Mentone, Alabama
58 Years Old
Singer-Songwriter, Songwriter, Vocalist

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"There is music in all this"

BIOGRAPHY

After a lifetime of crafting finely-wrought, heart-touching songs, singer-songwriter Pierce 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 the just-released That Kind of Love (2009).

Pierce Pettis’ songs have been recorded by artists including Susan Ashton, Dar Williams, David Wilcox, Dion, Garth Brooks and Art Garfunkel.

Pettis currently lives in Alabama with his wife and their young son. His new album, "That Kind of Love" on Compass Records was released January 27 2009 and is currently the #2 Folk album in the country! (http://www.rootsmusicreport.com/2.0/charts.php?name=folk).

LEVEL

professional

GENRES

Singer/Songwriter, Folk, Blues

PUBLISHING COMPANY

Slapfight Songs (ASCAP) --administered by Bug, I own my own publishing

Contact

Management: Moonlake Artists: moonlake@hiwaay.net
Publishing: Slapfight Songs: slap@hiwaay.net
Label: Compass Records, Nashville
Booking: Moonlake Artists: moonlake@hiwaay.net
Administrative: Bug Music, Nashville

P.R.O.

ASCAP

INSTRUMENTS

acoustic guitar / electric guitar / harmonica

INFLUENCES

Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Jesse Winchester, Hank Williams, Mark Heard, Flannery O'Conner, Joni Mitchell, Leo Kottke, Kate Campbell, Robert Johnson, Peter Himmelman, T-Bone Burnett, Steve Earle, Norman Blake, Tom Kimmel, Chet Atkins, B.B. King, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Richard Thompson, JRR Tolkien, Bruce Cockburn, William Blake, Mark Helprin, Gordon Lightfoot, Pete Townsend, Ry Cooder, David Hidalgo, Mac McAnally, Paul Simon, Tim O'Brian, Eudora Welty, CS Lewis, Walker Percy, Muddy Waters, Thomas Mertin, Darrell Scott, Johnny & June Cash, Gamble Rogers, Danny Flowers, Jack Williams, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, John Donne, Guy Clark, Billy Crockett, Warren Zevon.

DAY JOB

touring singer/songwriter

I WRITE:

For a living

I Also Write:
by myself
with others
for myself
for others

I Prefer To Write:
lyrics
melody
music

experience >

SONG CUTS

Garth Brooks, Joan Baez, Art Garfunkel, Andrew Peterson, Sara Groves, Jill Phillips, David Wilcox, Dar Williams, Tom Kimmel, Tom Prasada Rao, Carolyn Arends, Susan Ashton, Dion, Jonathan Edwards, Front Porch String Band, Kim & Reggie Harris & Magpie, Hometown News, Johnsmith, Claire Lynch, Ed Kilbourne, Walt Michael & Company, Carrie Newcomer, Tim O'Brien, Douglas & Willa Porter, Mae Robertson, Joe Stead, Randy Stonehill, Pat Wictor, Jenny Yates, John Wright Band . . . and many others

SONG PLACEMENTS

TV: WB Network -- Felicity, #3.16 "It's Raining Men" (Soundtrack, Season 3, Episode 16) ABC/Warner Home Video -- "Roots"--re-edit for European Release PBS -- The American Experience: Seabiscuit (Soundtrack) Florida Public Television ("For Love of Manatees")

AWARDS & ACCOLADES

ASCAP Country Music Award (1999) Proclamation from Mayer of Atlanta Proclamation from Mayer of Houston Report to the Freeform American Roots (FAR) chart, best of 2004: Male Artist of the Year (Holland) Top 10 Albums of 2004 (as picked by listeners and staff) "Great Big World", #7 --WUMB-FM, Boston, MA The Galaxie Folk/Roots Channel’s Top Discs of 2004: "Great Big World", #6 Folk/Roots Channel, CBC Galaxie Network, Nepean, Ontario, CANADA

OTHER SONG OR ALBUM CREDITS

Guest Musician Appearances: Kate Campbell, "Save The Day" Don Conoscenti, "Boxes Of Bones" Billy Crockett, "Watermarks" Freyda Epstein, "Globallullabies" Sally Fingerett, "Ghost Town Girl" Sara Hickman, "Necessary Angels" Johnsmith, "Traveler" Jan Krist, "Curious" Mo Leverett, "Sacred Desires" Andrew Peterson, "Resurrection Letters, Vol. II" Compliations: God In Music City, Lime Pulp Records (2CD) 01/12/2008 Steve Goodman: Facing the Music Companion CD 05/01/2007 Caffè Lena: Historic Stages Volume 1 (CD) 2005 Best of RadioLive - Volume One WUWF RadioLive (CD) 10/2005 Paste Magazine Sampler, August/September 2004, Issue 11 Paste Music (CD) 08/2004 Winter's Eve: Acoustic Music, Compass 4349 (CD) 02/11/2003 Healing: Harmony Renew and Vitality BMG Special Products 46788 (CD) 04/01/2001 PasteMusic.Com Sampler II, Go Beyond Pop Culture Paste Music (CD) 2001 Songs From Sing Out!, Winter 2002, V45#4 Sing Out! Recordings SO 454 (CD)2001 The Best Of WUNC's Back Porch Volume 1 (CD) 2000 Acoustic Guitar Artist Songbook, Vol. 1 String Letter (2CD) 1997 Simply the Best Christmas Warner Esp E229965 (2CD) 1997 Orphans of God, Fingerprint 9601 (2CD) 1996 Winter: Windham Hill Christmas, Windham Hill 49 (CD) 1996 Scenes from a Scene: Selections From The 2nd Annual Greenwich Village Folk Festival Gadfly 207 (CD) 1995 Shelter: The Best of Contemporary Singer-Songwriters, Putamayo 115 (2CD) 11/15/1994 Strong Hand of Love: A Tribute to Mark Heard Sony 57870 (CD) 1994 Big Times In A Small Town - The Vineyard Tapes Philo PH 1155 (CD) 1993 A Winter's Solstice III, Windham Hill WD 1098 (CD) 1990 Legacy - A Collection Of New Folk Music Windham Hill WD6-1086 (CD)1989

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