Festival of Faith & Music Preview Reviews: Pierce Pettis

I will be attending Calvin College’s Festival of Faith & Music, March 31-April 2. Leading up to the festival, there will be a series of reviews of artists scheduled to appear as a preview of what to expect. Click on the icon for more information about the Festival.


There’s a classic folk sound in Pierce Pettis’ guitar work. At times, he sounds full of Country balladry, as on “Great Big World,” the title track from his 2004 release. Yet, the classic guitar work of “Another Day in Limbo” places his squarely in the American Folk tradition, making me think of a bygone era, the guitar work of Gordon Lightfoot. Certainly, there’s not the 70’s wash to the production, and there’s not the sparseness of Lightfoot’s original recordings, but you get the feeling that Pettis hasn’t stepped forward as much as he’s stepped back into the Folkways of those who have gone before him.

The production and arrangements actually aren’t dissimilar from other American Folk singer/songwriters today—David Wilcox, Cliff Eberhardt, and John Gorka. Strings, backup jamming chorus singers, layered guitar work. On its own, Pettis’ guitar work might sound like the kind of music you’d expect from a guy playing folky tunes from the midst of a big forest, the wind and birds surrounding the songs. Yet, the production on Great Big World is like adding a giant subwoofer to the outdoorsy scene. Where a single guitar in a forest would sound thin, there’s all of this added depth by bringing the outdoor subwoofer production to this back woods studio.

The David Wilcox comparison is no surprise considering that the title track was co-written with Wilcox. Wilcox and Pettis both have this uncanny ability to take what seems straight-forward, received, or devoid of meaning in the Christian message, giving it new life through how they speak (sing) it. In other words, we get so used to saying, “God loves us,” but it takes the poetic prophets to say it in new words that catch our attention, helping us to see again that “you can shake your angry/Fist at the sky/But it will roll right over you/A force of nature/Just won’t be denied/No matter what you do/…Love will find you again” (“Love Will Find You Again”).

So it’s no mistake that the Festival of Faith and Music invited Pettis to perform. Pettis certainly takes the truth of Scripture, painting these vivid portraits, decorating the doctrine with melody and life. “Black Sheep Boy” is this tender dedication to a prodigal son, revealing the heart of God for the wayward and lost. I look forward to hearing Pettis perform at the Festival, taking in even more lyrics of hope which are accompanied by his tender, classic guitar work.

Of course, it won’t be easy. The Festival will be a part of a week away from my son, and Pettis’ songs often from Great Big World often return to themes of parent. The co-penned song from Pettis and Wilcox is a bedtime song for the father, how a parent has to shake off his own sleepiness (“I’m more tired than you/As I reach down to tuck you into bed”) in order to tell that last bedtime story (“So I tell you a story about a lion who’s your best friend”). As one who makes his living from speaking and teaching, I only hope that the final stanza is something I can truly say to my son, Samuel, “Well I’ve made a good living from the stuff I thought I knew/But my best words ever are these few I say to you/…It’s a great big love for you.”

Thanks to Pierce Pettis and Compass Records for the review
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