This is a tale of two guitar players, one from Daytona Beach, Fl, and the other from Bromley, London, England, and both born on this date in 1950. One would achieve fame and fortune onstage playing on one of the biggest selling live rock albums of all time. The other chose to perform in the background, as part of one of the greatest studio bands in history.
Jesse Willard “Pete” Carr is the chap from Florida. He began playing guitar at 13 and, perhaps presaging a career as a versatile session player, was influenced by both kinds of music – the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. When he was 15, Pete went to see the Allman Joys, with Duane and Gregg Allman, at a club in Daytona Beach. The audacious lad lugged his guitar along, and during a break went up to Gregg and asked him to show him some guitar licks. Gregg told him that was Duane’s department. The kid introduced himself to Duane who, incredibly, obliged the boy. They would become friends, and in 1968 Pete became a member of the brothers’ next iteration, Hour Glass. Pete played bass on their Power of Love album, recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. The band broke up shortly thereafter, and Pete went back to Florida.
Pete had caught the studio bug, became interested in the engineering and production of records, and started working in studios in Miami, FL, and Macon, GA. In 1970, Pete moved to Muscle Shoals, AL, and was soon playing lead guitar for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as The Swampers. Over the next 30 years, Pete played on virtually every session at the studio, with artists Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, Wilson Pickett, Hank Williams, Jr., Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, Joan Baez, The Staple Singers, Barbra Streisand, Luther Ingram and many others. He was brought out to California to play multiple guitar parts on Rod Stewart’s Night on the Town (“Tonight’s the Night”). Pete played guitar for Simon and Garfunkel’s Reunion World Tour, including the HBO Concert in Central Park, attended by over half a million people. He co-produced Bob Seger’s Stranger in Town, and contributed the iconic guitar solo to “Main Street.”
The Swampers (L-R) Barry Beckett, Eddie Hinton, Jimmy Johnson, Jerry Wexler, Pete Carr, Ronnie Blakley, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jerry Master, Steve Matoo"Duane Allman had a magic touch with the guitar that no one else had, with the exception of Pete Carr." Jimmy Johnson, rhythm guitar player for the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
The English entry in today’s daily double is Peter Kenneth Frampton, the precocious singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose 1976 double live album Frampton Comes Alive! is one of the greatest successes in rock history.
Peter began playing a banjo-ukulele hybrid at age 7, then taught himself how to play guitar. At 8 he was taking classical music lessons. By 12, Peter was playing in his first band, the Little Ravens. David Bowie was three years ahead of Peter at Bromley Technical School, but the two got together at lunch hour and played Buddy Holly songs. At 14, Peter was in The Trubeats, and then Bill Wyman’s The Preachers. Two years later, Peter became a successful singer and guitarist in The Herd, and at 18, joined Steve Marriott in his new band, Humble Pie.
During his two years with Humble Pie, Peter also did session work for Harry Nilsson, Jim Price, Jerry Lee Lewis, as well as on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and John Entwistle's Whistle Rymes. That'd be a career already, for most.
In 1971, Peter began a solo career, which included his 1973 group project, Frampton’s Camel. Frampton Comes alive! was his first solo hit. The album was on the Billboard 200 for 97 weeks (55 were in the top 40, and 10 were at #1). It was the top selling album of 1976. With sales of 8 million copies it became the biggest selling live album as of its time, and is still the fourth largest. In 1978, Peter was nearly killed in a car crash in the Bahamas, and went quiet for a couple of years. His career resumed quietly a couple of years later, rather foundering, until collaborations with Bowie in 1987. Peter credits Bowie with reviving his career on the Glass Spider tour. Peter and Steve Marriott got back together in 1991, and seemed on the road to something, until Marriott’s tragic death in a house fire that April.
Peter has continued to churn out records and tour appearance for the past 25 years. Notably, in 2013, he toured North America with a changing lineup of guitar greats as Frampton’s Guitar Circus. He recently released a stellar acoustic album and toured to support it. Peter is touring this summer with Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Happy Birthday Pete, and Happy Birthday Peter!
