Inside Elio Pace’s New Album: The Harmonica Story

When singer‑songwriter and pianist Elio Pace joined me on MIX56 this week, the idea was simple: talk about his brand‑new album, I’ll Take It From Here, Kid — out today, and his first album of his own songs in 17 years.

But as you will hear, there’s an incredible back story to the making of this milestone album.

Finishing the songs a teenager started

The kid in the title isn’t a stranger.

It’s Elio himself — the boy who was making up melodies at the piano aged eight or nine, long before he’d heard of Billy Joel, and who spent the late ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s filling cassettes and Dictaphones with song ideas.

Then life got in the way. After reaching the final of Bob Says Opportunity Knocks in 1988, he was signed by a big agency and pushed into variety work — opening 20‑minute sets for Michael Barrymore, Les Dawson, Bob Monkhouse and Ronnie Corbett.

Not the moment to slip in one of his own songs. So the songs went on the back burner… and stayed there for the best part of three decades while he earned a living playing for Shakin’ Stevens, Suzi Quatro and Albert Lee.

Last year he finally went back to the tapes. It took a month just to digitise and sort them. His verdict was refreshingly blunt: about half had dated badly. The other half stopped him in his tracks.

I found stuff that I was very, very proud of the kid for writing, he told me. At 58, he decided to finish those songs on the kid’s behalf – hence the title.

The moment with his dad

In April, Elio drove down to visit his mum and dad. His father was seriously ill. Before heading home, he set a Bluetooth speaker in the middle of the room and played the family his demo of the title track.

His mum started quietly singing along to a melody she’d never heard. When it finished, his dad said: Play it again.

Then he reached for a harmonica sitting beside him — and, entirely by chance, picked the one in the key of F. The key of the song. He played the tune back like he’d known it for years.

Over the next few days, Elio’s sisters kept sending WhatsApp videos: Dad in the kitchen, Dad in the music room, still playing along. So Elio asked if he could come down and record him properly. He took a laptop and a microphone, sat his father on the settee at his sister’s house, and captured four takes.

Elio’s dad died on 5 July. He never heard the finished mix — but he played the demo, with his own harmonica on it, to every visitor who came, right through to the hospice.

You hear him at the top of the record, asking in Italian, “Va bene?” — “Is that any good?” And you hear the harmonica fade out at the end. So an album about a man finishing what his younger self started is bookended by his father. It’s a handover running in both directions.

A Fazioli, shipped to Southport

The record was made at The Arch Recording Studio in Southport — which happens to be my hometown. Elio hired in a Fazioli 228, the Italian grand also chosen by Herbie Hancock, Michel Camilo and Benny Andersson, and spent five days tracking piano, bass and drums around it.

The guest list is something else: Albert Lee on guitar, Ray Cooper — Elton John’s percussionist since the early ’70s — on percussion, backing vocal legend Tessa Niles, and Paul Jones on harmonica.

There’s also a lullaby for his daughter Marcella, You Never Know The Last Time, with a four‑part harmony arrangement by his bass player of 30 years, Neil Fairclough, who told Elio he wanted to “wrap a blanket around her”.

Where to hear it

Elio doesn’t put his music on streaming platforms. CDs and downloads are at ELIO PACE

His live dates are here, and the closest to listeners in Cheshire is Monday 21 September at the Victoria Wood Theatre in Bowness‑on‑Windermere.