Ask Pete Caigan about his three decades in the music business and the Woodstock resident will regale you with his passion for recording and his time collaborating with some of the biggest names in the industry. 

He has an engineering credit on Sarah McLachlan’s 2003 album “Afterglow,” which sold 2 million copies. He mixed songs for The Lumineers. He played drums on songs recorded in Woodstock by Billy Joel’s daughter Alexa Ray. 

But of all the talented musicians he’s worked with, it was the late drummer, Jack DeJohnette, that left the greatest impression. Caigan quotes DeJohnette when describing the biggest thing he learned from the jazz icon: “The elder years are bonus years.”

“He just felt that he got to enjoy some bonus years with his family,” said Caigan of DeJohnette, a Woodstock resident who had worked with Caigan on two projects at Utopia Studio Bearsville before he died in October. “He found joy in still being around with his family and being able to kick it.”

Caigan took over operations at Utopia, the iconic studio built decades ago for Todd Rundgren by Bob Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman. 

As he approaches his third anniversary at the helm of Utopia, Caigan knows that he has a lot of his history on his shoulders running a recording studio in a town famous for rooms such as the old Bearsville Studios and Levon Helm Studios. 

He takes great pride in his ability to capture the essence and spirit of the music generated by performers in his studio, especially when a song is recorded live.   

“When you listen to records, you put on your headphones and they sound good and you feel like you’re there, it’s a beautiful, beautiful thing,” Caigan said. “It’s like realism in drawing. It makes you feel like you’re in the space, with the band. I love that. I love the challenge.” 

Scott Healy, a Woodstock resident and former piano player for the house band on Conan O’Brien’s late night television talk shows, lauded Caigan and Utopia Studios.

“It’s a great sounding room,” Healy said, describing Caigan as “great, he’s the best.” 

Caigan, 55 was born in Manhattan, grew up in Westchester County and graduated from Bard College with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance in 1993.

Bard is where Caigan became friends with Benson Sebastian, son of Catherine Sebastian and John Sebastian, former member of the Lovin’ Spoonful and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Caigan was in a band with Benson and spent time at the Sebastian home in Woodstock. That led him to move to the town after college. 

“I felt an affinity for the area, I wanted to live in the country and I knew there was a music scene here,” Caigan said. He currently serves as a volunteer with the Woodstock Fire Department. 

In 1999, Caigan was working as a professional drummer and saw a boom in home recording and musicians producing their own records. 

“I wanted to learn how to do that,” he said. 

He enrolled in a four-day class in New York City and learned how to use ProTools software, the recording industry standard. Upon completion, he returned to Woodstock and rang up drummer Jerry Marotta, who has played with artists including Peter Gabriel and Paul McCartney. Marotta also operates a recording studio called Jersville. 

“I called him, I said, ‘Do you need any help?’” Caigan said. “He said, ‘What are you doing right now? Come on over.’’’ 

“That’s where it all began,” Caigan said.

He interned at Jersville and, in 2000, built a small home-recording studio in the backyard of his Woodstock home. Caigan launched his own recording company, called Flymax. He had a recording studio at the old IBM complex, but was forced out in 2022 by new ownership and higher rent. 

In 2019, Lizzie Vann bought the Bearsville Theater complex and repurposed the property, including Utopia Studios, as Bearsville Center. 

Caigan initially rented a small room at Utopia and set up shop. Vann urged him to establish a full recording studio at the site. Discussions began in fall 2022, and Caigan rented the entire space—minus a few offices—in February 2023.

Now, as he approaches his third anniversary at Utopia, Caigan said he tries to maintain, nurture and build upon Woodstock’s historic musical and recording legacy. 

“The tradition continues,” he said. “It never stopped. I’m carrying the mantle—but it never got put down.”

John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.