Texas-based singer/songwriter Peter More and his bandmates have called many places home over their career. Originally from Fort Worth, Texas, More joined forces with Spanish flamenco guitarist José Juan Poyatos in San Miguel de Allende, three hours north of Mexico City. In San Miguel a chance encounter with Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen and his wife Libby Titus, led to Fagen producing More’s debut album, “Beautiful Disrepair”, and a follow-up EP entitled “Shoulder”. 

Following two years of nationwide and international touring, More has announced the release of two new singles featuring former Fugees collaborator and Grammy nominated producer John Forté. The new singles mark an exciting evolution in More’s songwriting and composition. At turns contemplative and rousing, More's music is precisely arranged, yet manages to feel uncomplicated; Music you want to sing along with and also hang on to every single line. More is currently back in the studio with Forté, who is producing his forthcoming EP. 

PRESS

“A profound blend of traditional flamenco guitar and pop inspired vocals. The expert musicianship of the group is eloquent and paired with Forte’s rap hooks, constitute the perfect dynamic.”  

- American Songwriter

“Utilizing Fagen’s expertise with vocal harmony and clever arrangements, More fashioned material that veers from folk balladry to country to sauntering soul-rock.”

- Rolling Stone

"Brings to mind folk-rock greats like Neil Young... with a new and vibrant energy."

- Substream Magazine  

"An eclectic sound of classic rock roots, old country twang, and latin influences."

- Sound Digest 

"Peter More is constantly in motion, and you can hear it in his new music." 

- The Prelude Press

"Peter More enshrines his nomadic nature on new EP."

- B-Sides & Badlands

"They’ve got that electricity that happens when great musicians play together."

- Rocknuts.net

Instead / Chan Chan (To Be Released 4/3/2020) 

On his dynamic new double single, Peter More transforms two songs of wildly different origins into a beautifully unified musical expression. With each track featuring a hard-hitting guest verse from former Fugees collaborator John Forté, the soulful and solemn “Instead” finds an unexpected counterpart in “Chan Chan”: a spirited cover of the classic Cuban song penned by Compay Segundo and popularized by Buena Vista Social Club. Merging folk and hip-hop, Cuban son music and Spanish flamenco, the result is a graceful entwining of so many eclectic styles and stories, revealing More’s depth and originality as both artist and interpreter.

With an early-2019 trip to Cuba deepening the band’s connection to “Chan Chan,” More’s rendition took on even greater poignancy thanks to an encounter with Forté at a friend’s house on Martha’s Vineyard later that year. “We’d always have jam sessions out back at the house, and one night I was playing ‘Chan Chan’ and John asked if he could jump in,” More recalls. “He did this verse that I loved right away, so when we recorded it later I asked him to be on the track.”

Despite sharing the same key and understated intensity, “Instead” and “Chan Chan” arise from nearly opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. “I wrote ‘Instead’ sitting in my bedroom back when I was living in Brooklyn, at a time when I was feeling a little helpless about the situation I was in,” says More. “It’s a song about that feeling of trying so hard to fix something or make it better, when really you just need to let it go.” In stark contrast to that heavy-hearted mood, “Chan Chan” unfolds as an impossibly romantic love story (the translation to one particularly ardent lyric: “The love that I have for you/I can’t deny it/I drool a bit/I can’t help it”).

Threading a taut narrative between “Instead” and “Chan Chan,” Forté embodies a fearless honesty in recounting his own stranger-than-fiction story. A classically trained musician who earned a Grammy nomination for his work on The Fugees’ iconic album The Score, Forté found himself at loose ends after the commercial failure of his acclaimed debut album Poly Sci, eventually getting caught up in a drug-trafficking operation and spending seven years in federal prison after a bust at Newark Airport. With his verse on “Chan Chan” offering a clear-eyed reflection on his life-changing missteps, his contribution to “Instead” sheds light on the profound promise in rebirth and love.

In recording “Instead” and “Chan Chan” at Arlyn Studios in Austin, More deliberately preserved the back-porch intimacy of his first meeting with Forté, all while capturing the joyful vitality of the band’s live performance. “We’re at such a cool moment in music right now, where people are collaborating and crossing genres in ways that haven’t ever been done before,” says More. “I think the beauty of music is that you can take it in any direction you want, and I hope everyone’s excited to go on that journey with us with these songs.”

Shoulder (Released 4/12/2019) 

The Shoulder EP is comprised of three songs that were held back from Peter More's debut album "Beautiful Disrepair" (released in August 2018). Kicking off with the anthemic single "Shoulder" and followed by two b-sides -- "What We Used to Be" and "Marlene (Featuring Amy Helm)”, the uncomplicated and original tracks all feature Donald Fagen's precisely executed phrasing and production, with More's lyrics and unique vocal style. Best described by Fagen as music with "a smart savvy edge...its an American dish served with hot sauce", each song fuses together Peter More’s many creative and geographic influences honed in recording studios in Mexico, Texas, New York City, and Woodstock.

BEAUTIFUL DISREPAIR (RELEASED 8/24/2018)

When you listen closely to "Beautiful Disrepair," Peter More's debut album, you will hear ghosts. There’s the presence of his grandmother, an arts patron, whose legacy enriches all his creations. There’s a sister-like figure from his youth, whose sudden passing sparked his lust for life.  And there’s a lingering sting of relationships' lost promises. The roots-rock artist, however, is not one to lament.  All these apparitions come very much back to life through his music. After a chance meeting with Steely Dan’s Donald Fagen, and his musician-wife Libby Titus, the couple invited him to Woodstock to attend Levon Helm’s final Midnight Ramble concert.  A few months later, they recorded "Beautiful Disrepair" — working around Fagen’s various projects — in San Miguel de Allende, Fort Worth, New York City, and Woodstock.  "We’d start with the lead vocal track, sit at a piano, and he would map out the harmonies,” More recalls.  “Then we’d record it.  When he played it back, we’d be like, ‘Holy shit!’”  This is how More’s ghosts were so vividly resurrected.  The producer likewise expanded their sonic repertoire.  “What’s cool is that no one had an ego about things.  We were four best friends who had the good fortune of having Donald take us under his wing,” More says.  If there is a commonality tying his songs together, it’s an emotional and physical wanderlust.  “Definitely a lot of different places, different dynamics,” he says of Beautiful Disrepair’s sprawl of experiences, wherein he confronts his ghosts to make peace with them.

PHOTOS