Pete Francis, Homemade

Pete Francis has never been afraid to build his own world. As the co-founder of Dispatch, he helped prove that independent bands could enjoy massive success on their own terms, selling over 700,000 albums and playing to arena-sized crowds — including five sell-outs at Madison Square Garden and a record-setting 110,000-person audience at Boston's Hatch Shell — without mainstream support.

That same DIY spirit inspired him to launch a critically-acclaimed solo career in 2001, and it's woven throughout his newest release, Homemade. Written and recorded in his New England home, it's a timeless record that brings Pete back to the very beginning: to his roots as a singer-songwriter making a contemporary version of classic American music.

These songs pay tribute to his late father, his children, and the journey that's taken him from past to present, laced with organic instrumentation — including guitar, B3 organ, lap steel, and vocal harmonies from his wife, Katie — and contributions from co-writer Mikey Bar-Lavi.

Thirty years after Pete began building a national audience, Homemade finds him revisiting those musical roots with a renewed perspective.