STOURBRIDGE musician Pete Boddis is set to launch his latest album which he says was something of a happy accident.

The 72-year-old singer/songwriter, who has been on the Midlands music scene since the early 1960s, already has four albums under his belt and he wasn’t really intending on producing a fifth.

But out of the blue, on a day off during a weekend’s string of gigs in Brighton, the music magic happened.

He explained: “I was sitting in my friend Alfie Bernardi’s studio drinking coffee and somehow, by the stroke of midnight, I had recorded 12 songs, some old, some new, all but one being first takes.”

Over the next couple of months Alfie then added an array of instruments to Pete’s original tracks, arranging and producing them. He also enlisted the help and talents of some of his musician friends to contribute instrumentals.

Pete, who runs Vintage music shop in Lower High Street in Stourbridge, continued: “At the time I didn’t know I was doing an album. I never even left spaces for instrumental breaks or worked out the endings. But it’s worked out really nicely.”

The resulting 13-track album, entitled Spinning Wheels, will be launched on Saturday March 25 at Jim Duncan’s Bantock House Country Night at Bantock Park, Wolverhampton, at a launch event running from 8pm until 11pm.

Comprising self-penned tracks from the 1980s, 90s and present – the recording will be available to buy on the night and from Pete’s shop which is based above Suites Galore.

Tickets for the launch event are £5.