It is very hard for me to write about Peter as he was as close to a soul mate as I've ever had. I've never learned to deal with his death-- to accept it or to put it behind me. While many in the public world saw his arrogance and occasionally blunt insensitivity, my family and I saw a kind, comfortable, and endlessly entertaining playmate who lapped up affection like a puppy and gave as good as he got.

Peter was like a big brother to my sons and helped them see connections between the current pop music they loved and the groaning shelves of blues and old time music stashed in my bedroom. He helped smooth over the generation gap between me and my teenagers. I rediscovered America through his eyes and fell in love with England through the two tours he and Anthea, especially Anthea, arranged for me and Bill Shute. We would come home late at night after our gigs and he would always be up waiting for us, with taped bits from the night's evening tv programs he was sure we would not want to miss.

We could talk for hours about everything under the sun and we did. Never was there a better human for shooting the breeze. I got him to articulate his own aesthetic and learned tremendously from that experience. His advice to me as a revival singer was priceless:

Listen to the traditional sources not just for the songs themselves but for what those singers do with the songs. Learn their textures, their rhythms,their phrasing, their ornaments, and their attitudes about the songs. You don't have to imitate them but you can draw upon their techniques to enrich your own. This becomes your own "bag of tricks."

These singers have so much beyond the songs to pass on. There is nothing simple about these singers or their songs-- they are giving you the most wonderful music and stories in the world. Remember that when you are singing.

I'm paraphrasing quite a bit, but anyone who listens to Peter will know that these precepts governed his own art.

We didn't always agree but we found each other's ideas endlessly interesting. He was my storybook friend: here today, gone tomorrow -- but there were always a few weeks to look forward to in the future-- sometimes enchanted, sometimes poignant, but always memorable.

He was broke, unable to find gigs, unable to adapt. He complained so much about this, many of us kind of got used to it-- a bad mistake. He was sending out warning signs.

But I am deeply moved that Peter's songs, his repertoire, and memories of his person as well as his persona have carried on long after his death. It is wonderful that people can appreciate his creative gifts without turning him into a "paper saint" as Kipling would have said. He was a great artist, a vulnerable man, and absolutely unforgettable.