About the Podcast
The Florida Folk Show Podcast is hosted by Peter B. Gallagher. The podcast dives into Pete's vast archives of music, photos, videos and artifacts that he has created and collected over the last several decades as a journalist, photographer, songwriter and producer. Explore the people, places and culture that define his Florida. Borrowing the signature line from the great Florida Folk artist Bobby Hicks, The Florida Folk Show Podcast: “It's Florida, need I say more.”
Pete Gallagher
A native Floridian born in Ft. Lauderdale, raised in Brevard County, a graduate of Cocoa High in Rockledge and Brevard Junior College in Cocoa, who has lived in St. Petersburg since 1974, Pete is an award-winning journalist and freelance writer who has been documenting Florida people, places and culture, with a highlight on the preservation of the state’s flora and fauna, 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 (with Charles Flowers) that freed migrant farm-worker James Richardson from prison (after being wrongfully convicted for murdering his seven children) to his work exposing the racial tragedy of Rosewood, the plight of the endangered Florida Panther, and his expose on unethical state government permitting and variance capers allowing the destruction of the world’s oldest aboriginal canoes at Gainesville’s Lake Pithlachocco (for the Seminole Indian Tribune), he has consistently fought for truth and sanity in Florida environmental, civil rights and cultural issues. ◙ Pete spent 10 years as a staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times, much of that time penning “Vanishing Florida,” their first ever environmental column. ◙ He spent over 20 years working for Chief Jim Billie and the Seminole Tribe of Florida government, in online and offline Tribal communications, covering Indian Country 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, regularly, since 1972, most of that time as a member of the Green Grass Revival (Florida original bluegrass/folk band) and the Florida Boys with longtime musical partners Pat Barmore, T. C. Carr and Bart Hanchey. ◙ Pete has released seven albums of Florida Folk Music: his music combines humor (Dog Peter Gnats, Dog Paw Tea) and pathos (Old Rope Swing, Tamiami Trail, Suwannee River 2023) with intuitive looks at Florida characters (Tom Gaskins, Scott Howard, Don Grooms) and places (Chokoloskee, Girl From Immokalee {co-written with Raiford Starke]) 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.” ◙ Since 2003 he has hosted the WMNF Florida Folk Show (Saturdays 9-10 a.m. on 88.5 FM Community Radio Tampa Bay) and co-host (with Pat Barmore) of the weekly songwriter’s showcase Florida Folk Night: Tuesdays 7-10 pm at St. Pete’s Old Key West Bar & Grill ◙ 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. ◙ In May 2010, Pete was awarded the Stetson Kennedy Foundation’s "Fellow Man & Mother Earth" Award, which recognizes performers and composers whose lives and works have reflected their concern for the environment, human rights and traditional culture.
Along the road, Pete Gallagher has hoarded, stored away and otherwise preserved a veritable museum of real Florida culture, from old cassette interviews and rare musical footage to thousands of photographs, videos and artifacts – a unique Florida history collection that we are preserving, updating and presenting, along with Pete’s exclusive memories and inside info, on the Florida Folk Show Podcast. It’s educational. It’s entertaining. It’s Florida.