Pete Ragusa, musician, songwriter, and producer, recently left his longtime gig with D.C.-area blues and rock legends The Nighthawks. Pete joined the band in 1974, two years after harmonica player and lead singer Mark Wenner formed the band. “After thirty-five years of putting my body and soul into The Nighthawks, it’s time to take the opportunity to move on,” says Ragusa, the band’s longtime drummer, “and work on the projects and make the records I’ve always wanted to make but haven’t had time to do.” Ragusa adds that he looks forward to such new endeavors as producing other artists as well as continuing to perform as a sideman in the Washington, D.C. area “with friends I’ve always admired as musicians.”
Among his favorite experiences as a Nighthawk, Pete emphasizes his gratitude for the opportunities “to sit in Muddy Waters’s living room as well as to play with him,” and “to share the stage with such legends as B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, and Buddy Guy,” along with many others including Gregg Allman.
According to Washington Post music critic Richard Harrington, "A bar owner’s dream, the Hawks have filled a thousand and one nightspots with raucous boogie that drives people to drink.” Some years The Nighthawks played 300 nights a year, and during Pete’s tenure he played on more than 20 albums.
Pete Ragusa, who calls himself a “groove drummer,” also co-wrote and performed several Nighthawks songs featured on the award-winning HBO TV series “The Wire.” Now he’s a guest artists with McMurdo Station.
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