Hey, hey, it’s The Monkees’ Peter Tork

The Monkees’ Peter Tork was on a Beatles-inspired television show that aired for only a couple of years yet launched a music career that has lasted more than four decades. He’ll be in White River Junction on Friday with his solo project, Shoe Suede Blues, at the Tupelo Music Hall.

Tork spoke by phone last week from New York City during a tour stop with fellow Monkees Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones, sans fourth member Michael Nesmith.

Burlington Free Press: I’m sure a lot of people who know you from The Monkees are less familiar with your solo work. What can folks expect from your show in White River Junction?

Peter Tork: I think we made an arrangement with the Royal Canadian Air Force to have a flyover and with the local circus for tumblers and elephants. Other than that I think you can expect some bluesy pop rock and some Monkees songs, some done faithfully, some shifted around a little bit. I think we can expect great music and hilarious hijinks.

BFP: Performers who make a big impact with something early in their careers can struggle with a love/hate relationship with that work later on. What has that process been like for you and your days with The Monkees?

PT: Since I went through it I’ve come out the other end, and what lies at the other end is it was what it was. There’s no gainsaying the impact it had on people. I’m calling you from New York, we’re in the middle of a Monkees tour, we’re playing in Brooklyn tonight (July 21) and Milwaukee on Saturday (July 23), and during a Monkees tour people say, “You saved my life, I was looking for a half an hour a week where reality fell away and I could imagine a reality that worked,” and some people just got lost in the music. In the early days when I was in conflict about this it was because I was trying to lay my own reactions on people. It’s a fairly feeble reaction.

As a Beatles fan when I look back I regard myself as extremely fortunate, just to be able to carry on what The Beatles did in a small way. Relatively speaking, even though we did sell wonderfully well in the record department, the impact The Monkees had was basically on the TV show. It was an honor to participate in that extent in that phenomenon.

via Hey, hey, it’s The Monkees’ Peter Tork | Burlington Free Press | burlingtonfreepress.com.