Pete Donnelly Residency featuring Britta Phillips (Luna/Dean & Britta), Joey Sweeney

Pete Donnelly

December 2011 saw the release of When You Come Home, the debut solo CD from Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey based musician, producer and songwriter Pete Donnelly. Donnelly, who recently became a member of the legendary band NRBQ, writing and performing on the band's well-received 2011 release Keep This Love Goin' (Clang), is also a founding member of the tried and true power-pop band The Figgs, which has a world-wide fan base, a hearty discography, and has toured and recorded several times with Graham Parker. An active member of The Figgs, founded in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., since the rock outfit's inception in 1987 (the band will be dropping a new double-disc set in 2012, the band's 11th album), Donnelly has spent the better part of the past 20-plus years touring with the band, as well as a number of other artists such as Soul Asylum, Mike Viola & The Candy Butchers, Tommy Stinson (The Replacements, GNR), Graham Parker, and in recent years, NRBQ. Living in the Philadelphia area for the past decade, when not on the road, Pete Donnelly has been writing, recording, engineering and/or producing for a variety of artists, including John Legend (bass on 2008's Evolver) and Sub Pop act Death Vessel. He has done the same for a plethora of Philadelphia-based artists - such as G. Love & Special Sauce, Carsie Blanton, The Capitol Years, Amos Lee, and Ben Arnold, to name a few. The critics have already regarded When You Come Home as a killer album, with famed WFMU DJ Bob Brainen including it (along with the latest NRBQ record) among his album picks for 2011 and Premier Radio's Steve Reynolds including it in his Top 20 albums for 2011. Meanwhile the Internet "radio show" Bubbles in the Think Tank also included When You Come Home in its list of favorite albums of the 2011, stating: "....dig the vibe that Pete puts down throughout this disc. It's got the Philly sound on top of the one that is Pete's very own." When You Come Home is a watershed record in Pete Donnelly's prolific music career. The 14 tracks were recorded over a period of two years in a different cities and studios, and with an assortment of top-notch players - including Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum), Britta Phillips (Luna, Dean and Britta), Fred Berman (Amos Lee), Jonn Savannah (Van Morrison, Squeeze) and Mike Gent (the Figgs, The Gentlemen) Built upon catchy and sturdy melodies, and played with a genuine sense of care, Donnelly's new songs are testaments to his artistry, each inspired in part by all of the musicians he's had an opportunity to work with.

Britta Phillips (Luna/Dean & Britta)

Britta began her musical career as the singing voice of '80s cartoon rock star, Jem. In her first acting role, Britta co-starred in the movie Satisfaction with Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts, before moving to London with her band, Belltower. In 2000, Britta joined the critically acclaimed NYC band Luna. In 2003, Britta and Luna front man, Dean Wareham, collaborated on their first album, L'Avventura together with legendary producer Tony Visconti (David Bowie & T. Rex). They changed their name to Dean & Britta and got married while making their second album, Back Numbers (also produced by Visconti). The pair also work together scoring films, most notably Noah Baumbach's The Squid & The Whale. Dean & Britta latest album, 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, began as a commission by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh to write 13 songs and instrumentals to perform live with Warhol's Screen Tests projected above the band as they play. The screen tests are short, silent portrait films made by Warhol at the Factory between 1964 and 1966 -- of actors, artists, and Factory regulars (including Dennis Hopper, Nico, Lou Reed). Dean & Britta have been touring 13 Most Beautiful for the last 3 years, and have played over 60 shows around the world, from the Sydney Opera House to NYC's Lincoln Center in NYC.