“Pierce Pettis doesn’t write mere songs, he writes literature...End to end the songwriting is brilliant...Pierce Pettis albums are events in my listening. His writing just gets better all the time and his singing is marvelous, wry and warm..." Sing Out!

Pierce Pettis, performing live with daughter, Grace Pettis at Full Sail University in Orlando, FL as part of the "Freedom Live" concerts in 2010 --sponsored by Storyville Coffee Company in support of The International Justice Mission and it's efforts to end global slavery: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK52CS4Lm2M

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After a lifetime of crafting finely-wrought, heart-touching songs, singer-songwriter Pierce
Pettis feels that he’s finally found his comfort zone. “The biggest change,” he says of this
point in his career “has been getting over myself and realizing this is a job and a craft.
And the purpose is not fame and fortune (whatever that is) but simply doing good work.”  
 
“From the time I was very little, I always had the music going in my head,” Pettis
explains. “Like my own personal soundtrack or something. I also come from a fairly
musical family: my mother went to music school and was an excellent organist and
pianist.  And my sisters all played piano and other instruments.  In school, I met other
kids who wanted to be rock stars, just like me.  From the time we were around 10 or so
up through high school, we put together various bands -- all of them horrible.”
 
His “horrible” bands didn’t deter him though and even though he had a nagging feeling  
(“I thought I was supposed to be a doctor or something.”) he persevered, not only playing
music but writing songs in a mix of rock, folk, country and R&B genres that landed him an
unpaid position as a staff writer for Muscle Shoals Sounds Studios. While there, his track
“Song at the End of the Movie” found its way to Joan Baez’s 1979 album Honest Lullaby.
 
Pettis hit the road and became a member of the “Fast Folk” movement in New York in the
mid-1980’s.  He released one independent solo album, Moments (1984) before signing
with High Street Records, a division of Windham Hill.  There, he released three albums:
While the Serpent Lies Sleeping (1989), Tinseltown (1991), and Chase the Buffalo (1993).  
His relationship with Tinseltown producer Mark Heard transcended the album.  After
Heard’s untimely death in 1992, Pettis committed to including a song of Heard’s on every
one of his own albums, a practice that continues to this day.  
 
Pettis was a staff songwriter for PolyGram from 1993-2000 and when his High Street
contract ended, Pettis signed to Compass Records where he has released Making Light of
It (1996), Everything Matters (1998), State of Grace (2001), and Great Big World (2004).  
Pierce Pettis’ songs have been recorded by artists including Susan Ashton, Dar Williams,
Garth Brooks and Art Garfunkel.
 
Pettis currently lives in Alabama with his wife and their young son. His new album, "That Kind of Love" on Compass Records was released January 27 2009.  Please visit Pierce Pettis' Myspace Music Page: Pierce Pettis Music  and his new Sonic Bids electronic press kit at:  Sonic Bids Electronic Press Kit  

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Pierce Pettis proudly plays (how's that for alliteration?) Avalon (and Lowden) guitars  --handmade in County Down, Ireland. Check out these fine guitars (including the new Americana line) at
http://www.avalonguitars.com