Longtime Sundilla favorite Pierce Pettis returns to Sundilla on Friday, January 10, 2014. Showtime at the AUUF is 7:30, and admission at the door is $15. But you can get advance tickets for $12 from Spicer’s Music, Mama Mocha’s coffee (both locations) and online at www.sundillamusic.com.
Pierce is adored by both critics and public alike, is one of this generation’s most masterful songwriters. His music is distinguished by his uncanny ability to capture universals in human experience by drawing on the humor and trials in daily life. Pettis’ music can simultaneously pull on our hearts and keep us laughing. The beautiful harmonies, inventive yet subtle percussion, strong guitar, and Pierce’s rich vocals are a constant throughout his body of work.
After a lifetime of crafting finely-wrought, heart-touching songs, Pettis feels that he’s finally found his comfort zone. “The biggest change,” he says of this point in his career “has been getting over myself and realizing this is a job and a craft. And the purpose is not fame and fortune (whatever that is) but simply doing good work.”
“From the time I was very little, I always had the music going in my head,” Pettis explains. “Like my own personal soundtrack or something. I also come from a fairly musical family: my mother went to music school and was an excellent organist and pianist. And my sisters all played piano and other instruments. In school, I met other kids who wanted to be rock stars, just like me. From the time we were around 10 or so
up through high school, we put together various bands – all of them horrible.”
His “horrible” bands didn’t deter him though and even though he had a nagging feeling (“I thought I was supposed to be a doctor or something.”) he persevered, not only playing music but writing songs in a mix of rock, folk, country and R&B genres that landed him an unpaid position as a staff writer for Muscle Shoals Sounds Studios. While there, his track “Song at the End of the Movie” found its way to Joan Baez’s 1979 album Honest Lullaby.
Pettis hit the road and became a member of the “Fast Folk” movement in New York in the mid-1980′s. He released one independent solo album, Moments (1984) before signing with High Street Records, a division of Windham Hill. There, he released three albums: While the Serpent Lies Sleeping (1989), Tinseltown (1991), and Chase the Buffalo (1993). His relationship with Tinseltown producer Mark Heard transcended the album. After Heard’s untimely death in 1992, Pettis committed to including a song of Heard’s on every one of his own albums, a practice that continues to this day.
Pettis was a staff songwriter for PolyGram from 1993-2000 and when his High Street contract ended, Pettis signed to Compass Records where he has released Making Light of It (1996), Everything Matters (1998), State of Grace (2001), Great Big World (2004) and his most recent, That Kind of Love. Pierce Pettis’ songs have been recorded by artists including Susan Ashton, Dar Williams, Garth Brooks and Art Garfunkel.
In addition to his solo work, Pierce is a founding member of a trio called The New Agrarians, which he formed with Kate Campbell and Tom Kimmell (both great solo artists– and multiple-time Sundilla performers– in their own right.) He also sometimes takes the stage with his daughter, Grace Pettis, a standout performer in her own right.
Pierce Pettis will be appearing in concert on Friday, January 10, kicking off the Sundilla Acoustic Concert Series’ third decade of bringing the world’s best music to Auburn. The concert will take place at the AUUF; showtime is 7:30, and admission is just $15 at the door. Advance tickets can be purchased for just $12 from Spicer’s Music, Mama Mocha’s Coffee and online at www.sundillamusic.com. (If Spicer’s and Mama Mocha’s are out of tickets, YOU CAN STILL BUY THEM ONLINE!) There will be free coffee, tea, water and food, though as always attendees are invited to bring whatever food or beverage they prefer.
Quotes about Pierce Pettis, and video clips that prove that the critics know of what they speak…
“A torrent of musical language that speaks to the head and the heart”
– The San Francisco Chronicle
“Pierce Pettis doesn’t write mere songs, he writes literature…End to end the songwriting is brilliant…Pierce Pettis albums are events in my listening. His writing just gets better all the time and his singing is marvelous, wry and warm.”
–Sing Out! (Winter 2005)
“Across the entire range of his styles, Pettis constantly reinforces the sensation that he is a thoughtful, sensitive, serious poet, a man who looks deep and ponders long.”
– William Michael Smith in Rockzilla World
“Your collection should include every album he has released as Pierce’s music is an integral part of any singer/songwriter’s collection.”
– WFCF 88.9 FM, St. Augustine, FL
“Don’t miss a Pierce Pettis concert if he is in your area. He is a skilled performer with songs that are profound and beautifully delivered.”
“Pure dynamic energy and well refined raw talent. Moving lyrics and music that ranges from sensitive to kick-a**. Pierce is awesome!”
– Concert-goers on Epinions.com
“Pettis offers sustenance for mind and spirit, packaged in an amiable, easily digestible musical form.”
– Dirty Linen
From the Archives — originally published on the Opelika Daily News on January 9, 2014. View the original page.
