“The English summer – three fine days and a thunderstorm.”
-Charles II

We are back from our second trip to the UK in as many months. Re-entering the sweltering South was a rude awakening after spending ten breezy seventy-ish degree days in England, Charles II notwithstanding. The highlight of our mini-tour was Cambridge Folk Festival, where we received such a warm reception we never wanted to leave. Close behind were our stints on ‘Weekend Wogan’, the Trowbridge Folk Festival and a cozy gig in Bristol. But for now it’s back to Tennessee, in the red hot center of the warmest summer on record.

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Links, links, links

There were a lot of people with microphones and/or video cameras at Cambridge. Here are some links:

Our performance of “On A Bus To St. Cloud” from Saturday night at Cambridge Folk Festival

A post-show dressing room chat with Mandy Morton from BBC Cambridgeshire (listen at about 1 hour in)

An Irish Music blog with nice mention of our Cambridge appearance & the songwriting workshop I did on Sunday morning

A blog by songwriter Malcolm Guite about a song he wrote as a result of the songwriting workshop

An interview with the Northern Sky blog after our first Cambridge show on Saturday night (audio)

Another Cambridge review

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Other news from the mother country

We started our mini-tour with the popular live radio show Weekend Wogan where they boast a fabulous crew and band, a beautiful studio and of course, Sir Terry himself, the most gracious of hosts. Everyone was so lovely to us. The queue to get in wound all the way around the BBC Broadcasting House – this is a serious ticket.

After doing our three songs we raced to Trowbridge in time for our set on the main stage, just before Mary Black. Mary is one of my favorite singers on the planet, and I finally got the chance to tell her so after both our sets. I asked her to sing “Columbus“, a gorgeous Noel Brazil song I’ve loved for years. It wasn’t on her set list, but she obliged gracefully and we watched from side of the stage. She just gets better.

Mid-week we found ourselves playing a sweet, intimate little gig in a jazz venue in Bristol. We had a lovely, warm crowd, so we tried out three new songs on them. It’s a little scary to do new songs for the first time, but they have to be debuted somewhere, and this seemed as good a place as any.

In between shows we watched swans on the Thames, had a delicious curry in Reading, and shopped too much on Oxford Street in London. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it.

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Hey Ladies

Awhile back, I participated in a survey by National Public Radio of women musicians. NPR asked hundreds of working women musicians to describe what it’s like right now: the good, the bad and the same as it ever was. ” Click here to read more about the project and see the responses. To read my full questionaire, click here. My responses are also featured in the collections “The First Time“,  “Old School/New School“, “Advice” and “Gear“.

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Upcoming Tour Dates

Upcoming tour dates include Durango, CO where we will be at the historic Henry Strater Theater (otherwise known as “The Hank”); Vacaville, CA (the Art, Wine & Brew festival) and Venice, CA (a special night presented by Grassroots Acoustica to benefit Alzheimer’s research). A European tour is being planned for November 2010 – we’ve already posted two Dutch dates, with more to come. Dates are still being confirmed – check out the tour schedule and keep checking back for updates.

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Download of the Month

This month’s free download is “Germantown”, recorded live at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, Georgia on April 15th, 2010 (which also happened to be Barry Walsh’s birthday). The song first appeared on the “Halcyon” album, and has been a staple on the setlist ever since. This version was recorded from the mixing console by Shalom Aberle, one of our favorite live engineers. Big thanks to Eddie & Shalom! Enjoy. Visit the Download page to get August’s free download. Enjoy.

x

G

“Summer afternoon – summer afternoon;to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

- Henry James

As I write this it is a summer afternoon in northwest Florida, where I am holed up writing songs for what I hope will be a new album. It’s hot – I can never remember nor imagine how sticky and steamy it gets here in midsummer. The frequent rain showers are welcome, and sometimes very dramatic. Florida thunderstorms are violent and beautiful and a good reminder that we are not in charge here…

And speaking of man vs. nature, the BP/Deepwater oil spill has finally reached this part of the coast – although not as severely as it has to the west – and there is palpable fear, sadness and tension among the people who live here. No one knows from one day to the next what will happen. This fragile little stretch of beach is one of my favorite places on earth, and it’s heartbreaking to think of what might be coming. We have to stop the madness. We have to kick the oil addiction and move on. We simply have to. Here’s a good place to start.

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The Secret Of Life is a good cup of coffee…

But you need a good mug to drink it from. By popular demand, we’re bringing back the Secret Of Life coffee mugs we sold on the road a few years ago. But they’re sorely in need of a style update. A fan on Twitter suggested that instead of using a professional artist, we ask you to come up with a design – what a great idea! So all of you who are talented artists, designers or dabblers in things graphic, please send us your ideas!

The Fine Print: Your design should be one color, sized for a standard diner mug. It should contain the phrase “The secret of life is a good cup of coffee”. Please send only high res JPGs, TIFFs, or GIFs. By entering this contest you are giving us the right to reproduce your design on a commercially available mug for no financial consideration. If a winning design is chosen, winner will receive a personalized, autographed copy of the CD of his or her choice, and a pair of mugs. Winner will also receive gratitude, kudos, virtual high-fives, and his or her photo (if desired) in a future newsletter.

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UK pitches in for Nashville flood relief

To all our friends from the UK who donated money during our recent tour, I want to pass along this thank-you from The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee:

Dear Gretchen -
Thanks for helping to organize this collection of funds for The Community Foundation’s flood relief efforts. We are so appreciative!
The money raised while on tour in the U.K. has been donated to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, a non-profit organization in Nashville, TN that is working with the community to address its immediate and long-term needs from the May 2010 floods. The Community Foundation is collecting donations and making grants to non-profit organizations working on the frontlines who are providing direct services and have established systems in place to assess needs and get help to the people who need it.
Please let me know if you need anything else and please pass along our thanks to your fans for their generosity!

Best, Jennifer
Jennifer Schwartzenberg
The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee

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Heading back across the pond…

Barry Walsh and I are coming back to the UK in July to do a few dates, including the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival (22-25 July) and the 2010 Cambridge Folk Festival (29 July – 1 August). You can see the full lineup for both festivals at the Cambridge Festival site and the Trowbridge Festival site. Specific stages and times are below.
I will be doing a songwriting workshop while at Cambridge – the workshop will take place on Sunday in the Club Tent at 10:00AM. If you’d like to stop by and chat and get CDs or programmes signed, I will also be doing a session in the signing tent – please check the Festival programme for date & time.

Trowbridge Village Pump Festival
Sunday, July 25 – 3:15PM – Stage TBA

Cambridge Folk Festival

Saturday July 31 – 8:25PM – Stage 2

Sunday August 1 – songwriting workshop – Club Tent, 10:00AM

Sunday August 1 – 1:00PM – Stage 1

In addition to the festivals, we’ll be appearing on Terry Wogan’s live radio show, Weekend Wogan on BBC Radio 2 on Sunday, July 25 at 11AM. Tune in to BBC Radio 2 or listen online at the website.

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Colorado and California dates added

We are heading west at the end of August for what has become our annual tour. Dates posted so far include Durango, CO; Vacaville, CA (the Art, Wine & Brew festival) and Venice, CA (a special night presented by Grassroots Acoustica to benefit Alzheimer’s research). More dates are being confirmed – check out the tour schedule here, and keep checking back for updates.

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Fun fan video!
Recently someone sent me a link to this video set to “Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)”. Check it out – clever, no? If you have made (or know of) any other fun or interesting videos set to any of my songs, let me know and I’ll share them here.

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Download of the Month
By popular demand, this month’s download is a live version of “The Letter”, a song Barry and I started doing as a sort of tribute to Alex Chilton, who passed away suddenly last spring. Barry played with Alex as a touring member of The Box Tops for nine years. We recorded this at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA, where we were fortunate to have Bill Cunningham, an original Box Top, in the audience. Visit the Download page to get July’s free download. Enjoy.

x

Gretchen

“Constantly risking absurdity and death whenever he performs above the heads of his audience, the poet, like an acrobat, climbs on rhyme to a high wire of his own making.”
- Lawrence Ferlinghetti

We are home from England, happy to be back but still buzzing from the shows. In some ways I was more sorry to see this last tour come to an end than any before. It was a combination of class reunion, lovefest, and 3 ring circus (literally). I expected to see lots of familiar faces, forget some lyrics, and feel a bit overwhelmed from time to time, trying to remember songs I hadn’t played in years. What I didn’t expect was to find new life in some of those songs, and in your enthusiasm for them. We reworked some of the old standbys to keep them from getting stale for us, and you were right there with us. Barry and I both felt like we tapped into a new vein of improvisation this time out, by necessity as much as anything (when there are 100+ songs to choose from, you’d better be ready to improvise), and we enjoyed it more than either of us could’ve predicted. Expect more of that the next time we see you.

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Without A Net

The Circus Girl – Without A Net UK tour is history, but set lists, reviews and photos from the tour have been posted. There’s even a bit of video of our ringmaster, aka John Smeathers, introducing me at the Cheadle Hulme show, a performance he reprised at the last show in Derby.

Finally, I was greatly moved by the generosity and concern of our UK audiences at the news of the Nashville flood. At every show we placed a top hat on the merch table to receive donations for flood victims, and at every show the hat was full. Thanks to all of you who helped us raise over £800!

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Back to the Workhouse

Washington DC area folks, heads up! We’ll be returning to a wonderful new venue we discovered last year – the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA on June 6th. If you’re in the DC area this is your chance to come see us in 2010!

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One To The Heart, One To The Head, One Show Only

On June 17th I’ll be playing a double bill with my friend and frequent collaborator Tom Russell. We’ll be at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville, TN, joined by Barry Walsh and Thad Beckman. Tom hasn’t played a Nashville show in years, so we expect a lot of people out for this one. Show starts early at 7PM, so get your tickets soon to hear “Ash Wednesday”, “Billy 4″, “Guadalupe” and other songs from the One To The Heart, One To The Head CD and more.
As always, details on all shows are available in the Tour section of the website.

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Festivals!

UK folks, we’ll be back again in July for the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival (22-25 July) and the 2010 Cambridge Folk Festival (29 July – 1 August). You can see the full lineup for both festivals at the Cambridge Festival site and the Trowbridge Festival site. Specific stages and times will be announced soon in the Tour section at gretchenpeters.com.

In addition to the two festivals, I will be appearing on BBC Radio 2’s Weekend Wogan, Terry Wogan’s hugely popular new live radio show, on Sunday morning 25 July. Mark your calendar and tune in for that one!

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California here we come

We will be back in California for what is becoming an annual event – our late summer tour! We can’t think of a better way to spend early September than driving down the coast and playing for folks along the way. We’ll kick it off in Vacaville with the Art, Wine & Brew festival, and make our way south, ending in Venice for a special night presented by Grassroots Acoustica. Check out the tour dates (more to come) at the website.

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Download Of The Month

This month’s download is, appropriately enough, a version of “Circus Girl”, recorded live at the Rutledge in Nashville last summer during the webcast we did to kick off the limited 2 CD edition of the album by the same name. “Circus Girl” was one of the most requested songs on the Without A Net tour. Visit the Download page to get June’s free download. Enjoy.

x

Gretchen

Complete list of set lists for the Circus Girl – Without A Net UK tour. Last minute changes may have been made after these were printed.

ROBIN 2 – BILSTON
12 MAY, 2010

1. Waiting For The Light To Turn Green
2. Let That Pony Run
photos #1 – BW
3. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
4. Aviator’s Song
5. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #3 – GP early music biz
6. Border Town
photos #4 – cowboys
7. Snowin’ On Raton
8. Breakfast At Our House
9. Independence Day

intermission

10. Child Of Mine
11. The Secret Of Life
photos #5 – Nashville flood
12. Revival/Louisiana 1927
photos #6 – Touring
13. Waiting For Amelia
14. My Baby Loves Me
photos #7 – UK
15. On A Bus To St. Cloud
16. Circus Girl
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. When You Are Old
photos #9 – Us
19. To Say Goodbye

encores:    If Heaven
Woman On The Wheel

KING TUT’S – GLASGOW
14 MAY 2010

1. Waiting For The Light To Turn Green
2. Let That Pony Run
photos #1 – BW
3. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
4. Aviator’s Song
5. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #3 – Nashville flood
6. Revival/Louisiana 1927
7. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
8. If I Could Just Get Over You – requested and played for 1st time at King Tut’s, 1997
9. The Way You Move Me
photos #5 – cowboys
10. Guadalupe – for Liz & Jim who came to album release Nashville, 1996
11. Independence Day

intermission

12. Billy 4
13. Breakfast At Our House
photos #6 – Touring
14. Circus Girl
15. Cowboys Born Out Of Their Time
photos #7 – UK
16. When You Are Old
17. Hey Elvis
photos #8 – Friends
18. The Letter
19. On A Bus To St. Cloud – for Mike
photos #9 – Us
20. To Say Goodbye – for Alyson and Emily from their friend Idoia

encores:    If Heaven
Woman On The Wheel

CHAD’S THEATRE – CHEADLE HULM
15 MAY 2010

1. A Room With A View
photos #1 – BW
2. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
3. Aviator’s Song
4. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #3 – Nashville flood
5. Revival/Louisiana 1927
6. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
7. Main Street
8. Souvenirs
photos #5 – cowboys
9. Guadalupe
10. Independence Day

intermission

11. If I Had A Gun
12. North Platte/Prairie In The Sky
photos #6 – Touring
13. Circus Girl
14. The Secret Of LIfe
photos #7 – UK
15. When You Are Old
16. This Town
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. On A Bus To St. Cloud
photos #9 – Us
19. To Say Goodbye

encores:    If Heaven
Woman On The Wheel

TOWN HALL – SELBY
16 MAY 2010

1. If Heaven
photos #1 – BW
2. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
3. Aviator’s Song
4. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #3 – Nashville flood
5. Revival/Louisiana 1927
6. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
7. Summer People
8. I Ain’t Ever Satisfied – for Mike Evans who was at 1st gig at the Pheasant/Sheffield
photos #5 – cowboys
9. Guadalupe
10. Independence Day

intermission

11. Waiting For The Light
12.  This Used To Be My Town
photos #6 – Touring
13. Circus Girl
14. Lilies Of The Field
photos #7 – UK
15. When You Are Old – for Happy 50th Birthday to Alan from wife Nathalie
16. This Town
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. On A Bus To St. Cloud
photos #9 – Us
19. To Say Goodbye

encores:    The Way You Move Me
Woman On The Wheel

THE SAGE – GATESHEAD
17 MAY 2010

1. Room With A View
2. Let That Pony Run – for Helen
photos #1 – BW
3. I Ain’t Ever Satisfied
photos #2 – GP early days
4. Aviator’s Song
5. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #3 – Nashville flood
6. Revival/Louisiana 1927
7. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
8. Black Eyed Susan
photos #5 – cowboys
9. Guadalupe
10. Independence Day

intermission

11. Waiting For The Light
12.  Summer People
photos #6 – Touring
13. Circus Girl
14. Leaving Newcastle
photos #7 – UK
15. When You Are Old
16. Like Water Into Wine
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. England Blues
19. On A Bus To St. Cloud
photos #9 – Us
20. To Say Goodbye

encores:    Woman On The Wheel
Over Africa

THE TABERNACLE – LONDON
19 MAY 2010

1. If Heaven
photos #1 – BW
2. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
3. Aviator’s Song
4. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #3 – Nashville flood
5. Revival/Louisiana 1927
6. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
7. You Don’t Even Know Who I Am – for Sam
photos #5 – cowboys
8. Guadalupe
9. Independence Day

intermission

10. I Saw Your Light
11. Picasso & Me
12.  Breakfast At Our House
photos #6 – Touring
13. Circus Girl
14. This Used To Be My Town
photos #7 – UK
15. When You Are Old
16. Lilies Of The Field
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. Waiting For The Light
19. On A Bus To St. Cloud
photos #9 – Us
20. To Say Goodbye

encores:    The Way You Move Me

THE STABLES – MILTON KEYNES
22 MAY 2010

1. If Heaven
photos #1 – BW
2. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
3. Aviator’s Song
4. Waiting For The Light To Turn Green
photos #3 – Nashville flood
5. Revival/Louisiana 1927
6. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
7. Souvenirs
photos #5 – cowboys
8. Guadalupe
9. Independence Day

intermission

10. If I Had A Gun
11. Tomorrow Morning – for Steve who drove from Liverpool
12.  This Used To Be My Town
photos #6 – Touring
13. Circus Girl
14. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #7 – UK
15. When You Are Old
16. This Town
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. My Baby Loves Me – for Andy
19. On A Bus To St. Cloud
photos #9 – Us
20. To Say Goodbye

encores:    One For My Baby
Over Africa

THE TUNNELS – BRISTOL
23 MAY 2010

Rich – sound

1. If Heaven
photos #1 – BW
2. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
3. Aviator’s Song
4. I Ain’t Ever Satisfied
photos #3 – Nashville flood
5. Revival/Louisiana 1927
6. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
7. This Uncivil War
photos #5 – cowboys
8. Guadalupe
9. Independence Day

intermission

10. Love & Texaco
11. Waiting For Amelia – for Pauline
12.  You Don’t Even Know Who I Am
photos #6 – Touring
13. Circus Girl
14. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #7 – UK
15. When You Are Old – for Keith’s birthday
16. Waiting For The Light To Turn Green
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. Hey Elvis
19. On A Bus To St. Cloud
photos #9 – Us
20. To Say Goodbye

encores:
One For My Baby
Over Africa – for Jane

THE JUNCTION – CAMBRIDGE
25 MAY 2010

Paddy – sound

1. If Heaven
photos #1 – BW
2. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
3. Aviator’s Song
4. Tomorrow Morning
photos #3 – Nashville flood
5. Revival/Louisiana 1927
6. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
7. Main Street
photos #5 – cowboys
8. Blue Mountains of Mexico
9. Independence Day

intermission

10. Jezebel
11. Lilies Of The Field
12.  Breakfast At Our House
photos #6 – Touring
13. Circus Girl
14. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #7 – UK
15. When You Are Old
16. Waiting For The Light To Turn Green
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. My Baby Loves Me
19. On A Bus To St. Cloud
photos #9 – Us
20. To Say Goodbye

encores:
The Way You Move Me – for John and Kelly
Woman On The Wheel

CHEQUER MEAD – EAST GRINSTEAD
26 MAY 2010

1. If Heaven
photos #1 – BW
2. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
3. Aviator’s Song
4. Souvenirs – for Conor who wrote a very charming note involving being tongue-tied at the signing table at a Wine, Women & Song show, lugging a fallen tree off a road at midnight, and a four foot high papier maché Mt. Rushmore
photos #3 – Nashville flood
5. Revival/Louisiana 1927
6. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
7. I Ain’t Ever Satisfied
photos #5 – cowboys
8. Guadalupe
9. Independence Day

intermission

10. Lilies Of The Field    - for Chris
11. To See You Again
12. This Used To Be My Town
photos #6 – Touring
13. Circus Girl
14. Sunday Morning (Up And Down My Street)
photos #7 – UK
15. When You Are Old
16. Waiting For The Light To Turn Green
photos #8 – Friends
17. The Letter
18. Hey Elvis
19. On A Bus To St. Cloud
photos #9 – Us
20. To Say Goodbye

encores:
The Way You Move Me
Woman On The Wheel

THE FLOWERPOT – DERBY
27 MAY 2010

1. If Heaven
photos #1 – BW
2. Germantown
photos #2 – GP early days
3. Aviator’s Song
4. Waiting For Amelia
photos #3 – Nashville flood
5. Revival/Louisiana 1927
6. Secret of Life
photos #4 – GP early music biz
7. Love And Texaco
photos #5 – cowboys
8. Guadalupe
9. Independence Day
10. Breakfast At Our House
11. Exeter Cathedral – for Martin
photos #6 – Touring
12. Circus Girl
photos #7 – UK
13.When You Are Old
photos #8 – Friends
14. The Letter
15.  To Say Goodbye

encores:
On A Bus To St. Cloud
Woman On The Wheel

I’ve always struggled with the question “where are you from?”. For as long as I can remember I’ve never felt I had a home town in the sense that most people do. I never felt a strong sense of rootedness in any one particular place. I was born in Westchester, New York and lived there until I was 13, and I still feel in some ways like a Northeasterner, if not a New Yorker. I have family ties there, and probably the most important tie, childhood memories. I spent my next 17 years in Boulder, Colorado, and they were formative years. Still, I always knew I would leave Boulder, and though my family is there and it’s a wonderful, unique place, it’s not really where I feel I’m from, either.

Last weekend, my adopted home of 22 years, Nashville, Tennessee, endured a flood of biblical proportions. Fifteen inches of rain fell in two days. At first we made light of the situation; we even went to a party in the midst of the torrential storm that raged that Saturday night. We kept an eye on the weather report, but flash flood warnings around here are as common as biscuits and gravy. The rain kept falling on Sunday, in sheets. The word started to trickle out that the flooding would be bad. Still, we thought that would only mean a few flooded basements, maybe a couple of road closures. We’d seen it all before.

Except we hadn’t. There’s no way to describe the surreality of waking up on a Monday morning to a perfect, blue-sky spring day, and utter devastation. Water was everywhere. We took a walk in our neighborhood, and saw crazy, impossible things – traffic lights hanging just a few feet above water, entire cars submerged to their roofs. Rivers where our neighborhood streets used to be. People boating across soccer fields. By Monday morning we knew that the river was still rising, and according to the cruel physics of flooding, would continue to rise until late that night, when it crested at 12 feet above flood stage.

As the waters ravaged the downtown area, Opryland, and countless outlying suburbs and surrounding towns, we realized that almost no one from the outside world knew. And it did feel like the world was somewhere far outside this sphere of death and destruction – there was a strange sense of isolation, even though cell phones were working (sporadically) and a few of the lucky ones (us included) never lost power or internet. No one seemed to have noticed that Nashville was drowning. Normally when a natural disaster happens, the media coverage is obsessive, and if you’re in the vicinity the telephone calls start coming in almost immediately. On that Monday, the only calls we got were from friends in Nashville, checking to see how we made it and letting us know they were OK. Other news stories, deemed more important, took precedence, and we were left to our own devices (fortunately, the reaction from the White House was not slow and FEMA was here almost immediately – it was the media that was absent).

This is where it began to dawn on me how much I love this city. I can’t explain exactly why, or how, but seeing the Opry stage door, which I’ve been privileged to walk through several times, up to its doorknobs in water – knowing the beautiful pipe organ at the Schermerhorn Symphony Hall, which I heard played magnificently at a concert last year, was severely damaged – all of this terrible destruction bestowed an epiphany on me. This is my home town. These people, who put on their waders and work clothes and face masks and got to work Monday, because things needed doing and people needed help, are my fellow Nashvillians. All of us cried at the sight of the Opry under six feet of water. All of us felt outrage that the media wasn’t paying attention to this, our worst crisis since the Civil War. All of us beamed when the local telethon, star-studded and led by Vince Gill (who else would step up to lead yet another benefit, this time maybe the most important one he’s ever done?) raised $1.7 million in a few hours. I’ve never been so proud of my city, from the micro-local level (on Monday night, at least half of my neighborhood was out sandbagging at a nearby waste treatment plant) to city-wide (there was virtually no looting or other opportunistic crime – just neighbors, asking what they could do). I felt a sudden and deep stab of love for this city and all its familiar and now endangered landmarks, the beautiful ones, the historic ones and the cheesy ones alike. This city, which has by turns frustrated and charmed and ignored and loved me – just like a spouse – for better or worse, was mine, too. I have history here. I have roots here.

Nashville will recover. It’s a great city, and great cities draw creative, talented and energetic people. We have those in abundance, and they will rebuild Nashville, and in some ways it will be even better. Nashville would recover with or without me. But I’m here, and one week after the flood, I know the answer to the question. I’m from Nashville.

“Crash on the levee, mama
Water’s gonna overflow
Swamps gonna rise
And no boats gonna row”
-Bob Dylan, “Down In The Flood

It’s been a rather eventful weekend in Nashville. The worst flood in the city’s history, 15 inches of rain in two days, cars under 10 feet of water, carp swimming down city streets, buildings floating down highways. It’s creepily reminiscent of the final scene from one of my favorite movies, Magnolia, where frogs rain down from the sky. At this point, frogs wouldn’t surprise me a bit. There have been flood stories, both heartbreaking and hilarious, flood parties (we spent Saturday night in a neighbor’s photography studio listening to a great bluegrass band while outside the thunder and lightning was rattling the roof), and lots of “are you OK?” emails and phone calls, both incoming and outgoing. And now the sun is out, the birds are singing, life goes on, and we come away with a few new leaks, some hair-raising stories, and a new sense of gratitude for life, limb and friends. Others have not been so lucky, so if you are inclined, please donate to the relief effort at Middle Tennessee Red Cross.

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Without A Net

Barring more floods, tornadoes or volcanic ash, we’ll be arriving in the UK in just over a week to kick off the “Circus Girl – Without A Net” tour. Your song requests and associated memories and anecdotes have been pouring in and they have been wonderful to read. A lot of preparation has gone into this particular venture; remembering, re-learning and sometimes re-working over 20 years worth of songs is a challenge. Some of them I’ve played pretty much constantly over the years, some of them I barely recalled. Along the way I’ve fallen back in love with a few old ones that somehow fell through the cracks. Those will most likely stay in the set list after the tour is a memory.

If you have yet to put in a request, there’s still time: you can send me a message via my website, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Or if you prefer you can just email me. Please remember to specify the particular show (venue, date and city) that you will be attending, and give us your name, and any other information you’d like to share – where you’re from, how long you’ve been a fan, a personal anecdote, dedication, reminiscence or just your thoughts on the song you want to hear most. Tour dates are listed on the Tour page at gretchenpeters.com. See you there!

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Circus Girl: The Best Of

The 2-CD numbered, Limited Edition of Circus Girl: The Best Of Gretchen Peters is almost gone, but we have just received a shipment of the single CD version, which makes a great gift for the uninitiated! For now, both versions of Circus Girl are available at the Store.

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Tom Russell + more tour dates

On June 17th I’ll be playing a double bill with my friend and frequent collaborator Tom Russell. We’ll be at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville, TN, joined by Barry Walsh and Thad Beckman. Tom’s newest album “Blood and Candle Smoke” is a tour de force and appeared on all the critics’ year-end lists. This is the only co-bill with Tom booked for 2010 so if you want to hear “Ash Wednesday” and the duets from “One To The Heart, One To The Head” make plans to be there!

We’ve also added a short run to the Washington DC area in June: we’ll be doing the Widerman House Concert on June 5th in Ijamsville, MD, followed by a return to the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, VA on June 6th. If you’re in the DC area come see us!

More US dates coming soon, keep checking back.

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Festival time

We’ll be back in the UK in July for both the Trowbridge Village Pump Festival (22-25 July) and the 2010 Cambridge Folk Festival (29 July – 1 August). You can see the full lineup for both festivals at the Cambridge Festival site and the Trowbridge Festival site. Specific stages and times will be announced soon here.

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Download of the Month

This month’s download is a recently unearthed demo of “Hey Baby”, a song I wrote with my friend Bryan Adams. The track was recorded in Bryan’s studio in Vancouver, Canada late in the evening after we had finished writing the song. It felt like a duet to us, so we sang it that way. Enjoy.

x

Gretchen

an iPod playlist I made recently for a trip through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

Sylvie – Sweet Honey In The Rock
Father, I Stretch My Hand To Thee – Rev. C.L. Franklin
Son Of A Preacher Man – Bobbie Gentry
Two Little Fishes, Five Loaves Of Bread – Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Willie And Lauramae Jones – Shelby Lynne
Uncloudy Day – The Staple Singers
The Angels Rejoiced Last Night – The Louvin Brothers
Backwoods Preacher Man – Tony Joe White
These Bones – The Fairfield Four
Ode To Billie Joe – Bobbie Gentry
John 3:16 Guest Preacher At Prayer Meeting – Minton Sparks
Daddy Was An Old Time Preacher Man – Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down – Kris Kristofferson
Take My Hand, Precious Lord – Elvis Presley
Discussion of Hell – Jerry Lee Lewis
I Was There When It Happened – Johnny Cash
Moses – The Blind Boys Of Alabama
Motherless Children – The Staple Singers
Mary Don’t You Weep – The Swan Silvertones
Coat Of Many Colors – Dolly Parton

“Give the people what they want.”
- The Kinks

Next month I’ll be heading back to the UK for a tour that’s been in the works for almost a year. The idea for the “Circus Girl – Without A Net” tour grew out of many conversations after shows that began something like: “Great show, but I wish you’d sung ______”, or “________ is my favorite song, why don’t you ever play it anymore?” When you have a new album out, it’s natural to want to showcase it, and introduce everyone to the new songs. With “Circus Girl”, we’re going to look back and revisit some of the overlooked ones, and some that just fell off the list along the way. In that spirit, this will be an all-request tour – you will make up the set list. I’ll begin taking your requests on April 1 via my website, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Or if you prefer you can just email me. Please keep a few things in mind:

• specify the particular show (venue, date and city) that you will be attending. We don’t want to do your request without you there.
• give us your name, and any other information you’d like to share – where you’re from, how long you’ve been a fan, a personal anecdote, dedication, reminiscence or just your thoughts on the song you want to hear most.
• please limit your requests to songs that I’ve either written or recorded. No “Free Bird”!

Given the retrospective nature of this tour I thought it would be fun to add a visual component, too, so I’ll be spicing up the set with some slides and photographs – along with the stories behind the songs, behind the scenes, and sometimes behind the stars… It’s going to be a lot of fun for us, and hopefully for you, too. All the tour dates are now confirmed and listed on the Tour page. We can’t wait to see you out there.

RIP Alex Chilton

Sad news last month about the death of Alex Chilton, Memphis singer and songwriter and founder of the seminal bands The Box Tops and Big Star. I knew Alex just a little bit from meeting him at gigs where my partner Barry Walsh played for the past nine years in the Box Tops. He always seemed to me to be smart, unsentimental and absolutely original. Barry’s remembrance of Alex can be found here in the Blog section of my website (the blog previous to this one). RIP Alex.

Second-chance auction

If you missed your chance to bid in our auction last summer, you may want to get in on this one: to launch the “Circus Girl – Without A Net” tour, we have put a few rare items up for auction on eBay. This isn’t a big auction like we did last August, but there are some great items to bid on, so be sure to check them out. The auction began April 1, at 10AM Nashville time (CDT). Part of the proceeds go to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, an organization dedicated to protecting these highly intelligent and amazing creatures. And while I’m on that subject, if you haven’t already please see “The Cove“, which won Best Documentary at the 2010 Academy Awards recently. I’d consider it a personal favor if you would donate a few dollars to help their cause.

Going, going, gone

Just a reminder that the Limited Collector’s Edition, 2-CD version of “Circus Girl: The Best Of Gretchen Peters” is just about sold out. We still have a few copies available here. After those sell, they’ll be gone for good, so if you’re still thinking about getting yourself a copy don’t wait too long.

Cambridge Folk Festival

The lineup for the 2010 Cambridge Folk Festival (29 July – 1 August) has just been announced, and I’m excited to be on it! Read the full lineup at the Cambridge Folk Festival website. Specific stages and times will be announced soon on the Tour page of this website.

up North; down South

We are happy to be returning to Canada this month – for one show only on April 10th in Calgary; a co-bill with Greg Trooper. Tickets are available here.

Shortly afterwards we’ll be heading back to the southern US for three dates, the first of which is at the legendary Decatur, GA venue Eddie’s Attic on April 15th. If you live in the Atlanta area come celebrate Barry Walsh’s birthday (and the end of tax season!)  with us at Eddie’s. On April 16th we’re in Birmingham, AL at Moonlight On The Mountain – the former Moonlight Music Cafe which has been revived and promises to be a great music series. And we’ll finish off the southeastern run at the fabulous Bowman House Concert Series – Art Bowman informs me that once again we’ll be playing at the Red Arrow Ranch. It was a magical night of music in the barn the last time we were there, and we’re so happy to be back.

Download of the Month

This month’s download is “Snowin’ On Raton”, recorded live in Denver, Colorado at Swallow Hill Music Association in February of 2009. Barry and I had just learned and arranged the songs from “One To The Heart, One To The Head” for this hometown CD release party and the tour that followed, so they were new to us, sometimes a little ragged, but wonderfully fresh. Enjoy.

x

Gretchen

The news of Alex Chilton’s death has hit us hard. It was 9 years ago, on a cold January morning in 2001, when I first got a call to play a string of dates in Canada with The Box Tops. I met Alex that morning at the airport in Minneapolis, where we all met for the connecting flight to Winnipeg. I learned the Box Tops songs that day on the airplanes, writing out charts while listening to a Walkman.

I spent the last nine years as a part-time Box Top. We never rehearsed. Ever. I learned a few new songs over the years at various soundchecks. I got to know Alex pretty well, and always looked forward to seeing him and hearing his take on various issues going on in the world. He was aware of everything going on around him, and usually had a copy of the New Yorker tucked under his arm. Was a huge fan of contemporary art and spent a lot of his time while traveling hanging out in museums.

I came to expect the unexpected whenever I was around Alex. One day he would bring up Graham Greene, another day it might be politics or food or classical music. Erudite and very liberal with a quick mind, he carried himself through this world floating on his own cynical nonchalance. He was never one to shy away from an opinion. And I always valued his opinions. The son of a Memphis judge, Alex was a self-educated man his whole life after quitting school to go on the road with The Box Tops at age 16. I once caught him playing Bach on my piano while we were screwing around during a soundcheck. He had memorized some pieces and was slowly working them out. A few months later I heard him playing a different Bach piece on a guitar in a dressing room. It got me thinking about improving my own playing, and so way back in 2001 I started seriously working on Bach’s music. Slowly learning the fingering, then memorizing one piece after another in the two books of the Well Tempered Clavier. Nine years later I’m still at it but almost through. I credit Alex for, among many other things, leading me to J.S.Bach.

Alex was bright, perceptive, cynical, opinionated, quick-witted and friendly; and he was equipped with a BS detector shield that people sometimes mistook for callousness or even meanness. He was not mean. But he was fiercely unlike anyone you’ve ever met. He unashamedly lived rock and roll.

Today, it seems an era has come to an end. Very, very sad.

Barry Walsh

“A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”
- Thomas Mann

In a theoretical sense, writing seems easy. I’ve done it my whole life, with not insignificant success. Virtually everyone has written something – a love letter, an email, a journal entry. So why should the act of stringing words together be that hard? It’s only when you get down in the dirt with the specters of doubt, ego and self-judgment that things get complicated. What about this word? This line? This song? Do I know what I’m doing? Did I ever?

It isn’t even so much the difficulty of the writing itself, although that can be pure hell; it’s the transition between the outer world and the inner one that’s tortuous. When I was a kid, being interrupted in the act of play was so awful as to be nearly physically painful. The sensation of being ripped from one world and set down in another was almost unbearable. And writing is not so different from child’s play – the fluidity, the intensity, the sense of separateness from the usual structures of time. Coming off the road and going into the writing room is a huge change of atmosphere, enough to give a person the bends. It’s hard to go in, and it hurts to come out.

But when it goes well, it’s better than anything. For me there is never (or at least very rarely) certain knowledge that I’ve written something very good; it’s more of a sneaking suspicion, but one I’ve learned to listen to more intently as I’ve grown older. Ultimately, though, it’s not until the song exists in the air, and reaches other ears than mine, that it lives (and sometimes dies). I’ve still got a lot of writing to do before another album begins to take shape. But I can’t wait to bring these new songs to your ears.

Up for auction
New York Women in Film & Television is auctioning me off! The New York branch of the Women In Film organization is auctioning off a great package this spring. The winner will receive two tickets to my show in London at the Tabernacle on May 19th, two VIP backstage passes and a handwritten, autographed lyric to the song of your choice (assuming, that is, that I wrote it). Bidding will begin soon at Charity Buzz. When we get the link to the auction we’ll send out a special bulletin. More info on NYWIFT below:

The preeminent entertainment industry association for women in New York City, New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) champions women calling the shots in film, television and digital media. NYWIFT energizes the careers of women in entertainment by illuminating their achievements, providing training and professional development activities and advocating for equity. Membership includes more than 2,000 women and men working both above and below the line. NYWIFT is part of a network of 40 women in film organizations worldwide, representing more than 10,000 members.

A sweet Valentine
Voting has ended for the The Alternate Root’s Valentine Sampler, and “The Way You Move Me” has made the final cut. The complete sampler, with cover art, can be downloaded from The Alternate Root website now. Thanks for voting!

A couple of fringe benefits
The benefit for Planned Parenthood of Middle & East Tennessee which did not take place due to the Great Nashville Snowstorm of 2010 has been rescheduled for March 25. The one and only Marshall Chapman will be joining me. Marshall is a singer-songwriter, an author and soon to be a movie star. She has a prominent role in the upcoming film “Love Don’t Let Me Down” starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Marshall plays Gwyneth’s road manager. Anyone who knows Marshall would want her for a road manager, for the stories, if nothing else.

I’m also happy to announce a new benefit, The Stars Go Blue for Colon Cancer, featuring Rodney Crowell, Peter Cooper & Mike Reid and myself along with Barry Walsh. The whole thing takes place at 7PM on March 23rd at the Loveless Barn.

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Wine Women & Song news

Matraca, Suzy and I recently spent an afternoon hanging around with Amanda Holden (Britain’s Got Talent); UK residents can view a replay of our appearance on the show Amanda Holden’s Fantasy Lives here. We opened a bottle of wine with her and dished about Nashville, country music and other stuff. We are about 5 minutes into the show; don’t blink!

Respected country music blog The 9513 was in Decatur, GA at our most recent show and graced us with this wonderful review.

Thanks guys, we love you too!

UK Tour
We have been getting a LOT of emails regarding the “Circus Girl – Without A Net” tour. The tour is nearly 100% confirmed – just a few loose ends to tie up. Please keep checking the Tours page for new dates if you don’t see a show in your area. As you may already know, this is going to be an all-request tour – we’re building the set list from your favorite songs. On April 1 (no fooling) we’ll start taking requests via email, Twitter, Facebook and in the forum at www.gretchenpeters.com. I’d love to hear not only your requests, but a personal anecdote, reminiscence or just your thoughts on the song you want to hear most. We are really excited to be including a new visual component to this tour – more about that next month.

The Official press release:
In celebration of the release of Circus Girl: The Best Of Gretchen Peters, Peters will be embarking on her first-ever “all request” tour in 2010. The intimate show will encompass and highlight her entire body of work and feature the stories behind the songs, personal anecdotes and glimpses behind the scenes of her 20+ year career. The set list (composed entirely of requests by fans via email, Twitter, Facebook and Peters’ website) will doubtless include fan favorites such as “On A Bus To St. Cloud” and “Sunday Morning (Up and Down My Street)” as well as more obscure selections from the Deluxe Limited Edition of Circus Girl, which contains 16 tracks of rarities and previously unreleased songs. The “Circus Girl – Without A Net Tour” opens in the UK in May 2010.

New photos
We have posted a bunch of new photos in the Gallery, so if you haven’t visited in awhile come check them out. By popular request, we have brought back the “Fan Photos” album. We encourage you to send in your photos from after the show, but only if we both look fabulous or you’re great with Photoshop!

Download of the Month
This month’s download is a change of pace from the live tracks we’ve been posting. Since I’ve been spending most of my time writing, I thought I’d share this audio segment from an interview with Pat Geary from Voice Of Country, done in 2004 during the press run for “Halcyon”. We talked about co-writing, the need for solitude, and the rewards and pitfalls of “confessional” songwriting.

x

Gretchen