Peter Grudzien

Peter Grudzien is an American country/psychedelic singer-songwriter and musician. His music is well-known in the outsider music community for its idiosyncratic instrumentation and often openly gay subject matter. Grudzien's music has strong roots in country, as he grew up listening to such artists as Johnny Cash, who he met as a young man. In the 1960's, Grudzien began performing on the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit, where he met many notable folk musicians, including Bob Dylan. It was also during this time that Grudzien supposedly participated in the Stonewall riots for gay rights. Grudzien continued to make music, and released The Unicorn in 1974. The Unicorn, now considered extremely rare by record collectors, was produced in a very small quantity. The album, entirely written, played, and produced by Grudzien, was long unavailable until its re-release on CD by Parallel World in 1995. The CD release of The Unicorn also included several new songs by Grudzien, including his take on the American standard,There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere, updated with many openly gay sentiments. This song was included on Songs In The Key of Z Vol. 1, a popular compilation of outsider music. With the release of Songs In The Key of Z and its book companion, Grudzien's music was received by a somewhat larger audience. Peter Grudzien, while known for his reclusiveness, still occasionally plays in the New York area, where he lives, and continues to create and record music in his home studio. Currently, The Unicorn is the only collection of his music that is available. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.