Artist: Grace Pettis
Hometown: Mentone, Alabama; current residence is Austin, Texas
Song: “Landon”
Release Date: March 20, 2020
Label: MPress Records
In Their Words: I spent about ten years writing ‘Landon.’ It was a tough sentiment to get just right. Landon and I became best friends in a high school in a small town in Alabama. He came out right after graduation and I was one of a few trusted people. My job, in that moment, was to listen. Instead, I responded with a canned answer — one that was drilled into me by a devout Christian upbringing. I knew, deep down, that I was wrong. It took me years (I’m embarrassed by how many years) to confront my conscience and admit that to myself.
“In a lot of ways, my faith journey as a liberal Catholic was jump-started by these questions. It was scary. It was liberating. I felt closer to God than I ever had. By the time I’d figured out how to write the song and how to face up to it, we’d both come to a new place of understanding ourselves in the world. ‘Landon’ is an apology. When I play ‘Landon’ at shows, I like to dedicate it to anybody in the audience who’s owed an apology; one that’s many years coming. And then I dedicate it to anybody in the audience who owes somebody else an apology; one that’s many years in the making.” — Grace Pettis
Photo credit: Nicola Gell Photography
