On June 1, Dayton singer-songwriter Pete Price released his second studio album, Pictures in Time, via Bandcamp. Before the release, Price joined WYSO Music Director Juliet Fromholt on Kaleidoscope to discuss the project and perform in-studio with his band, the Price Brothers.
Unlike his 2022 debut record, Department of the Interior, which was mostly recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, Pete Price tracked Pictures in Time in Dayton, with backing instrumentation from the Price Brothers: Casey Davis (lead guitar), Steve Phelps (drums), Matt Scholp (bass), Jeff Tut (Keyboards), and John Lardinois (Violin). Tutt also engineered and co-produced the album. “This time I wanted to record it locally,” Price told Juliet in their interview. “I’ve got so many talented musicians in this band that it was an asset I just couldn’t waste.”
Price’s approach to songwriting has also changed since his previous album. “I’m trying to get out of the first-person,” he said. “I can take something I invent in my mind and make word-pictures out of those things. Sometimes those are the best songs; they’re simpler and they tend to be more descriptive.” He described the course of the 12 songs on Pictures in Time as a hero’s journey in three stages:
“It tells the story of a hero who is starting out and hasn’t really figured out his life yet. He’s dealing with interpersonal conflict and breakups and things like that. The first four songs on the album are about this guy who hasn’t figured it out yet. In the second four or five songs he’s starting to get a clue and having some revelations. And toward the end of the album, our hero is in a better place. He’s mending relationships, he’s venerating people and places, and he has a lot of gratitude. And all the while, he’s smart enough to know that, as he goes along, he’s never going to figure it all out.”
Price ended the interview by performing “Long Lake,” a song from the final section of the album. The song is an homage to his lifelong summer getaway. “I tried to write a song about Long Lake for many years, and I never felt I wrote a song that was worthy of it,” he said. “Finally, a couple summers ago, I was unable to go to the lake because there were some problems with the cabin, and so I wrote this song instead, and I was able to go there in my mind.”
An album release show for Pictures in Time will be held at Dayton’s Yellow Cab Tavern on Saturday, June 8, at 8:00pm. The concert will feature Pete Price performing in three different configurations: solo, in the Fairview Stringers duo with Dan Sage, and with the full Price Brothers bands. For more information about Price’s music, visit petepricemusic.com.
Text by Peter Day, adapted from a studio session hosted by Juliet Fromholt on May 29, 2024.