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Peter Charles Blecha is an American historian, curator, essayist, author, musician, and director of the Seattle-based Northwest Music Archives. He is primarily known for research related to aspects of Pacific Northwest musical history. In addition to his books, essays, and album liner notes, Blecha has also served in multiple consulting and curatorial positions.
In the early 1970s, Blecha was active in the Olympia rock scene as a member of GodMother, Warbucks, and Valhalla, and later in Seattle with the Debbies, the Musical Chairs, conCordia disCors, and the Chains of Hell Orchestra.[3]
In 1983, he formed the Northwest Music Archives to document record labels from the Pacific Northwest and began 17 years of writing the "Northwest Music Archives" column in Seattle's music magazine The Rocket.[4][5]
The following year his exhibit, "The History of Northwest Recording", was mounted at the Seattle Public Library's main branch utilizing his own collection and items from recording engineer Kearney Barton. In 1987, he wrote and co-produced (with Mike Webb) a 10-hour special, "The History of Northwest Rock", for KVI radio, and in 1988 returned to the University of Washington to study museology. In 1990, Blecha began hosting the area's first all-Northwest oldies radio specialty show – "Tall Cool Ones" – on KCMU,[6] and also served on the Northwest Area Music Association's Hall of Fame Committee.[7]
In 1992, Blecha was hired as an archival consultant by Microsoft founder Paul Allen for a specific project: the Jimi Hendrix Museum,[2][8] and served on the project's Planning and Design, Exhibit Development, and Concept Development teams. Over the following several years, the project's mission was expanded to include the Northwest's regional music history. Leading the curatorial department’s artifact acquisition effort, Blecha secured thousands of historic items while also conducting interviews with scores of rock stars and other music industry figures, earning a reputation as the "Indiana Jones of rock 'n' roll"[9] and the "archaeologist of Northwest rock"[10] for his work in locating important musical artifacts related to major rock artists and performances.[11] The museum opened in June 2000 as the Experience Music Project (EMP), now the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP), with Blecha as a Senior Curator with three major inaugural exhibits: the "Jimi Hendrix Exhibit"; the "Northwest Passage Gallery" (about the history of Northwest music); and "Quest for Volume: A History of the Electric Guitar".[12]
Blecha researched historic brands of guitars manufactured in the Pacific Northwest from the 1930s through the 1950s including Audiovox, Bud-Electro, Hanburt, and Coppock, with many documented in essays in Vintage Guitar magazine.[14] He also researched pioneering Northwest-based record companies from the 1940s (Linden, Morrison), 1950s (Dolton), and 1960s (Jerden, Etiquette, Camelot). In 2013, he launched the Northwest Music Archives website to document all known Pacific Northwest-based record labels and musical artists.[15]
In 2023, Blecha was recruited by Humanities Washington to travel the state presenting regional music history lectures based on his book Stomp & Shout: R&B and the Origins of Northwest Rock and Roll.[16] In 2024 and 2025, he appeared at numerous museums, historical societies, and public libraries, including Seattle’s Town Hall and the Washington State Historical Society. He also delivered the keynote address at the 2024 Phi Alpha Beta Northwest history honor society's conference in Spokane.
—————— (2005). Rock & Roll Archaeologist: How I Chased Down Kurt's Stratocaster, the 'Layla' Guitar, and Janis's Boa. Seattle: Sasquatch Books. ISBN978-1570614439.
Blecha, Peter; Oldham, Kit (2011). High Tides & Tailwinds: The History of the Port of Seattle. Seattle: University of Washington Press. ISBN978-0295991313.[19]
"Seattle’s New Music Museum: The Experience Music Project", The Sheldon Concert Hall, St. Louis. MO, September 16, 1999
"Quest for Volume: A History of the Electric Guitar", Glenn A. Black Laboratory Lecture Hall, University of Indiana, September 18, 1999
"The Black Roots of the Original Northwest Rock Sound", University of Washington School of Music Conference: "Around the Sound: Popular Music in Performance, Education and Scholarship" (catalog, pp. 83–85), 2000
"The History of Country Music in Oregon", Bagdad Theatre, Portland, October 26, 2012
"The Lost Roadhouses of Seattle", Southwest Seattle Historical Society, February 9, 2023,
"Stomp & Shout! The Untold Saga of the Origins of Northwest Rock", Town Hall Seattle, April 19, 2023
^Winner of the Association of King County Historical Organizations' 2009 Virginia Marie Folkins Award. Also nominated by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections for a 2010 Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.
