Gretchen Peters is no stranger to hit songs. She wrote "Independence Day," which Martina McBride released as a Top 20 single and which earned Peters song of the year honors from the Country Music Association.
Peters has written songs for Neil Diamond, Etta James, Bryan Adams and many others, but what often goes unsaid is how compelling her own voice is. To hear her sing songs as exquisitely crafted as those on her new album, Blackbirds, well, you wouldn't want anyone else to sing them. This work of art belongs to her.
Peters tackles the dual themes of mortality and aging as well as anyone ever has. "During the summer of 2013," she recently told Rolling Stone, "when I began writing songs for Blackbirds, there was one week when I went to three memorial services and a wedding. It dawned on me that this is the way it goes as you get older - the memorial services start coming with alarming frequency and the weddings are infrequent and thus somehow more moving."
Peters sought to explore such issues from a woman's perspective, acknowledging as she told Rolling Stone, that "aging seems to be a taboo subject for female singer-songwriters, in part because our value has depended so much on our youth and sexuality. I want to write about that stuff because it's real, it's there, and so few women seem to be talking about it."
Peters is no stranger to Dallas, where her appearances at Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse can be counted among that venue's most memorable. Special guests on Blackbirds include Jerry Douglas, Jason Isbell, Will Kimbrough, Kim Richey, Suzy Bogguss and Jimmy LaFave, who co-owns Music Road Records with Dallas energy executive Kelcy Warren.
The title track is haunting, and several other cuts carry the beauty of Peters' best songs. On this album, those would be "Pretty Things," "Everything Falls Away," "The House on Auburn Street" and "Jubilee."
Her duet with LaFave, "When You Comin' Home," is among the most endearing.
Blackbirds soars, proving easily why Peters ranks among America's most gifted songwriters.
By Michael Granberry
