders to the switches in the studio. The voice of Thelen is genuine/lived through, the lyrics betray (tell about) a diffeent/apart view/ look at the craziness of life.

New details keep popping up/appearing while you’re listening. ‘Travels to the Edge’ is a pleasant/nice becoming acquainted/introduction.

Just to be clear – No, I’m not reviewing my own album here! Pete Thelen is a Wisconsin based singer-songwriter operating in a sort of contemporary introspective bluesy style, part rock, part dreams, part stark imagination. Thelen sings, writes all the words and music, but most of the instrumentation (which includes bass, keyboards, electric guitar, cello, udu, nyckelharpa, and drum programs) is provided by Hans Christian, with additional musicians adding harmonica, guitars, and additional vocals, track depending. The eight tracks swerve into some pretty dark corners of life, and the lyrics – some are sung, others are almost recited – are inescapable and present some fairly intense imagery over Christians textures, rhythms and solos. “Footsteps” is a minor reworking of the track he first presented on the compilation Kaleidoscope–Musicians of Door County in 2005, and the closer “travelers” is a spoken track that recaps some of its lyrics, bathed in a cauldron of swirling keyboards. “Move On” is a gritty blues-rock number that’s more typical of the songs from his earlier Blues Today projects. A very strong opener, “Voodoo King” describes the world of a street shaman in the French quarter of New Orleans, over a mystical primal beat and flowing synth textures. Overall, this is an interesting album that holds up well over repeated listens.