BIG PETE

 

                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                            

                                              

                                                                                                                            

41 year old Dutch blues vocalist and harp master Pieter “Big Pete” van der Pluym may not yet be a familiar name in ‘mainstream’ music, but he’s already well-established in the international Blues World.

At 23, Pete was handpicked for a European memorial tour to honor the music and memory of legendary harmonica player and vocalist Lester Butler (the Red Devils and Thirteen), backed by several of Lester’s original band mates. The project was met with great success and critical acclaim, so more tours and a CD by the Lester Butler Tribute Band soon followed, securing Pete’s arrival on the scene as one of the premier next generation blues performers out of the Benelux region.

Since then, Big Pete has gone on to form and record many other successful projects including his debut release ‘Bathroom Acoustics’ by The Strikes, a couple of CDs by the rockin’ 50’s Chicago blues outfit The Backbones, and most recently, the more progressive and forward-thinking group M.O.C.T. (Men Of Considerable Taste). Pete’s growing reputation has also led to tours and performances backing many internationally acclaimed blues artists including Alex Schultz, Mitch Kashmar, Monster Mike Welch, Hook Herrera, Matt Schofield, and Ian Siegal.

The album ‘Look At The Time‘ (CLBZ 28), with M.O.C.T. (Men Of Considerable Taste), can be seen as one of the best blues/roots albums in Netherlands (and beyond) released in 2010. By then, the talents of Big Pete where also noticed by Director/owner Randy Chortkoff of ‘Delta Groove Music’ in the USA. Chortkoff offered him the opportunity to come out to Los Angeles, CA to perform on the album ‘Shake For Me’ by The Mannish Boys.

After the success of his first US adventure, Pete recorded his first album for Delta Groove Records in Los Angeles, in May 2011. The result, Pete’s first ‘solo’ album, ‘Choice Cuts’ (DGPCD149) was released October 18th 2011 and gained world-wide success.

In various radio playlists from all over the world, ‘Choice Cuts’ was picked as the # 1 blues album in 2012.

The album was even nominated for a prestigious ‘BMA’ (blues music award) in the category ‘best new artist debut’. These awards are known to be ‘the Grammys’ in blues music.

After this, Pete released the critically acclaimed live record ‘Live at BluesNow!’ (CTC-2990812).

In 2017, Pete got the call to front the original Red Devils for a reunion tour as special guests of ZZ-Top, playing many of the big arenas all over Europe.

They also recorded the still officially unreleased record: ‘Return of the Red Devils’.

Since then, Pete has been playing with his ‘Big Pete Blues Band’ to perform on many of the big blues festivals, both in Europe and beyond, fronting the reunited Red Devils, fronts the Kid Ramos Blues Band and has been featured on countless BMA and Grammy ballot recordings by the worlds top blues artists. Pete is currently on a year long theater tour in the NL, and it is no secret that he is regarded as one of the premier blues/roots harmonica players & singers in the world today.