Danvers Musician Goes From North Shore To Heart Of Country Music

DANVERS, MA — A talented young bass player from Danvers is preparing this week to hit the biggest stage of his life at the three-day Faster Horses Country Music Festival in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Cam Pepe, who moved to Danvers during his high school years and attended Masconomet Regional before going to the Berklee School of Music in Boston, is part of a program at the school that pairs students with alumni and professional musicians to help support all aspects of their performance, promotion and tour management.

Pepe is playing with Vivienne Artur as she takes the stage Sunday afternoon in the festival featuring headliners the Zac Brown Band, Luke Bryan and Shania Twain.

"It's an amazing opportunity from the Berklee Popular Music Institute for us to gain experience performing live," he told Patch. "We're hoping this will get Vivienne an opening spot for a big artist or more opportunities to be performing. Her recorded music is going well and I am looking forward to helping her with her live band."

Pepe has played with Artur at a BPMI music showcase at the Brighton Music Hall in front of what he estimated were "a few hundred" people. The July 14-16 Faster Horses Festival — this year in its 10th anniversary — drew an estimated 40,000 people in 2022.

"This will definitely be the biggest show we've played," he said.

Pepe, who graduated this past fall, said he mostly played jazz, jazz fusion and classic rock bass before joining Arthur's band that focused on pop, country and folk.

"I hadn't really been into that music until the last year or two," he said. "But it's been really cool to get to know a new type of music through her."

Pepe said the BPMI program allowed him to work on his musical production through helping to build the live show alongside Artur for the past nine months but that in recent weeks most of his focus has turned back to his playing so it can be on point, supporting her lead.

The BPMI program is designed to guide students through every step of going from the classroom to the stage. While most Berklee classes take place over the course of one semester, BPMI
runs on a three-semester, full-year cycle.

In the fall, the class selects the artists and splits up into management teams. In the spring, students work on artist development, marketing, digital presence, budgets, merchandise, sponsorships, and advancing their assigned festival.

In the following summer and early fall, teams rehearse with the artists to prepare them for the festival stage and accompany them to each festival to handle on-site promotion, production, and tour management.

"Shout out to Berklee and the North Shore for being great communities to be a part of," he said. "I am excited to go out there and represent both on July 16."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)