CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER
AUBURN —Longtime local favorite Pierce Pettis returns to Sundilla on Friday, Oct. 27.
Showtime at the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, located at 450 E. Thach Ave., is 7:30 p.m.
Advance tickets are $20 and can be found at Spicer’s Music, Ross House Coffee, Foodies and online at sundillamusic.com. Admission at the door will be $25.
Free coffee, tea, water and food will be available, and the audience is welcome to bring their own favorite food or beverage.
Pettis, adored by both critics and the public alike, is one of this generation’s most masterful songwriters. His music is distinguished by his uncanny ability to capture universals in human experience by drawing on the humor and trials in daily life. Pettis’ music can simultaneously pull on our hearts and keep us laughing. The beautiful harmonies, inventive yet subtle percussion, strong guitar, and his rich vocals are a constant throughout his body of work.
His fellow songwriters aren’t above lavishing praise. Darrell Scott said that “Pierce Pettis bares a gentle soul with a keen eye, a soulful voice, and perfect guitar accompaniment for his beautiful songs — a masterful poet treasure.” And from Eliza Gilkyson, “I have loved Pierce’s music for many years now-he has the gift of a true inner compass.”
Pettis has performed in all 48 continental states as well as in Canada and Europe, appeared nine times on American Public Radio’s Mountain Stage, been featured on National Public Radio’s E-town, Morning Edition and World Café, and appeared on VH-1, CBS News, and the Nashville Network.
During his long career Pettis has been a writer at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama, recorded for Fast Folk Musical Magazine in New York, won the prestigious New Folk songwriting competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, and was a staff songwriter at Polygram/Universal Music Publishing in Nashville. He has received numerous songwriting awards including a 1999 ASCAP Country Music Award for “You Move Me” — recorded by Garth Brooks. For more information, go to www.sundillamusic.com.