BGS 5+5: Grace Pettis

Artist: Grace Pettis
Hometown: From Mentone, Alabama and Decatur, Georgia. Currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Spent my formative musical years in Austin, Texas.
Latest Album: Down To The Letter (out June 14)

Personal Nicknames (or rejected band names): I was Gracie Pettis ’til age 8 or so. When I was in the 5th grade, I made everyone call me “Bob,” because I thought it would be hilarious to be a 10-year-old girl named Bob. My Nobody’s Girl bandmate BettySoo calls me “Graceface” sometimes. I really tried to get my first band to go by “The Bluebirds.” Nobody was into it but me. I wanted Nobody’s Girl to be “The Starlings,” but it didn’t stick. I’ve got a thing for bird band names, including a really good one I’m holding on to, because I might use it one day. Robby Hecht and I think “Dessert Island” would be a great band name. (That’s a recent favorite from a long list of possibilities Robby has going on his phone.)

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

When I was 24, I was in the Kerrville New Folk songwriting contest. I’d been dreaming of going to Kerrville and getting into the contest since I was a kid, because my dad Pierce Pettis was a winner back in ’87. I remember being so incredibly nervous before playing. I was wondering if the judges would like my songs, if I’d be able to hit all the high notes, etc. And then when I was actually up there on the stage, I had this moment of clarity, where I realized that everyone in the audience was on my side. As in, everyone there was hoping and expecting that I’d be great. They were ready for me to be really good; in fact, they wanted me to succeed, not to fail.

Something about that realization – that the audience is not my enemy – helped me relax. And over the course of a few days, I realized that the other “contestants” were actually the friends I was making that would last me for the rest of my musical life. The word “contest” implies competition. But what I understood in that moment was that music is a collective and collaborative act. The audience and the performer are in it together; everybody wants it to be a great experience. And we artists are a tight knit community. We write together, play together, stay on each other’s couches. Music can be an ecosystem, and not a battle.

What rituals do you have, either in the studio or before a show?

I like to watch a little comfort TV on my phone while I’m curling my hair and putting on my makeup. Popular choices have included Star Trek, The West Wing, and Late Night with Stephen Colbert. It really helps me zen out and relax. That hour before the gig – when you’ve got a million thoughts in your head about the set list, and remembering the sound person’s name, and setting up merch, and making sure you put those names on the guest list – it’s really nice to get to sink into a familiar routine. Curling hair, putting on mascara, etc. It sounds silly, but that time is really important to me.

When I’m playing and traveling with friends, I like to have a “human” moment before the gig – just a second to check in with each other. Maybe tell a few jokes, have a bite to eat, or share how we’re feeling (physically, emotionally, etc.) before we have to be “on” with an audience. It’s easy to forget to check in with each other in the busy hustle of the pre-show and post-show check list.

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

“Make it mean something.” As in, the song, my day, the show, my life. I want the things I make and the time I spend on the planet to mean something, firstly to me, and also to others. I actually wrote that mission statement into a song (“Mean Something”), which I recorded on my album Working Woman (2021). It’s great to have a song that’s also a mission statement. I sing it a lot during sound checks and during shows, when there are obstacles getting in the way of me being able to center myself and be present in the moment. Maybe the sound system is not cooperating. Maybe there’s a disrespectful person in the crowd. Maybe it’s a noisy bar and the game is on the TV overhead. Maybe I’m sick, or tired, or just in a bad mood. “Mean Something” helps me remember why I’m on the planet and here in the room that I’m in. It connects me with my purpose, gratitude, and joy.

If you didn’t work in music, what would you do instead?

When I was a very little kid, I also wanted to be an artist – as in a painter or illustrator. I wanted to write books too. Later, in middle school, I briefly wanted to be a school counselor, but dismissed the idea because I didn’t want to be in the same office every day, five days a week. In high school, I was into the idea of being a truck driver. The whole world is your office and your view changes every day. And you can eat as much junk food as you want and use those cool portable devices that plug into your truck engine. Little stoves and TVs. I love gadgets like that. And I love the idea of listening to audiobooks for hours on end. My music job is pretty similar to truck driving, really. I do a lot of driving, and loading and unloading of gear. More junk food than I would like. And a lot of audiobooks.

What is a genre, album, artist, musician, or song that you adore that would surprise people?

I’ve always been a really big Jennifer Lopez fan. When I was a guest on my bandmate BettySoo’s virtual show during the pandemic, we were asked to play “guilty pleasure covers.” I covered “Love Don’t Cost a Thing.” I maintain that it’s a jam.


Photo Credit: Starla Dawn

MIXTAPE: Mary Bragg’s Songs That Talk About the Hard Stuff

Working your way through a hard time is pretty much impossible without the relief that comes from listening to music. In the last four years, I’ve focused a large amount of my listening on songs that talk about the hard stuff, just so I can feel better about my own. Coming out; divorce; difficult family dynamics; political divisiveness — any one of those things could send anybody reeling, but put ‘em all together, and wow, time to put on some tunes. — Mary Bragg

Aaron Lee Tasjan – “Up All Night”

Aaron’s sense of freedom and celebration of self combined with his outrageous talent for songwriting and production comes together wistfully in this wild piece of ear candy that I can never get enough of.

Joy Oladokun – “Breathe Again”

“Breathe Again” was the song that introduced me to Joy’s music, and it is just the most life-giving sentiment spoken through pain with honesty. It’s been meditative and healing for me.

Tegan and Sara – “Closer”

What a bop.

Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings – “Hard Times”

There’s a Gillian & Dave song for every season of life. This one, of course, could apply to any kind of hard time you’re going through, and Gillian’s lilting delivery has me simultaneously sitting in my pain and crawling out of it one refrain at a time.

MUNA feat. Phoebe Bridgers – “Silk Chiffon”

Again with the bops- MUNA flings themselves into romantic pop bliss and brings us along for the party.

Stephanie Lambring – “Joy of Jesus”

People sure love to talk about your “lifestyle choices.” What I know is that living fully in my heart and my body and mind should not put me in a category that’s cast out, made less than, or made the subject of anyone’s ire. I won’t be told I’m going to hell just for loving an incredible human being who happens to be of the same sex.

Erin Rae – “Bad Mind”

It’s hard to believe that in 2022 there are still millions of people who think you’ve lost your mind for loving a person. Loving a person. And yet, those opinions are much stronger and more deeply felt than I ever realized they were; they can creep into your psyche and try to steal your joy, but I’m just trying to live a good life that leads with love, so I keep showing up as myself, trying my darnedest to claim and protect my own happiness.

Indigo Girls – “Closer to Fine”

More so heroes to me now than they already were, returning to this iconic song has taken on new meaning for me since I came out. Amy & Emily have been trailblazers for a long time, and funnily enough, they were the representation I didn’t know I needed as a teenager. I’m so thankful they exist in this world the way that they do — boldly living their lives but always leading with love and respect.

Grace Pettis feat. Indigo Girls – “Landon”

Producing this album for Grace lives in an almost surreal, fantastical pocket of my memory. When I first heard the demo of this song, I was floored by her willingness to talk about formerly being in that place of judgment; she tells the story of a changed friendship, a forgiveness of self, and a reconciliation that we can all hope for. I had this audible vision of the Indigo Girls’ voices taking it to a new place, and wow, did they ever. I’ll never forget how wonderful an experience it was for me to comp their vocals and drop their magic into this transformative song.

Bill Withers – “Lovely Day”

I’m such a fan of Bill Withers. With a penchant for capturing positivity and heartache in a series of brief melodic nuggets, this one pops up as one of the songs I find playing on repeat in my subconscious, willing a lovely day into existence.

Kacey Musgraves – “High Horse”

Craving a common ground where no one’s on any kind of high horse, this one is a gift to me, expressing frustration with the holier-than-thous. I can’t tell you how to live your life, so…

Brennen Leigh – “Billy and Beau”

The fact that Brennen is of our generation is some kind of country music miracle. Extremely well-versed in the great landscape of country music, yet bold as anyone, here she and Melissa Carper give us the sweetest anthem — “the heart wants to go where the heart wants to go, and you can’t undo it.”

Tom Petty – “Listen to Her Heart”

What intentionally uplifting rock-n-roll moment is complete without Tom Petty? I really believe in listening to your instincts — that feeling you know can trust implicitly, which of course cannot be ignored. “She’s gonna listen to her heart” — you betcha.


Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

Grace Pettis, With Support From the Indigo Girls, Reconnects With “Landon”

Grace Pettis tells a dramatic story of regret in “Landon,” as she carefully weaves together her account of what happened in small-town Alabama when her childhood best friend came out of the closet. Instead of finding the loving support of a close friend, the song’s subject found judgment and scorn.

“Landon needed somebody to be on his side. He trusted me. And I let him down,” she says. “Instead of listening and responding with love and acceptance, I replied with a lot of canned answers taken from my Christian belief system, what the church taught me to say. Years of soul-searching, prayer, and information gathering led me to a very different place. I knew that I had wronged Landon in a way that I could only explain in a song.”

Years down the line and now based in Austin, Texas, Grace Pettis wrote her heart’s sorrow and contrition into a song that can only suggest the emotional complexity of her experience. But this story doesn’t end here. Thankfully, the subject of the song heard her words and the two have mended their fences. “We are in a great place now,” she says. “He’s forgiven me, and we get to be close in a new way, now that we’ve made peace with ourselves. We’re both living a true story now.”

In July, Pettis released a new version of the song (after the original acoustic video premiered on BGS), this time backed by the Indigo Girls. In addition, the new music video features the very friend who inspired the song. Take a look at “Landon.”


Photo credit: Nicola Gell

The BGS Radio Hour – Episode 209

Welcome to the BGS Radio Hour! Since 2017, this weekly radio show and podcast has been a recap of all the great music, new and old, featured on the digital pages of BGS. This week, we bring you new music off of the beautiful new album Outside Child from Allison Russell, as well as bluegrass songs to celebrate springtime, and much more! Remember to check back every week for a new episode of the BGS Radio Hour.

APPLE PODCASTS, SPOTIFY

Kishi Bashi – “Waiting For Springtime”

To start off this week’s roundup, we visit our conversation with Athens, Georgia-based Kaoru Ishibashi, better known as Kishi Bashi, about his new EP Emigrant. When COVID hit, he and his daughter packed into a camper and hit the road, from the southeastern U.S. all the way to Oregon, over a period of several months. Along the way, he fleshed out the songs that became Emigrant through visiting places like the Ozarks, the Dakotas, and Montana, including Heart Mountain: a World War II Japanese internment camp he visited many times during the production of his documentary Omoiyari: A Songfilm by Kishi Bashi.


Reid Zoe – “When I Go”

This new track from singer-songwriter Reid Zoé is, on the surface, a song about dying, but really it’s about all of the questions that come with being a human on earth.

Full Cord – “Right In Step”

With a catchy melodic hook and low-tuned banjo, “Right in Step” is a lovely bluegrass tune full of love, hope, and togetherness – hopefully a respite from the uncertainty of the pandemic.

Sean McConnell – “Price of Love”

It’s been said that everything in this world comes with a price. For Nashville’s Sean McConnell, that price is reflected in loving someone — be it family, friend, or significant other — and the eventuality and certainty of you losing them. Yet still, he suggests, most of us are willing to take that risk for love, to give up our hearts completely. It’s the price that our heart pays for love in return.

The Deep Dark Woods – “How Could I Ever Be Single Again?”

A new song from pan-Atlantic singer-songwriter The Deep Dark Woods was inspired by English folk band Steeleye Span. Featuring Kacy Anderson on fiddle, the tune asks the titular question, “How Could I Ever Be Single Again?”

Sam Robbins – “Raining Sideways”

“Raining Sideways” is one of Sam Robbins’ most-requested songs, a stream of consciousness lyric that’s one of the most raw and authentic he’s ever written.

Lera Lynn – “A Light Comes Through”

A recent episode of The Show on the Road featured a deep dive with silky-voiced, southern gothic-folk songwriter Lera Lynn. Stick around to the end of the episode to hear Lynn introduce her favorite broken-romance number, “So Far.”

Graham Sharp – “Truer Picture of Me”

BGS recently caught up with Steep Canyon Rangers’ banjo player and songwriter Graham Sharp about the release of his new solo record, Truer Picture. We talked about Steve Martin’s influence on the Rangers and Sharp himself, as well as his approach to songwriting, nature inspirations, and the way literature and music coincide.

Our Native Daughters – “Quasheba, Quasheba”

Our Artist of the Month for May, Allison Russell, wrote this song for her many-times-great-great-grandmother Quasheba, who survived being enslaved, being ripped away from everything she knew, the horrible Middle Passage, having her children taken, and more. Russell says her art and a loving community have inspired her to connect with her ancestors and find connection through intergenerational strength, resilience, and transcendence, despite intergenerational trauma and abuse.

Grace Pettis – “Paper Boat”

Singer-songwriter Grace Pettis literally dreamed up “Paper Boat,” a song about coming of age, trying to fit in, and losing our innocence. She’s joined by her producer, Mary Bragg, on tender harmony vocals.

Allison Russell – “The Runner”

We spoke with our May Artist of the Month, Allison Russell, about the inspiration behind and creation of her honest and stunning album Outside Child, including this track “The Runner.” Read our two-part interview here.

Lost & Found – “Wild Mountain Flowers for Mary”

We hope, wherever you’re reading this from, that snow, frost, and the cold are truly retreating, giving way to longer days, warmer weather, and the gorgeous, humid, cicada-soundtracked days of summer. But, before we get to full-blown bluegrass season – and, hopefully, our first live music forays since COVID-19 shut the industry down in early 2020 – let’s take a moment to intentionally enjoy spring with 12 bluegrass songs perfect for collecting a wildflower bouquet, romping and frolicking in the meadow, and pickin’ on the back porch while the evenings are still cool.

Accidentals – “Wildfire”

The Accidentals spoke with BGS on loving and learning from Brandi Carlile, singing on stage with Joan Baez, the magic in meeting strangers and finding common ground, and much more in this edition of 5+5.


Photos: (L to R) Lera Lynn by Alysse Gafkjen; Allison Russell by Marc Baptiste; Kishi Bashi by Max Ritter

LISTEN: Grace Pettis, “Paper Boat” (Feat. Mary Bragg)

Artist: Grace Pettis
Hometown: Lives in Austin, Texas; grew up splitting time between Alabama/Georgia
Song: “Paper Boat” (featuring Mary Bragg)
Album: Working Woman
Release Date: May 7, 2021
Label: MPress Records

In Their Words: “I literally dreamed up ‘Paper Boat.’ In my dream, I was in the audience at a Shawnee Kilgore show, and Shawnee was playing this strange, perfect gem of a song called ‘Once I Was a Paper Boat.’ The ceiling was decorated with paper boats on strings, and as Dream Me was soaking it all in, she had that desperate and frustrated feeling you get when you hear a song that is so good that you absolutely can’t stand it. I remember thinking in the dream that ‘Once I Was a Paper Boat’ perfectly explained something deep and true inside of me. It’s a coming of age song. It’s about girlhood. It’s about trying to fit in and learning the act. And the way it feels when we lose our innocence. Being a girl feels like being strong and fragile at the same time.

“In the studio, my producer Mary Bragg made the song into one of the only ballads on the album. We brought in our friend Kira Small to add some piano, which gave it elegance. But what really makes it work is Mary’s backup vocals. Her harmonies are sort of breathy and hummy, and singsongy. They take up just the right amount of sonic space, without overpowering the lead vocal, so that the song still has that vulnerable, raw thing to complement the lyric.” — Grace Pettis


Photo credit: Nicola Gell

WATCH: Grace Pettis, “Landon”

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