And Mr. Pearce decided to make a late debut as a singer-songwriter.
Though he grew up playing piano, clarinet and saxophone, and has been writing and recording songs since he was a teenager, he never intended to share his music. His first big break was on the Australian soap opera “Neighbours,” starring alongside Kylie Minogue.
But “out of anxiety and feeling embarrassed, he said, “and because everybody who was on the show seemed to go and release some sort of pop single, and every time I did an interview journalists would roll their eyes and say, ‘Ugh, not another bloody soap star who’s going to release music,’” he kept his songs to himself.
A decade ago, however, he sang in the play “Poor Boy,” with songs by Crowded House’s Tim Finn, and began to understand “that I wasn’t doing myself any favors by sticking to this sort of lockdown decision that I made 30 years beforehand,” Mr. Pearce said.
He released his first album, “Broken Bones,” in 2014. His second, “The Nomad,” written in the wake of his divorce and named for the plane that crashed and killed his father, came out last month. “I know I’m not the greatest songwriter in the world, but at the same time I do enjoy the challenge of trying to improve,” he said.
At Rudy’s Music, the staff was busy assisting other customers, so Mr. Pearce wandered up to the loft where the arch-top guitars are kept.
He spotted a Silvertone acoustic with a jaunty white pick guard — a “cheeky guitar,” he called it — built by Sears department stores to imitate a Fender. “But they’re kind of cool,” he said, picking up the guitar and neatly removing the “Please Ask for Assistance” tag. “They’re a bit retro.” He tuned the guitar before playing a dirty little riff. Did it feel like butter?
