The Spotify “Discover” feature that recommends music based on your listening history led me to Paul Pena and his eponymous 1971 album. I was immediately drawn to the funky Meters-style beat and the excellent guitar work. He has a deep, soulful voice that is quite reminiscent of Bill Withers with a touch of Richie Havens. Some quick research revealed that the guitar playing was by Jeff “Skunk”Baxter who is responsible for some of the most memorable guitar on many of the Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers albums. The production quality and mixing on the recording is excellent.
Further research revealed an interesting story about his second album. “New Train” was recorded in 1973 but not released until 2000 due to a contractual dispute with Pena’s manager. Jerry Garcia, Merl Saunders, and the Persuasions played on the album and it was produced by Ben Sidran (keyboard player for the Steve Miller Band). Sidran gave an unreleased copy to Steve Miller and he recorded one of the songs on his 1977 hit album “Book of Dreams”. That song was one of McD’s favourite sing along tunes – “Jet Airliner”. I had always assumed that Steve Miller wrote the song but, as is often the case, there’s a very interesting story and journey behind the song. The song is about a trip that Pena took from Boston to Montreal for his first gig with T-Bone Walker – he was a member of that band for several years. Here is Pena’s original recording and a performance on the Conan O’Brien show in 2001. The songwriting royalties from that song were Pena’s main source of income for many years.
Pena was born in Hyannis, Massachusetts. His grandparents were from the islands of Brava and Fogo in the Cape Verde islands off the western coast of Africa, and emigrated to the United States in 1919. Pena spoke Cape Verdan Creole with his family while growing up. His grandfather, Francisco Pena, and father, Joaquim “Jack” Pena, were both professional musicians, and taught Paul to play Cape Verdean music, including Morna. Pena performed professionally with his father, including a summer spent in Spain and Portugal, where he studied flamenco music.
Pena was born with congenital glaucoma. He attended the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts, from the age of 5, and graduated in 1967. Pena was completely blind by the time he was 20. He moved to San Francisco in 1971 and lived there until he died in 2005. While living there he opened for Jerry Garcia, The Grateful Dead, and Frank Zappa on many occasions.
I was pleased to discover that my favorite singer, Susan Tedeschi, had discovered the music of Paul Pena long before me. Here’s her cover of “Gonna Move” from his first album:
Susan must of told her husband, Derek Trucks, about Pena as he recorded his “Something To Make You Happy” on their “Already Free” album: