Peter Prince Interview

Peter Prince Interview

CHRISTIAN:- Peter, I
understand you’ve been songwriting for many years, can you tell me how it all
began?

PETER- I started writing
my own songs around 1970. I always loved folk and country music, particularly
the more traditional country singers, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Conway Twitty,
Merle Haggard,& Johnny Cash,  And I was exposed at an early age to the
folk music of Pete Seeger  and Woody Guthrie. So it was just a natural
progression that in the 60’s I would learn guitar and perform in folk groups in
the cabarets in Greenwich Village and the Irish bars in Upper Manhattan, NYC.
where I grew up. I would listen to groups, like The Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul
& Mary, The Clancy Brothers The Limelighters, and solo performers like Judy
Collins and Joan Baez, but, it was the singer/songwriters like Bob Dylan and
Leonard Cohen with their poetic style, which inspired me to write about my own
feelings and the inspirations in my life..

CHRISTIAN:. Peter,-I
heard about you, from publisher/ songwriter Joe Pickering Jr., who I am very
familiar with and respect, whose company, King Of The Road Music,
Bangor,Maine,[www.kingoftheroadmusic.com], represents some of your country
songs. How did your affiliation with him happen?

PETER:-It was his
affinity for writing sports songs that captured my attention and also that he
hailed from Maine.. I have always been an avid sports fan of the teams and
players of NYC. and began writing about my heroes–eg: The 1969 “Miracle
Mets”.; my song, “Miracle Drive” was set to video by the NY Mets
and shown at Shea Stadium on Diamond Vision on the 25th and 30th anniversary days
honoring this legendary and beloved team. And in 1994, when after 54 years, The
New York Rangers finally won The Stanley Cup, I was compelled to write
“Stanley Cup Rangers (City Of Dreams)” which received radio
airplay.on the NYC sports stations. My all time favorite baseball pitcher was
Tom Seaver and “#41” honoring his hall of fame induction was archived
in the Baseball Hall Of Fame Library in Cooperstown, NY, and I have a hockey
song, “Do You Believe In Miracles?” a tribute to the 1980
“Miracle On Ice” olympic team.  That song with video is
currently playing in the U.S Hockey Hall Of Fame in Eveleth, Minnesota.
Most of these sports songs were written at an earlier time in my career and can
be heard on a digital album called “Heart Of A Champion.” by ACM Records,
www.acmrecords.com, and purchased on iTunes.

CHRISTIAN- So what about
the Maine connection?

PETER- Joe  being
from Maine solidified my wanting to join his company, since I consider that
state my second home, having lived there for a while in the 1970’s and having
spent almost every summer there the past  40 years, enjoying my favorite
past-time, smallmouth bass fishing

As a matter of fact, one
of my songs, King Of The Road Music represents is “The Fish’n Game Talkin’
Blues,”-  a droll, tongue in cheek tale of one of my, let’s call it
“interesting”

fishing adventures in
Maine.  For those who like to laugh or at least chuckle, you can download
or stream it on CDBaby, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc.

CHRISTIAN- It’s pretty
apparent  Peter, your songwriting covers a broad array of topics.

PETER:- That’s true, but
whatever I do is rooted in a country/folk sensibility, and that includes my
sports music. Just getting back to that for a moment,, there’s a pure,
traditional country interpretation of one of my tunes, “Tug’s Song”
that pays homage to the late great NY Mets & Philadelphia Phillie’s relief
pitcher,  Tug McGraw, who with his chant “Ya Gotta Believe ”
helped lead the 1973 Mets from “last to first” to the NL pennant .
Tim McGraw is Tug’s son, and I’d love to get this to him to sing it.

CHRISTIAN- What are some
of your other songs about?

PETER-There’s one called
“Busted Dreams” (KOTRM) that received some airplay on college radio
.It’s the story of what most songwriters or singer/songwriters must endure on
the road to their dreams, rejection and “close calls”. Ultimately
it’s the music itself and the creative process that keeps us going. My most
recent effort, “As Long As You Believe In Me” ( King Of The Road
Music) was demoed by Buddy Jewell and by Grammy award winning musician and
producer, Harry King. There are two versions by Harry that can also be
streamed/downloaded on CDBaby, iTunes etc.

One of my dearest
friends in Nashville, Ms. Colene Walters, who graced the stage of the Grand Ole
Opry in the 90’s as the duet partner of the legendary Porter Wagoner suggested
that “As Long As You Believe In Me” could work as a duet and of
course I’d love that she be part of it.

CHRISTIAN:- Yes, I
interviewed her a couple of times and she has a great personality.

PETER:- Colene is a
natural born entertainer and a great singer. I first introduced Joe Pickering
to her and he to you.. Colene did record one of my songs, “Softly
Down”, which was inspired by the heroism and “grace under fire”
of  airline pilot, Captain “Sully” Sullenberger and the event
known as “The Miracle On The Hudson”,  On January 15, 2009, all
155 aboard Flight 1549 leaving LaGuardia to Charlotte, N.C survived a forced
water landing in the Hudson River after a flock of geese flew into and blew out
both engines of the plane.  Captain Sullenberger became a national hero
and celebrity that day and I knew immediately that Hollywood would make a movie
about him and this miraculous event. And it did, with Clint Eastwood directing
and Tom Hanks playing Sully.  I tried  tenaciously to get
“Softly Down” placed in the film, but fell short, even though between
you and me, I thought it a better fit than the closing credit song selected. I
know it sounds like “sour grapes” but that’s my story and I’m
stickin’ to it. Fortunately the story of “Softly Down” didn’t end
there.

CHRISTIAN- So what
happened, I’m all ears.

PETER- Well since I
believed in the power of the song, I reached out to one of the survivors, Mr.
Dave Sanderson. I learned that Dave was the last passenger off the

plane, who ended up in
the freezing waters of the Hudson and could have easily succumbed to
hypothermia. Dave was a hero himself that day, helping others to safety. His
ordeal, like all of the passengers on Flight 1549, made him gain a new outlook
on life, having come so close to dying. In Dave’s case, it was starting a new
career in motivational speaking trying to convey to people what he learned with
his brush with death and how to deal with our own personal imminent
“disasters.”

When Dave heard
Colene’s  spiritual interpretation of the song set to video,, he was very
moved and posted it on his website. That was followed by a beautiful blog,
“The Power To Impact” (Google; THE POWER TO IMPACT-Dave Sanderson
)where he described our meeting and how through the song he realized more fully
the impact that “The Miracle On The Hudson” had on the outside world.
It would have been nice to have had “Softly Down” in the movie, but
that the song touched Dave and led to our friendship, transcends whatever”
dreams of gold” I might have had at the time.  The “Softly
Down” video is expected to be re-posted soon on Dave’s restructured
website www.davesandersonspeaks.com, .

CHRISTIAN-  So are
you working on any new projects?

PETER- Right now I’m
just trying to promote the material I have with my two publishers. I always
hold out hope that a major artist will want to record one of my songs, and in
that regard I have material with one of the long time pluggers in Nashville,
Springbarrel Songwriter Services run by Ms. Carol Perdew. That being said,
getting that to happen is no easy task or everyone would be writing hit songs,
however there is the licensing of original music to film and TV where I’ve had
some placements. Because the songs I write evoke visual images, I feel that’s
the best direction for me to go to get paid for my craft. As far as writing
that hit song, as my favorite Nashville engineer/musician, demo producer Galen
Breen (www.thegatorhole.com) likes to say, “it’s demo lotto,
“You have to be in it to win it.” So I’ll just keep pluggin
away,  and maybe one day………..

Peter Prince

pvprince@aol.com

Publishers: King Of The
Road Music./  Phoenix Cloak Sounds(ACM Records)

All songs mentioned in
this interview are copywritten- all rights reserved.

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