Pete Gallagher

“Sunset Beach Pete” Gallagher, a native of Wilton Manors, Florida who grew up in Cocoa/Rockledge and has lived in St. Petersburg since 1974, has been writing stories, songs and singing about Florida for more than 35 years. An award-winning journalist and freelance writer, Pete has been involved in Florida preservation pursuits since he graduated from the University of Florida in 1972. From his landmark Vanishing Florida column in the St. Petersburg Times to his investigative work that freed migrant farm-worker James Richardson from jail (after being wrongfully convicted for murdering his seven children) to his work exposing the tragedy of Rosewood, the plight of the endangered Florida Panther, and his expose on unethical state government permitting and variance capers that allowed the destruction of the world’s oldest aboriginal canoes (for the Seminole Indian Tribune), he has consistently fought for truth and sanity in Florida environmental and cultural issues. He spent 15 years working for Chief Jim Billie at the Seminole Tribe of Florida, directing Tribal communications and producing large-scale entertainment events (including the Discover Native America powwow series, the Fire On The Swamp country music fests and the Phish NYE 2000 show which drew 100,000 folks to a Big Cypress cattle pasture on the millennium).

Pete has appeared at the Florida Folk Festival each year since 1972, most of that time as a member of the original Green Grass Revival (Florida bluegrass/folk band), as a duo with longtime partner Raiford Starke and with the Green Grass Boys (with Elan Chalford, T.C. Carr and Starke). Pete has released four albums, the “Live At Tampa Theatre” LP with GGR in 1979, “Florida Folk Music I,” “Florida Folk Music II,” “Dog Peter Gnats” (with Raiford Starke) and last year’s “Songs of Florida,” a special project with collaborator Kelly Green of Live Oak. Pete’s music combines humor (“Dog Peter Gnats”) and pathos (“The Old Rope Swing,” “Suwannee River 2023”) with intuitive looks at Florida characters and places, everything presented with a pro-Florida environmental theme.

Pete was the winner of the first Will McLean Poetry Contest, and is a two-time winner in the Live-Arts Peninsula Foundation’s “Floridian” songwriting contest.

From 1981 until 1991, he managed the comeback career of blues singer Mary Smith McClain and was the writer/producer on a short film of her life called “Diamond Teeth Mary.”

Pete is currently host of the Florida Folk Show (Thursdays 9-10 a.m. on WMNF 88.5 FM Community Radio Tampa Bay) and co-host (with Pat Barmore) of weekly Florida Folk Singer-Songwriter Nights at the Sloppy Pelican (St. Pete Beach) and Kojak’s Rib House (Palmetto). Pete is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and has been the executive producer on three nationally-released (Grammy nominated) CDs. Currently Pete has teamed up with Florida songwriter Pat Barmore, presenting a “Songs of Florida” themed show. They hope to educate their audiences about Florida history and, using their musical gifts, present a case for Florida cultural, environmental and artistic preservation.