Pete Molinari makes music the same way he has for twenty years: in small rooms, from lived experience, releasing only when the work is finished. No algorithms, no trends, no shortcuts. Just the songs.
He is a British singer-songwriter rooted in folk, blues, country and Americana. His catalog is deliberate and sparse. His live shows are intimate. His output treats every release - album, 45, book - as part of one continuous conversation with the listener. In an industry that often moves fast, that steadiness is the story.
This special show features his wife Mila Molinari, a celebrated burlesque performer, singer, and percussionist.
Born in Chatham, Kent, to a Maltese, Italian and Egyptian family, Pete first absorbed music through his older brothers’ records: Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly. Jack Kerouac’s writing sent him to America in the early 2000s. A planned one-month stay in New York became two years on the road. He played the historic Greenwich Village rooms - Bitter End, Gaslight Café, Café Wha? - and travelled through New Orleans, Memphis, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Paris. Those years shaped the voice and songwriting he still uses.
Caffe Dell’Artista – The Lyrics & Poems
Limited-edition hardback artistic journal collecting song lyrics and original standalone poems. Foreword by Will Hodgkinson (The Times). Signed copies available at $30 via Pete’s Big Cartel store (petemolinari.bigcartel.com).
Ongoing Monthly Residency
Pete maintains a monthly residency at Petit Ermitage in West Hollywood with his band The Velvet Illusion. The evening is a love letter to the soul of roots rock ’n roll: part live band revue, part burlesque performance and part vinyl-only dance party. He also does a weekly Caffe Dell Artista Acoustic Resedency at The Eden Cafe Hotel.
Pete treats every element - songs, vinyl, book, shows, personal style - as part of the same ongoing conversation. He is the rare artist whose catalog, merch, touring and aesthetic all reinforce one clear through-line: consistency over volume, substance over virality. His palette draws from Ben Sherman, Farah, Clarks, vintage Fred Perry, Lacoste, Paul Smith, La Coq Sportif, Sergio Tacchini, Fila, early Versace, Gucci and vintage Louis Vuitton.