PETE KALVERT
Pete Kalvert is a serial bandleader, lifelong songwriter, and joyful multi-instrumentalist who recently re-emerged from the music hinterlands with the Grow The Good Band.
Pete’s self-imposed musical exile began in the Spring of 2008 when he purposefully and dutifully walked off the stage one last time at NYC’s iconic Bitter End. And it truly was a bitter end for Pete, though at the time he thought something else.
Fast forward 15 years later to the Fall of 2023 when Pete returned to the stage for an open mic at The Avalon Lounge in Catskill, NY and began to believe again…
Pete Kalvert is a lyricist, vocalist, piano and guitar player. He is the Founder and Director of Music Ascension (www.musicascension.com), which has provided with open arms and full hearts, community-based Songwriting & Recording projects and musical opportunities to young people since 1999. Pete’s TEDx Talk , which features the original lyrics and music of several young artists,, is more of an invitation to us adults to recognize and celebrate what our young people are saying.
In 2019, alongside his wife Lane Gardner (www.lanegardner.com), Pete co-founded THREAD (www.threadconnects.org), a 501(c)3 therapeutic arts non profit organization that now helps GTGB bring its music to people and communities facing food insecurity and housing instability throughout the Hudson Valley. Beginning this fall, GTGB & THREAD will offer regularly occurring Dinner & Dancing Events to help support and connect with these communities.
After graduating in 1996 from Brown University where he led the bands The Lousies, Martha Dumptruck, and Martha and performing regularly in Providence, Rhode Island, Pete absolutely loved living in Northern California where he formed the band Ottomus Hank. Those 3 beautiful years in the Santa Cruz mountains and then up in Mendocino County gave Pete something different, something awe inspiring, something real.
In 1999, Pete moved back East to NYC and formed the band Willit with Dave Menes and Jason Concepcion both formerly of Santa Cruz, California’s Netwerk Electric. Pete performed at many NYC venues including The Living Room, The Parkside Lounge, Kenny’s Backroom among others.
Pete is a Kingston, NY resident since 2015 and is mass transit and transportation curious. He is a proud and super grateful father to his daughter Mayim, his son Madrone, and his step-son and composer Myles Quinn.
Pete currently designs and facilitates Music Ascension/Grow The Good music programming at the Fedcap School in West Orange, NJ as well as The Centers of Innovative Teaching & Learning in Port Ewen and Mount Marion, NY in partnership with Ulster BOCES.
SETH “HAPPY” NICHOLSON
Full time musician. Part time lover.
Seth "Happy" Nicholson has been creating and performing music for over 20 years. He began singing at the age of 2, began playing drums at 5, started producing and recording at 14, then began playing bass at 16. Before graduating high school, he was awarded a scholarship to join Wycliffe Gordon's summer jazz camp program at the University of Manitoba in Canada, where he participated in drum workshops under the tutelage of Herlin Riley. In the years to come, he would go on to work at a privately owned studio in Mount Vernon, gaining firsthand knowledge of engineering, mixing, and production. He would later use that knowledge to work with a wide variety of artists and acts while expanding his musicianship through various instruments. Throughout 2020, he released original compositions as a solo artist (HapMuzak) for the first time. He currently works with such acts as Durieux, Dmac Burns, and Maps Of.