"Talking At The Diner" Podcast Ep. 40 ft. Camille Peruto

I first met Camille Peruto when she was just 14. We were the designated opening acts for 80’s rocker John Eddie at Coffee Works - a long gone music venue located in a shopping center in Voorhees, NJ. Even then, you could tell she had something special.

In the decade-and-a-half I’ve known her, she’s gone from Coffee Works, to American Idol, to her current life as a can’t stop / won’t stop gig machine. Self-managed and self-reliant, she can be seen playing solo acoustic shows all over her home state of New Jersey practically every night of the week.  
At the same time, she has also amassed an impressive catalog of original songs - three full length albums (Sparrow, From the Sea to the Sky, and Perfect Vision) - that are packed with great songwriting, memorable arrangements, and seemingly effortless vocal prowess.

You can listen to Camille on Spotify here.

Now a married woman at the front of her 30’s, Camille has put in her time and become a bonafide music veteran. She’s played literally thousands of shows, and still to this day maintains an incredible singing voice, although we commiserated about how sometimes we both just need to tune our guitars a half step down to save our vocal cords.  
Full disclosure: I often tune mine a full step down ;)

We had a wonderful hang at the Stratford Diner in Stratford, NJ, where I asked her how she stays creative as an original music artist while playing multiple nights a week on the cover circuit. We also chatted about her experience on season 15 of American Idol back before she could legally drink in the places where she now entertains the masses. As my friend Brian Seymour said in a previous episode of this show, “everyone gets to heaven their own way” and Camille has found true happiness in sharing her voice with people who perhaps don’t fully realize how good they have when she’s serenading them.

You can find Camille on Instagram and TikTok @camilleperuto or at her website camilleperuto.com. And on well over 200 nights a year in the state of New Jersey, you can also find her in the wild, singing her heart out.

Enjoy!

~ JKF ❤️