When it comes to what ignited Peter Campbell's flair for performing, one could say it was literally magical.
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The singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, grew up in a musical family, but it was his magician uncle took him "under his wing", when he was nine.
He is Highland FM's November Home Grown artist, and said he learned how to entertain large crowds with his uncle.
"I really liked that, I was fascinated by the way he could completely bamboozle people and still have them like you at the end of it," he said to the station's manager Adam Stokeld.
From there, the desire to perform, and connect with an audience grew.
As a teenager, he learned how to play the piano and violin, but it did not appeal to him - a switch flicked inside him when he heard folk protest music, in his late adolescence.
The passion then grew after he was asked to join a theatre group while he was at the University of Sydney.
"It opened my eyes to what it is to be human, and that we're all different but in the end, we're all the same, we all have pain, we all have joy," he said.
"It was a wonderful time and I started writing songs and it was so wonderful."
He starred in Phillip Street Theatre's production of A Candy Stripe Balloon, was involved in ABC's film Man On a Green Bike, and released his first album in 1975.
His debut album Of Time and Its Distance, got the attention of Noel Paul Stookey in the United States, who he had previously toured with.
Mr Stookey encouraged him to venture to the states to make an additional album was a highlight for the Home Grown artist.
It did not stop there - albums followed, Mr Campbell's musical talents have been heard across the globe, and environmental and political commentary has been interwoven into his songs.
Waited Too Long, a song released in 2020 after the droughts, fires and impacts of the pandemic, became the anthem for the United Nations' International summit on Domestic/Family Violence in the COVID-19 Era.
When it comes to the essence of his music, the artist wants one thing to be persistent.
"It's that humanity that I wanted to get to and still want to get to," he said.
For the artist, he thinks folk music achieves this.
"I think one of the great strengths of this kind of music is that people engage at a deep level," he said.
"I think that when you're playing acoustically, and the music if there is very little, if any production, it's all pretty much people producing the music with their own hand.
"It has a power that is very telling and when you add to that, voices raised in harmony, about things that stir the heart, it adds another dimension to the whole thing, and I love that."
You can watch Mr Campbell at the station's 100% Home Grown concert on November 26, along with October Artist of the Month Ben Malone, and Lauren Amber, who will be the Home Grown Honouree in December.
For his performances, he will be joined by son and ARIA award-winning musician, Bow Campbell, and award-winning cinematographer and harmonica player, Brian Rapsey.
It commences at 6pm at the Bowral Bowling Club, and tickets are $27.49 for the show, and $53 with a meal via highlandfm.org.au/100-home-grown-concert/.
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