Peter Joseph Burtt & the King Tide

Walking became a big part of Peter Joseph Burtt’s life when he lived in Africa.

Now a Lake Tahoe resident, Burtt often walks beside the water at Kings Beach.

Baby, it's cool outside
Peter Joseph Burtt and the King Tide play tonight in the Crystal Bay Casino.

“I like to walk along the lake and compose my thoughts and my music,” Burtt said. “I spend a lot of time walking at night. Just that rhythm of the walking, the steps and your breathing and heartbeat, it all really seems to just kind of feed into that creative process.”

Music also is a big part of Burtt’s life, and he said he’d probably be content to simply play it in his living room. But Zeb Early enticed him to be a more outgoing Tahoean. A 26-string kora player as well as percussionist and guitarist, Burtt opened a show for Early’s Mama’s Cookin’ about three years ago. The band members were so impressed they asked to backup Burtt, which led to Peter Joseph Burtt and the King Tide.

“They already had relationships so it was an instant band,” Burtt said. “The chemistry was there.”

While the members often jam and write music together, the band only has a couple of shows a month. Tonight it plays at 10 p.m. in the Crystal Bay Casino Red Room.

Along with Burtt and Early, Mike Adamo plays drums and Todd Holoway the keyboards. Joining the band live for the first time will be Reno bassist Miles Kiercher.

Anytime a group can add a player named Miles, it should do so, Burtt joked.

Burtt and Early recently opened a show for Dragon Smoke, the New Orleans super group which includes Burtt’s longtime friend Eric Lindell.

“Playing has always just been a part of my life, I never saw it as like a career,” Burtt said. “I just come at it from a folk background. We’d listen to records at the house and sing along and we’d sing at school, sing at church. It was just something we did as a community. I’m a working man. I play just because I love to play and because the songs keep coming. They really don’t stop.”

 

Peter Joseph Burtt and the King Tide

When: 10 p.m. Friday, Dec. 20

Where: Crystal Bay Casino Red Room

Cover: free

ABOUT Tim Parsons

Tim Parsons
Tim Parsons is the editor of Tahoe Onstage who first moved to Lake Tahoe in 1992. Before starting Tahoe Onstage in 2013, he worked for 29 years at newspapers, including the Tahoe Daily Tribune, Eureka Times-Standard and Contra Costa Times. He was the recipient of the 2011 Keeping the Blues Alive award for Journalism.

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