Pete Murray on tour in Australia and New Zealand

From heartbreak to happiness, Australian songwriter Pete Murray has revealed how the tragic loss of his father at 18 influenced his music and how fatherhood has brought new inspiration.

Pete Murray’s Australian tour showcases his new single ‘Home to Me’.

The loss of his father at 18 cast a long shadow over Pete Murray’s early music, but fatherhood has brought a new dawn.

As Pete Murray tours Australia and New Zealand, he reflects on how grief and joy have shaped his writing.

“My father Terry was funny, like he tried to sing but he was horrible,” Mr Murray said.

Despite Terry’s lack of musical talent Murray’s early work was influenced by his loss.

“My Dad died when I was 18 and that’s where the more melancholy stuff came through in my writing,” he said.

Pete Murray is doing an all ages acoustic tour around Australia and New Zealand this June and July.

And while his early work resonated with many, now his work is driven by his own experience of fatherhood: “I’d say being a Dad, you tend to write a lot more positive songs.”

It’s this new-found optimism and desire to create something uplifting for his children that’s driving another major change in Pete Murray’s career – taking control of his musical legacy.

Pete Murray's 55-date acoustic tour across Australia and New Zealand features the re-recorded song versions he now owns.

He’s recently re-recorded many of his classic hits, not only to capture the way he now plays them live but to proudly own the masters and secure his artistic future.

“There’s a bit of a difference in some of the songs: Better Days for example is in a different key and there’s more instrumentation in there but it’s still got the vibe,” Murray said.

“So it’s nice to know that anything these songs earn comes back to me and my family, not to someone else.”

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