Wolverhampton's Pete Kent releases third album

Pete Kent, a self-confessed 'old man' at 45 years old, grew up in Wolverhampton's Goldthorne Park and has stayed true to his roots by basing a lot of his work in his home city.

A guitar teacher at the city centre's One Way Music and Wombourne School of Music, Pete is also a fingerstyle acoustic guitarist of some repute.

This weekend sees him release his third record Free Energy via Revolver Records, following on from his 2014 debut The Sands Of Time and 2016's The Hidden Hand.

"It's gone really well," he says. "They are based really close to where I grew up on Goldthorne Hill and I grew up on Goldthorne Park.

"I just turned up one day and asked to play some of my music to see if they'd be interested in releasing my material. They signed me up on the spot and that went on to become album number one.

"The previous releases have done really well and received some five-star reviews, including from Acoustic Guitar Magazine in the USA - which is a huge publication and got me a bit of a following over there."

Pete has also impressed some big companies and grabbed the attention of guitar brand Ibanez and Laney Amplification in particular.

"They're worldwide brands who really push me," he says. "For example, Laney Amp were in LA at the weekend at the NAMM Show - a trade show and guitar convention. They played videos of me there using their new stock.

"Both provide me with products and I go out and demo for them. I'll hopefully be going abroad soon to demo for them and in February Ibanez are featuring me as the featured artist on their website which is huge as they also endorse people like Joe Satriani."

Closer to home, Pete will be launching Free Energy with a show at Bilston's iconic Robin 2 on February 20.

"I play fingerstyle, which is all instrumental without any lyrics. I have learned to play the melodies, bass and percussion on one instrument which people like. So I play a lot of cover versions. It's obviously aimed at other guitarists but you can definitely still enjoy the shows if you don't play."

Free Energy is released on Friday and will be available via Amazon and iTunes as well as other digital outlets through Revolver Records.

Pete can be found on Facebook @petekentmusic, Twitter @PeteKent2 and Instagram @pete.kent.946

He also has his own website where you can follow his progress, while he can also be seen performing via his YouTube channel.

Tickets for the Robin 2 show on February 20, priced at £7 in advance, can be bought here.