Petit's blues guitar experience started at a young age in California and continued through addiction, alcoholism, homelessness, and subsequent recovery. He went from being a performer in the London Underground to giving masterclass University lectures on blues music whilst becoming a well-known stage act.
Petit's playing style, described by Classic Rock Magazine as containing "The fire of Freddie King, the instinct of Jimmy Page and the soul of Eric Clapton"[2] moved former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor to comment: "He’s got his own unique take on contemporary blues… I’ve heard him do a great live version of Freddie King’s "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?" It was wonderful. All his albums are very interesting, he deserves the recognition."[3]
Beginnings
Stephen Dale Petit was born in the California desert, near Joshua Tree National Park and grew up in Huntington Beach, California which was then a small surf town south of Los Angeles. At the age of seven he received his first guitar, an acoustic. Petit could often be seen at the Huntington Beach landmark venue, The Golden Bear,[4] which hosted such acts as Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan, as well as Blues legends Albert King, B.B. King and John Mayall. Petit's exposure, from a young age, to some of these artists and guitar talents would have a major impact on his personal creative development and future musical career.
Meeting with Albert King and early California performances
Petit began his musical career at a young age. By his mid-teens he was performing in bars and clubs across California, including The Golden Bear, five nights a week with bands ten years his senior, alongside such musicians as Randy Rhoads. During this time, Petit met and was influenced by musician Albert King.[5] He also met and briefly jammed with blues musician B.B. King.
In the mid-1980s, inspired by the British blues boom of the 1960s and 1970s, Petit moved from California to London. Petit believes that British blues had as much impact on the genre as that of its African American pioneers: "The British contribution to the blues is equal, in my eyes, to what Robert Johnson did, Blind Lemon Jefferson ... all of those guys all the way through to Muddy Waters.[6] I think it is a certainty that without the British blues boom the music (blues) would not have anything remotely like the profile it does."[7]
During his initial years in the UK, Petit toured London's Leicester Square and Little Venice over a 9-month period in Phil May of The Pretty Things "Friends Band" alongside May, himself, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Ian Stewart of The Rolling Stones. During this time Petit became acquainted with, and performed with, Eric Clapton. Petit believes Clapton's influence on guitar and blues is immense, saying that Clapton builds "solos like a well written speech".[8]
Busking on the London Underground
In late 2003, Petit began busking intensively on the London Underground as part of the Transport for London Licensed Busking Scheme, with Clapton describing this as "really admirable".[9] Speaking to Blues Matters magazine on his time spent busking Petit commented: "Knowing that Robert Johnson, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson etc all did it, made what is essentially doing it the hard way feel like it was the only right way to start"[10] "I know from playing below The Astoria that even death metal heads, goths, punks ... and skateboard kids like the Blues. Sometimes the metal kids upstairs would come down and say 'you're better than the band we just paid £15 to see,' that sort of stuff makes an impression on you."[11] he further stated. Petit soon attracted media attention from BBC radio and press and television.[12][13]
More recently
Funded by his busking on the London Underground, Petit released his debut album Guitararama in 2006 to critical acclaim. The album was heralded as Guitar & Bass Magazine's "Album Of The Year" while front-runner music publication Classic Rock Magazine described Petit in its 8/10 star review as "occupying a stunning middle ground between the fire of Freddie King, the instinct of Jimmy Page and the soul of Eric Clapton."[2] The album was re-released in 2008 due to demand.
In 2008, Petit embarked on his BLUnivErSity tour, travelling across the UK to colleges and universities to raise awareness of the genre, and to make the blues more accessible to young people. Petit gave extensive lectures on the blues, its history and its legacy as well as performing himself.
In 2009, Petit toured with former Bluesbreakers and Rollings Stones guitarist Mick Taylor throughout the UK. In 2010 he released his second studio album The Crave which featured guest appearances from Mick Taylor, Dick Taylor and Max Middleton. His second album The Crave received critical acclaim and sold well, with Classic Rock Magazine placing The Crave alongside Eric Clapton and Ronnie Wood in its "Top 50 Albums Of The Year".[14] In its review, BRFM.com likened the album's mastery of styles to The Clash’s iconic London Calling album.
On 1 December 2010, Petit organised Save The 100 Club Benefit Concert to raise funds for the historic venue to prevent its imminent closure. Petit was joined onstage by former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, Pretty Things guitarist and former Rolling Stones bassist Dick Taylor, Rolling Stone guitarist Ronnie Wood and British Blues forefather jazz trombonist Chris Barber for the concert. The 100 Club benefit served as the first time three generations of the Rolling Stones’ historic line up had performed onstage together. Proceeds from his single "Need Your Love So Bad" went towards the effort to save the venue from closure. In its review of the show, leading live review site allgigs.com praised Petit's performance: "Petit’s solos, variously expansive, chunky or crying, are a living, of-this-electrifying-moment history of the guitar, from old school Delta beginnings to listen-to-this, in-your-face nu-school and beyond".[15] Petit has played at The 100 Club on Oxford Street more than twenty times, and considers it to be his spiritual home.[16]
In August 2011, he began recording his next studio album, Cracking The Code, at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, Tennessee with Grammy Award-winning producer Vance Powell. The sessions for the album continued over an 18-month period and included guest appearances from legendary Howlin’ Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin, Dr. John, British blues forefather Chris Barber, Mick Taylor and Patrick Carney of The Black Keys.
A compilation album of Petit's live appearances on BBC Radio 2, The BBC Sessions, was released on 5 December 2011.
In June 2012, a vinyl only live album Stephen Dale Petit At High Voltage was released in a limited edition pressing. The album was described as "just about the greatest live record you’ll ever hear"[17] by Classic Rocks The Blues magazine.
On 15 September 2013, Petit released his third studio album Cracking The Code. The Express praised the album: "Petit’s electrifying guitar and gutsy vocals are the drive behind this musical tour de force… he’s a master craftsman at the top of his game."[18] "Thrusting blues hooligan anthems"[19] was the verdict of premier UK music magazine MOJO.
On 15 March 2015, a digital re-release of live album Stephen Dale Petit At High Voltage was released. It was one of the first albums to be released on Neil Young's PONO format. In October 2015, it was announced that Petit would join Walter Trout as special guest on his "I’m Back" UK Tour.[20]
In 2016, Petit toured across the UK and headlined the Rother Bluestage Festival in Roth, Germany. In March 2017, Petit flew to the US to record at Vance Powell's Sputnik Sounds in Berry Hill, Nashville Tennessee, with Sophie Lord (bass) and Jack Greenwood (drums). The songs from these sessions would later be released as the double album, 2020 Visions. The artwork for the album cover was created by Klaus Voormann.
Although slated for a late 2018 release, Petit received a Stage 4 cancer diagnosis in mid 2018, for which he underwent intensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments.[21] Petit insisted on performing throughout the treatment, though he was subsequently unable to continue work for months. In September 2019, he performed across Spain on a 15 date tour.
In February 2020, Petit and his band headlined Villa Do Condo Blues Festival in Portugal. The album's rescheduled release date of 27 March 2020, with UK album launch tour of 10 dates, was cancelled due to COVID lockdown laws. Eventually 2020 Visions was released digitally on 1 June 2020 and physically on 25 September that year. Petit has resumed live performances, including a return to Spain for 17 shows in November 2021, a headline appearance at The Upton Blues Festival in England,[22] Leeds Blues Festival and The 100 Club in London.
Petit began recording his next album at RAK Studios in London in early September 2022 with Vance Powell producing; further sessions have taken place at Brighton Electric, England and in Portugal with Boz Boorer.
Petit has been featured extensively on national, regional and student radio, including live in-studio sessions and interviews and specially commissioned BBC Radio 2 music sessions.[23][24][25]
Influences and ideology: The New Blues Revolution
Petit has explained, "The reason I am on the planet is to play blues guitar. I’m on a mission to spread the word about the blues and about the guitar – especially to young music lovers."[26] Petit is widely considered a spokesperson for the "New Blues Revolution". Explaining his ideology, Petit states that he felt that blues had faded to the background of British music consciousness, and so he promoted the New Blues Revolution, seeking to restore the blues to the popularity it experienced during the British Blues Boom of the mid-1960s: "I want to restore the Blues to the Top 40 in this country, where it belongs… All modern music is in debt to the Blues… there is no reason why it can’t be restored to the popularity it once had."[27]
Speaking further to Classic Rock Magazine, Petit elaborated: "I embrace the concept that the blues has to change. Heavy metal, progressive rock, death metal, shred, emo… it all has its roots in the blues….there’s a lot of stereotypical blues production and strategies and ways of recording that are really cheesy. Some people seem to adhere to those strictures, and I think it sounds really stale. What I’m saying is: how about if instead of going right we go hard left and go up two floors? I’m more interested in finding this new way forward."[28]
As part of Petit's New Blues ethos he gives masterclass lectures and performances at Universities across the UK. In 2008 he set out on a "BlUnivErSity" tour, incorporating historical perspective lectures, musical performance and multimedia presentations. "With these masterclasses I get to share my life's passion in a more interactive setting, explore this fascinating phenomenon that underpins all modern guitar music and therefore most popular music of the last 100 years."[29] Petit embarked on a fresh University masterclass tour called "Blues2Uni" in 2016.
Eric Patrick Clapton is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. He ranked second in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". He was named number five in Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009.
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their early years, Jones was the primary leader. Andrew Loog Oldham became their manager in 1963 and encouraged them to write their own songs. The Jagger–Richards partnership soon became the band's primary songwriting and creative force.
Cream were a British rock supergroup formed in London in 1966. The group consisted of bassist Jack Bruce, guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker. Bruce was the primary songwriter and vocalist, although Clapton and Baker contributed to songs. Formed by members of previously successful bands, they are widely considered the first supergroup. Cream were highly regarded for the instrumental proficiency of each of their members.
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers were an English blues rock band led by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter John Mayall. The band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues musicians. Many of the best known bands to come out of Britain in the 1960s and 1970s had members that came through the Bluesbreakers at one time, forming the foundation of British blues music that is still played heavily on classic rock radio. Among those with a tenure in the Bluesbreakers are guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor, bassists John McVie, Jack Bruce and Tony Reeves, drummers Hughie Flint, Aynsley Dunbar, Mick Fleetwood and Jon Hiseman, and numerous others.
John Brumwell Mayall was an English blues and rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians. A singer, guitarist, harmonica player, and keyboardist, he had a career that spanned nearly seven decades, remaining an active musician until his death aged 90. Mayall has often been referred to as the "godfather of the British blues", and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the musical influence category in 2024.
Peter Allen Greenbaum, known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. Green founded Fleetwood Mac in 1967 after a stint in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and quickly established the new band as a popular live act in addition to a successful recording act, before departing in 1970. Green's songs, such as "Albatross", "Black Magic Woman", "Oh Well", "The Green Manalishi " and "Man of the World", appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.
William George Wyman is an English musician who was the bass guitarist with the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on their first 19 albums. Since 1997, he has performed as the vocalist and bass guitarist for Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Rolling Stones in 1989. Wyman briefly returned to recording with the Rolling Stones in 2023.
Michael Kevin Taylor is an English guitarist, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–1969) and the Rolling Stones (1969–1974). As a member of the Stones, he appeared on Let It Bleed (1969), Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert (1970), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), Goats Head Soup (1973) It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974), and Tattoo You (1981).
Let It Bleed is the eighth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 28 November 1969 by London Records in the United States and on 5 December 1969 by Decca Records in the United Kingdom. Released during the band's 1969 American Tour, it is the follow-up to Beggars Banquet (1968), and like that album is a return to the group's more blues-oriented approach that was prominent in the pre-Aftermath (1966) period of their career. Additional sounds on the album draw influence from gospel, country blues and country rock.
Disraeli Gears is the second studio album by the British rock band Cream. It was produced by Felix Pappalardi and released on Reaction Records. The album features the singles "Strange Brew" and "Sunshine of Your Love".
Me and Mr. Johnson is the fifteenth solo studio album recorded by Eric Clapton, released in March 2004 by Reprise Records. It consists of covers of songs written and originally recorded by Robert Johnson. The album cover was painted by Sir Peter Blake, using a series of photographs of Clapton. Clapton had planned to record an album of new material, but by the time of the recording sessions there were not enough new songs written, so the band instead recorded a series of Johnson songs.
Freddie King was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar". Mostly known for his soulful and powerful voice and distinctive guitar playing, King had a major influence on electric blues music and on many later blues guitarists.
Doyle Bramhall II is an American guitarist, producer and songwriter best known for his work with Eric Clapton and Roger Waters. He is the son of the songwriter and drummer Doyle Bramhall.
Hubert Charles Sumlin was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin' Wolf's band. He was ranked number 43 in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
The Crave is the second studio album by Stephen Dale Petit, released on the 26 July 2010. It features guest appearances from former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, original Rolling Stones bassist and Pretty Things guitarist Dick Taylor and keyboardist Max Middleton.
Guitararama is the first studio album by Stephen Dale Petit released on 2 June 2008. The album was both inspired and funded by Petit's time spent performing as part of the Licensed Busking scheme on the London Underground in 2003.
Cracking the Code is the third studio album by Stephen Dale Petit, released on 15 September 2013 and recorded primarily at Blackbird Studios in Nashville. It was recorded by Grammy award-winning producer Vance Powell and consists of eleven original songs. The album features appearances from several notable guests including Howlin’ Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin, Dr. John, former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor and Patrick Carney of The Black Keys. Hubert Sumlin's contribution proved to be the last music he made prior to his death on 4 December 2011.
Stephen Dale Petit At High Voltage is a live album by Stephen Dale Petit released on 15 March 2015. The performance was recorded at London's High Voltage Festival in 2010 by the Ronnie Lane Mobile Recording Unit.
The BBC Sessions is the third album by Stephen Dale Petit, released on 5 December 2011, and is a compilation of specially commissioned BBC live recordings broadcast on BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris and Paul Jones shows. Released in response to growing demand from Radio 2 listeners, the album features live versions of Petit’s own material as well as homages to staple songs within the blues genre. Covers include versions of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers’ "Steppin’ Out", Albert King’s "When The Years Go Passing By" and Robert Johnson’s "Love In Vain". The album features guest appearances from former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. The recordings took place at the BBC’s Studio 3 in Maida Vale, London and Bob Harris’ studio in the BBC's Radio 2 headquarters at Western House, London.
2020 Visions is the sixth album by Stephen Dale Petit, released digitally on 12 June 2020 and on vinyl and CD on 25 September 2020.
↑ Wilkinson, Sam (June 2007). "Stephen Dale Petit Gets His Point Across"(PDF). Blues Matters. No.38. pp.62–69. There would be two shows a night (at the Golden Bear) and I went to the early show for Albert King. His tour bus was parked out front, and on my way out I noticed him sitting in it, smoking his corn cob pipe the door was open and I asked if I could get on. We talked for 2 hours or so until he was due back onstage. He had a guitar, and he showed me some things, and then he got me into the second show
↑ Wilkinson, Sam (June 2007). "Stephen Dale Petit Gets His Point Across"(PDF). Blues Matters. No.38. pp.62–69. I think it is a certainty that without the British Blues Boom the music (blues) would not have anything remotely like the profile it does
↑ Wilkinson, Sam (June 2007). "Stephen Dale Petit Gets His Point Across"(PDF). Blues Matters. No.38. pp.62–69. When (the public) start to stack up against the wall 10 and 20 deep and listen to you and the song finishes and they're still there, then you know something's up…I know from playing below The Astoria that even death metal heads, goths, punks ... and skateboard kids like the Blues. Sometimes the metal kids up stairs would come down and say 'You're better than the stuff we just paid £15 to see.' That sort of stuff makes an impression on you
↑ Mitchell, Ed (June 2012). "Stephen Dale Petit At High Voltage: The blues community finally gets its own Live At Leeds with this electrifying vinyl-only album". Classic Rock Magazine: 108.
↑ "Stephen Dale Petit Biography" (Press release). 333records. 1 February 2008. The reason I am on the planet is to play blues guitar. I'm on a mission to spread the word about the blues and about the guitar – especially to young music lovers
↑ Wilkinson, Sam (June 2007). "Stephen Dale Petit gets his point across". Blues Matters (38).
↑ Yates, Henry (April 2012). "The New Rock Revolution". Classic Rock Magazine: 81.
↑ Heathman (8 November 2007). "Heathman's Diary: Stephen's still got the blues for you". Ham & High: 22.
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