One song, Absent Friends, resonates with Peter and his wife Vicky in particular.

The song is an homage to their friend who passed away last year.

“We put that on there because we had a great guy, he was a beautiful friend, he was just like a brother to me, Ronnie Smith and we put that song on there for Ronnie,” Peter said, tapping the CD.

“And we called it Best of Friends, because we were best of friends.”

Peter used the word ‘we’ frequently, because he Vicky are partners in a decades-long career that has seen them play together, Peter part of an 11-part ensemble, years of solo performing, and touring up and down the north-east coast.

It has been four or five years since his last album, and Peter said he and Vicky are taking it on the road with an active schedule in coming weeks, up and down the east coast and inland venues where he has long-standing crowds of audiences he now calls friends.

The album has a range of favourites, country tinged and Irish ballads.

The depth of emotion that drove Peter to choose Absent Friends was behind the album’s final track, a song Peter wrote titled Beyond the Moon.

“That’s the song that our Auntie Joy and her partner Arthur used to be beautiful dancers, anyway, so Arthur passed and years ago I wrote this song for Joy,” Peter said.

“A lady’s on a dance floor, and the music starts playing and she gets up and she just stands there and she dances around and all of a sudden, a smile comes to her face,” and Peter stopped with a visible clutch of emotion.

“And Arthur’s back with her once more,” Vicky added.

Vicky took on a challenge and produced Best of Friends at the house, and Peter was grateful for her help.

Peter Denovan’s album Best of Friends is $20 and available if you give him a call on 0428 233 561.