Peter Lewis

Peter Lewis ranks among the co-founders of Moby Grape and remains one of the least-celebrated figures to emerge from the 1960s rock upheaval. Born into an entertainment-industry household, he is the son of the celebrated actress Loretta Young, who passed away in later years. During his high-school years he performed guitar and vocals in the pop/rock outfit the Cornells and crossed paths with Ricky Nelson along with other contemporaries. Following attendance at military school and a brief period of service in the Air Force, Lewis worked for a time as a commercial pilot for Shell Oil. An early concert by the Byrds prompted him to place music at the center of his life. “I would have stayed a pilot too if it wasn’t for the Byrds. It was at the Long Beach Arena where I went with my girlfriend to see the Rolling Stones that it happened. Being in the pilot’s program had completely absorbed me, and I had spent the last two years doing nothing but flying, or studying about flying. Music had been put in the background. It had no pull on me, because in my isolated situation, I still thought the music scene in America was pretty lame. That all changed when the opening band stepped on-stage that night at the Stones concert. Of course, it was the Byrds.”

In that same era Lewis began shaping the fingerpicking guitar approach that would become his hallmark. Although Roger McGuinn’s technique served as a catalyst, Lewis elected to pursue the sound on a six-string electric instrument, distinguishing himself from the many players who simply copied McGuinn by means of 12-string Rickenbackers. For more than a year he and his newly formed group, Peter & the Wolves, performed throughout the West Coast.

In 1966 Lewis started collaborating with the similarly overlooked musical visionary Joel Scott Hill; through Hill he encountered bassist/vocalist Bob Mosley, and the Moby Grape story commenced. Lewis supplied the group with numerous strong and immediately appealing rock numbers, among them “Fall on You” and “Goin’ Down to Texas.” He also cultivated an inward-looking, psychologically incisive psychedelic ballad style in which his distinct voice and skill are most evident, as heard on “He,” “That Lost Horizon,” “Horse Out in the Rain,” and “Sittin’ by the Window,” the last of which he revisited with striking effect on his 1995 self-titled solo album. He further composed the searching “Changes, Circles Spinning,” an ode to the close of the 1960s that entered Joan Baez’ late-1960s concert repertoire. Amid intermittent Moby Grape reunions during the 1970s, Lewis and fellow Grape co-founder Skip Spence, who has since passed, played key roles in forming the Doobie Brothers and helping secure their Warner Bros. contract. Early rumors suggested Lewis received an invitation to join the band alongside Spence, yet when his former bandmate declined, Lewis followed suit.

In 1995 he issued his sole solo release to date, Peter Lewis, on the German label Taxim Records. Produced by former Doobies guitarist John McFee, the album offers a revealing portrait of Lewis’ singular voice and continued artistic development. He has devoted recent years to tracking material for a successor record and continues to appear live on occasion as a solo performer and, at times, alongside surviving Moby Grape members. At these solo engagements he frequently revisits Gene Clark’s “Set You Free This Time,” originally featured on the Byrds’ Turn! Turn! Turn! album, thereby completing a personal circle.