Peter Bruntnell (born 26 January 1962) is a British singer-songwriter born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, New Zealand.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 649

Biography

Bruntnell's family is originally from Wales; His family moved to New Zealand when his father, Owen Bruntnell, was sent to work at the British High Commission in Wellington for four years. They returned to the UK when Bruntnell was a year old, and settled in

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

.Peter Bruntnell – The Triste Interview
, triste.co.uk. Retrieved 19 September 2010 His great great uncle was Australian politician

Albert Bruntnell Albert Bruntnell (4 August 1866 – 31 January 1929) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1906 until his death and held a number of ministerial positions in the Government of New South Wa ...

who emigrated from Wales in 1888. Bruntnell also lived in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada for a time. In the early 1990s, Bruntnell returned to the UK and formed the band Milkwood, although he soon reverted to solo work and recordings with Matt Backer and Felix Harper as the Peter Bruntnell Combination. He was signed by

Almo Sounds Almo Sounds was a record label which was started in 1994 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss after they sold A&M Records to PolyGram. The intent for the label was to recreate the initial concept of A&M Records as a small, "boutique" label. The label ...

, who issued his debut album, ''Cannibal'', in 1995. He recorded a second album for Almo, ''Camelot in Smithereens'' (1997), before moving to the Slow River label for his 1999 album ''Normal for Bridgwater''. The album was highly recommended by VH1's Bill Flanagan and by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s John Luerssen, and helped to establish Bruntnell with American audiences.Album: Peter Bruntnell ''Ends Of The Earth''
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 7 March 2003. Retrieved 19 September 2010 The album was recorded with the help of musicians from

Son Volt Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar (vocals, guitar), Andrew DuPlantis (bass guitar), John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and Ma ...

, a band with whom he has toured regularly in the United States.Armonaitis, Dan (2009)
Son Volt kicks up some 'Dust' and moves forward
, GoUpstate.com, 19 November 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2010Maffeo, Lois (2000)
Peter Bruntnell ''Normal for Bridgwater''
, ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

'', September 2000. Retrieved 19 September 2010 In 2013,

Loose Music Loose is a British independent record label based in Ladbroke Grove, London. In 1998, Loose was formed from the vinyl only record label, Vinyl Junkie, which was set up in 1994 by Tom Bridgewater. Loose Music - About Since 1998, Loose has rele ...

released Bruntnell's Retrospective album, featuring music from all of his albums to date. The album was preceded by a single and accompanying video of a re-recording of the song "Played Out", featuring Rumer.

Musical style

Bruntnell's music is often referred to as

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

, although it has also been described as

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

and

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

.Sweeting, Adam (2003)
Peter Bruntnell Borderline, London
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 26 April 2003. Retrieved 19 September 2010Crowley, Michael (2002) "Peter Bruntnell: No Mad Dogs For an Alt-Country Englishman", ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', 18 September 2002, p. C5Wilson, MacKenzie " The Peter Bruntnell Combination Biography,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved 19 September 2010

Discography

Albums

* ''Cannibal'' (1995), Almo Sounds – The Peter Bruntnell Combination * ''Camelot in Smithereens'' (1997), Almo Sounds * ''Normal for Bridgwater'' (1999), Slow River * ''Ends of the Earth'' (2002), Black Porch – The Peter Bruntnell Combination * ''Played Out'' (2004),

/Vinyl Junkie * ''Ghost in a Spitfire'' (2005),

/Vinyl Junkie * ''Peter and the Murder of Crows'' (2008),

* ''Black Mountain U.F.O.'' (2011), Manhaton Records * ''Ringo Woz Ere'' (2012), Domestico Records * ''Retrospective'' (2013),

* ''Nos Da Comrade'' (2016), Domestico Records * ''Live in the Firth'' (2017), Domestico Records * ''King of Madrid'' (2019), Domestico Records * ''Journey To The Sun'' (2021), Domestico Records

Singles

*"I Will, I Won't" (1995), Almo Sounds – The Peter Bruntnell Combination *"Astronaut" (1996), Almo Sounds – The Peter Bruntnell Combination *"Have You Seen That Girl Again" (1997), Almo Sounds *"Camelot in Smithereens" (1997), Almo Sounds *"Saturday Sam" (1997), Almo Sounds *"By the Time My Head Gets to Phoenix" (1999), Slow River *"Played Out (featuring Rumer)" (2013), Loose Music

References

External links

Official Peter Bruntnell website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruntnell, Peter 1964 births Living people English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters