Magazine: FOSTER FACTOR - February 2012

This month Foz chats with one of America’s most successful modern-day songwriters – Gretchen Peters. Nashville-based Gretchen has just released her ninth album, Hello Cruel World, which she’ll be promoting on her UK tour in the Spring.  Martina McBride’s 1995 recording of Peters’ Independence Day, the gritty story of an abused woman’s revenge, made her a song-writing sensation. The performance received a “Best Country Song” Grammy nomination and won the Country Music Association’s “Song of the Year” title. After that a string of great vocalists — Pam Tillis, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Neil Diamond, George Strait and Etta James — began to record Peters’ songs. Peters also signed her own record deal, yielding her 1996 debut album The Secret of Life. The title track was cut by Faith Hill in 1999 and hit number five on the country charts. Since then Peters has recorded five other solo albums: Gretchen Peters (2001), Halcyon (2004), Trio Live (2006), Burnt Toast and Offerings (2007) and Northern Lights (2008). The compilation Circus Girl was released in 2009. And that same year Peters collaborated with one of her favourite songwriters, Tom Russell, for their One To The Heart, One To The Head. 

FOZ :  We saw you in the UK last year when you toured with Suzy Boggus and Matraca Berg. You let your hair down a bit on that. 

GRETCHEN :  Yeah it was very relaxed with the girls. We’ve known each other for a long time so it was a little bit of a holiday for us because for one thing we all spend a lot of time singing lead and one thing about our tours together is that we all get to sing three-part harmonies. I just love that, it’s one of my favourite things.

FOZ : Would I be right in saying your new album is your most personal so far? 

GRETCHEN :  Yes that’s certainly the case. I wrote most of these songs in a very short space of time following a year that was very eventful for me.  A lot of events on a personal level and a global level shook up my world a bit in 2010. In the midst of everything there was a wedding. It was a wonderful event and one of the guests on my latest record, Rodney Crowell, happens to be an ordained minister and he married Barry and me on October 2nd 2010. It was pretty amazing as Rodney is a long time song-writing hero of mine and to have him standing up there in front of us marrying us was other worldly but perfect in another way. 

FOZ :  The album title is play on the well known exit line Goodbye Cruel World. 

GRETCHEN :  Yes and I’ve told people if the album doesn’t do well the sequel will be called Goodbye Cruel World! I hope that doesn’t come to pass. 

FOZ :  How satisfying has this CD been to make?

GRETCHEN : Extremely satisfying. I think there was a level that I felt sort of unafraid to write these songs and have an honest dialogue about my own fears and my own internal misgivings, regrets, whatever.  Rather than put a glossy coat over it all I thought I’d be pretty raw and honest about that. Once you let your guard down and you let an audience or a listener in and say I’m vulnerable and think about these things then I think there’s a kind of freedom in that.  The musicians all tuned into that instantly and along the way I think we all knew we were making a special record. 

FOZ : Some beautiful arrangements on the album. Were you responsible for those too? 

GRETCHEN  :  I take a little bit of credit but I give a lot to my co-producers Doug Lancio and my husband Barry Walsh. Doug also played guitar on the album and we’ve produced two records together now. He’s a genius musician. I think the combination of the three of us was magic. Doug really likes to let things happen in the studio and not to direct people while Barry and I, having played together for so long, have musical ESP which is something you can’t fake. You can’t make that happen, it either does or it doesn’t.

 FOZ : You’ve got quite a tour coming up here. 

GRETCHEN : I have. This is the most extensive tour of the UK and Europe we’ve ever done. It’s five weeks all told but it has to be to get to all the places we love to play. I’ve been coming over since my first album came out in 1996. It takes a time to cover all that ground and see everybody we saw on the previous tours.

Gretchen Peters has two dates in our region – Norwich Arts Centre on Monday, March 19 and The Apex in Bury St Edmunds on Tuesday, April 3.  For more on the lady and her music head to www.gretchenpeters.com