ADRIAN — If he’d been able to follow his childhood dream of being a pro hockey player, Pete Bishop’s life would have gone in a far different direction than it did.

He played hockey as a youngster, “and I was good at it,” he said. But when he was 13 years old, his stepfather put a stop to the hockey-playing. And so, he switched to music. 

What followed was more than 30 years of touring nationally and internationally, writing songs, producing records and live events, and TV and film work. Along the way, “I made a lot of mistakes. But I had people to show me the way,” he said, and get him back on the right path in life — and that, in turn, led him to want to be that person for others.

“I’m a person of faith, so generosity and love and kindness are built into that,” he said.

The end result was Above Pete’s Garage, a nonprofit music studio where people of all ages can learn how to play instruments, hone their songwriting and singing skills, get their music recorded, and use the latest technologies in audio and video production.

And for individuals, all of it is free.

“We’ve never charged an individual artist for anything, ever,” Bishop said.

The studio is funded through the fees paid by organizations such as school districts that arrange for classes, through grants and donations, and through a program called Join the Band where supporters make monthly donations.

At first, Bishop’s studio was located, yes, above his garage. But for about 10 years now, it’s been housed in a space at 5353 W. U.S. 223, just outside Adrian.

In addition to working with individuals, Bishop teaches Adrian College and LISD Tech Center students, and he and his colleagues teach students far beyond Lenawee County.

“At last count, we’ve worked with about 15 schools in Michigan and over 100,000 artists across the country,” he said, “and we’re in 22 juvenile detention centers.” In that program, APG mentors teach young people how to channel their emotions into songwriting instead of negative behaviors.

Above Pete’s Garage carries out its mission with the help of several volunteer board members and mentors, plus many of the students themselves who pitch in to work with other young people. Bishop is quick to give his team most of the credit for what happens thanks to the studio.

“Obviously I’m a part of it, but it’s not all about me,” he said. “This doesn’t exist without the other 50 or 100 people.”

During one of the studio’s regular Thursday open-recording nights recently, a number of young people and adults gathered to talk about what being a part of Above Pete’s Garage has meant to them.

“I didn’t know I could write songs,” said Jessica Smallman of Delta, Ohio, who learned about Above Pete’s Garage four or five years ago from a friend. “I didn’t know I could be someone like that.”

She now records her music under the name Chain of Hearts — from the idea that “we’re all connected, but you can be chained to someone, for good or bad” — and helps with the studio’s songwriting classes.

Although she’s one of the studio’s older participants, “it doesn’t matter what age you are,” she said. “You can be 11, or 40 like me, or 70. When you come here, age doesn’t exist. I don’t feel like I’m older than everybody else.”

And from being around the young people who get involved with the studio, she knows first-hand the impact it has. “This is a positive atmosphere,” she said. “I’ve seen people with no confidence really blossom.”

Caity Merkle of Onsted is one of those people. Her goal is to try out for TV’s “The Voice,” but “I’ve always struggled with stage fright,” she said. “I’m looking to get more confidence,” and she’s found a supportive environment at the studio. 

Seventeen-year-old singer-songwriter Kayli Butler of Hudson has been coming to Above Pete’s Garage since about age 11. “I’ve grown up around this studio,” she said. Without it being a part of her life, she said, “I don’t think I would have come out the same way.”

Adrian College junior Dylan Cumberland of Florida, who was at the studio this particular afternoon to work on a midterm project, started his college career studying business but found himself struggling with his classes and with being so far away from home. Then he took a music production class and his life changed.

He became a commercial music major and saw his grade point average go from being 0.9 two semesters ago to now being on track for at least a 3.5, if not higher.

“I’m much happier doing what I love,” he said.

But Above Pete’s Garage is about far more than teaching musical and technical skills — for many of the students, it’s about giving the students a safe space to be themselves and be supported by mentors and peers.

“It’s what family is supposed to be,” Smallman said.

Bishop knows that his studio makes a difference in young people’s lives. A significant number of the students he works with are struggling in some way, perhaps with mental health issues, perhaps with the lack of a stable adult presence in their life. “So maybe we need to be the person that listens to them,” he said.

Some of the adults involved with Above Pete’s Garage came first as students and then became teachers and mentors because they’ve seen the impact the studio has had on so many people. Pat Farver is one of those students turned mentors.

Music has been a part of Farver’s life since he was 7 years old and his parents got him a drum kit “to deal with my hyperactivity,” he said. He’s played in bands for a long time and done a little recording in his home studio, “but I wanted to learn more.”

As he spent time around Bishop’s studio, “I saw the positive effect Pete was getting with kids. It was such a safe space,” he said. 

“Kids come in timid and they leave changed. I think that in some instances it not only changes lives but saves them. I was so touched, I said ‘I’ve got to be part of this.’ ”

Today, Farver is a board member as well as a mentor, in addition to having another outlet for his musical interests. “It kind of fuels my passion and I get to see all the positive things that happen,” he said.

“It’s an incredible program, and the world is a better place because of it.”

Students aspiring to careers as performers can see, in the person of teacher Conor Reed, their own real-life example of what they could become.

Reed grew up around music — “it was how I connected with the world around me,” he said — and went on to become a professional musician, doing session playing and working as a bandleader, and works with the students at Bishop’s studio. And he loves being a part of seeing budding musicians learn and grow there.

“Look at Kayli,” he said. “She couldn’t play guitar when she got here, and now she’s writing her own songs. … For a lot of the musicians who come through here, to call it having a chance [at a music career] isn’t doing it justice. They have a real opportunity.”

More information about Above Pete’s Garage is available online at abovepetesgarage.com.

(This story was originally published in the November 2025 issue of The Lenawee Voice.)