Gretchen Peters will release the follow-up to Hello Cruel World (“the album of her career” – NPR) at the Franklin Theatre on Friday, February 28th, 2015. The new studio album, coproduced with Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, John Hiatt) & Barry Walsh, is called” Blackbirds”. It features guest appearances by Jason Isbell, Jimmy LaFave, Jerry Douglas, Kim Richey, David Mead and more. A UK tour in March has been announced; US and European tours are in the works. Adding to her list of accolades, the twice Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on October 5th, 2014.
Peters tells us what her fans can expect to hear from this album,”Blackbirds is certainly the grittiest album I’ve made – both in terms of the sound and the subject matter. The songs are dark, but I hope that people find beauty in the darkness. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been more and more inspired by singer-songwriters who are talking about aging within the context of their art. I’m thinking of Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Lowe, Rodney Crowell… But aging and mortality seem to be taboo for female singer-songwriters in part because our value has depended so much on our youth and sexuality. The depth and beauty and terror and richness of life in my 50s is, to me, the deepest well of experience I can draw from as an artist. I want to write about that stuff because it’s real, it’s there, and so few women seem to be talking about it.”
Twice Grammy-nominated and CMA Song Of The Year winner for the groundbreaking “Independence Day” (Martina McBride), Gretchen Peters has cut her own artistic path, touring continually in both North America and the UK and Europe, and releasing nine critically acclaimed albums on the way. Born in New York and raised in Colorado, the 25 year Nashville resident has accumulated accolades as a songwriter for artists as diverse as Etta James, Trisha Yearwood, Bonnie Raitt, The Neville Brothers, Patty Loveless, George Strait, Bryan Adams and Faith Hill.
Her latest album, Hello Cruel World (2012), landed in the top 5 on the US Americana chart, and maintained the #1 position for a record-breaking 2 months on the EuroAmericana chart. Described by NPR’s All Things Considered as “the album of her career”, Hello Cruel World appeared in numerous Best of 2012 lists including No Depression, AllMusic.com and Performing Songwriter. Peters was nominated for the Nashville Songwriters’ Hall Of Fame in 2011 and 2012.
In asking Peters why she chose the Franklin Theatre for her release party, she stated “I’ve loved movie theaters all my life. I have great memories of the theater in my hometown in New York, of the same era as the Franklin Theatre, where I first saw To Kill A Mockingbird and West Side Story. I’m a huge film fan, and I approach writing songs as if they were little movies – so this seems like such a perfect place to debut my latest eleven. The Franklin Theatre has a classic marquee, it’s full of history and charm, and now it’s also a gorgeous venue for live music. ”
Tickets are going quickly for the album release party, don’t delay in getting your tickets here.
