Peter Breinholt marks musical milestone

During my early days as a music critic for the Deseret News — nearly 20 years ago — there was an influx of local music inspired by folk.

One of these artists was Peter Breinholt.

He was a 24-year-old college kid armed with a guitar and a band called Big Parade. (I say he was a kid because he's almost three years younger than yours truly).

Breinholt released his debut CD, "Songs About the Great Divide," in 1993, and by early 1994, it had pretty much taken a life of its own.

I reviewed that CD, but for some reason, the review isn't in the Deseret News archives.

Still, I remember how fresh the music sounded and how it was an important CD in Breinholt's career.

Little did I know just HOW important it was at the time.

Now, 17 years later, Breinholt and some of his original band members are celebrating the album by playing all the songs live in concert tonight.

I spoke with Breinholt last week, and even though he may be older and wiser, and sells out the Sandy Amphitheater and Kingsbury Hall, he really hasn't changed in all these years.

He's still a gracious, humble artist who just wants to play music.

And he had a lot to say about "Songs About the Great Divide" and his decision to celebrate the album with the upcoming concert.

"I remember 2003, I had a fleeting thought that the album was 10 years old," Breinholt said. "The original idea was to go back to the studio where we recorded it, because they use it as a performance hall, to play the album live.

"I thought about it but didn't do anything about it."

Last autumn, Breinholt tried to get the original musicians who played on the album together.

"A lot of what makes that album is the musicians that played on it," he said. "We played some house concerts, but we didn't play all the songs. And then the night before we played our first show, They Might Be Giants played at the Depot and did the whole 'Flood' album. And after the show, I thought we should do the whole album."

Breinholt never thought the CD would be the catalyst for his success as a singer/songwriter.

"We had never really been in the studio," he said. "We were college students, but not music students.