I’m a little late on getting this post out, but better late than never in this case.
On Sunday, December 6 I had the good fortune to experience Pierce Pettis‘s music at my favorite house concert venue: the Lunazoot Man Cave.
Pierce is a great story teller and a masterful guitar player. He started the show with “Nod over Coffee,” a song about the curse of the second hand. Life is wonderful, but time does fly faster than we like sometimes… He then moved into “Crying Ground,” which describes the holiness of tears. That idea definitely resonates.
He then moved on to a song about the legacies that our ancestors and cultures, as well as skin color can affect us in our life. I really liked “Legacy,” because I feel it is so relevant in this time where hatred permeates the media. We really are all the same, decide what certain Presidential candidates say.
Pierce then shared a personal Christmas story with us. It was one of those Christmases where there wasn’t much money. He didn’t have a bed. Not even a table. He said he’d eat Pop Tarts on the floor. That Christmas there wasn’t much in the way of decorations, and he was feeling pretty depressed. But on Christmas morning he woke up, and he felt good. Really good. He walked into his kitchen, and on the floor he saw the pine tree outside his window reflected on the floor. The pine tree was covered in dew, and the sunlight refracted off of those water droplets and made each drop into a differently colored Christmas ornament. The universe provided that Christmas tree that day, and it inspired him to write “You Move Me,” which was ultimately recorded by Garth Brooks. Pierce put a down payment on a house with the money he got from writing that song…
I love stories like that… I’m a huge sucker for them.
One of my other favorites from the first set was “Hallelujah.” This song relates infatuation to a state of holiness. Sometimes infatuation gets a bad rap as being “fake love.” But the way it makes you feel… Well, it can’t be all bad. Pierce said he’s pro-infatuation. I think I am too…
I should mention that Pierce was battling a cold throughout the show. He had to pause a lot to drink water, but his voice wasn’t overly affected. And it certainly didn’t hurt his enthusiasm. During one of his instrumental songs, he was shredding away, making those faces only inspired guitarists can make…
His second set was a Christmas themed one. He played everything from favorites to lesser known songs. Some of them had audience participation. Pierce jokingly added that he needed us to help him out because of his cold. I didn’t get a whole set list for the 2nd set, but a few songs resonated with me to the point of tears.
Anyone keeping track of my crying percentage? Maybe I should put a house concert crying counter up!
Pierce started losing the battle with his cold as the night wore on. I really gave him credit. He even did an encore.
I feel it’s important to point out his struggle with his cold, because it’s one more challenge a traveling musician has in regards to his or her work. Can’t sing, can’t work. He really did put on a great show. It sounded great. But I also appreciated the reminder of how lucky we (the fans) are to have these artists come and perform their music for us. It’s a physically taxing job.
So go check out Pierce’s music. Tis the season. I’ll bet he has a CD you can gift. He even has a holiday CD, in conjunction with other fine artists!