Grace Pettis has a busy year lined up with the release of her album, touring, graduation from college and a wedding. First stop, however, is the New Song finals Saturday, where Pettis is a finalist.
Budding Texas-based singer/songwriter Grace Pettis is starting to take big steps toward a life in music, including competing in Saturday's 2009 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest finals at the Culture Center.
UPDATE: Five co-winners were announced in the international finals of the 2009 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, held Saturday, Oct. 10, in the state Culture Center theater in the state Capitol Complex here. The winners are: Reed Waddle of Boston, Mass.; Grace Pettis of Austin, Texas; Liz Longley of Philadelphia, Penn.; David Via, of Greensboro, N.C.; and Betty Soo of Austin, Texas.
Pettis was then chosen by "Mountain Stage" host Larry Groce to appear along with Southern Culture on the Skids, the Squirrel Nut Zippers and other acts on the Oct. 12 "Mountain Stage" show, performed and recorded live on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Pettis also won "Best Song" for her "9 to 5 Girl."
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Big changes are ahead for Grace Pettis. The budding Texas-based singer/songwriter is starting to take big steps toward a life in music. She's recorded her first album, which she hopes to have ready in a few weeks.
Pettis also is scrambling to schedule shows, mostly weekend work right now. In between launching her music career, she still has to finish college at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, in May and get married in June.
"The farthest I'm going is to West Virginia this year," she said.
West Virginia is a special and necessary trip. Pettis is a finalist in the 2009 "Mountain Stage" NewSong Contest and appears Saturday night at the Culture Center in Charleston. Along with 11 other finalists from across North America, Pettis is hoping to impress the judges, who include "Mountain Stage" host Larry Groce.
The prize is the opportunity to perform a set on "Mountain Stage" the following day, a road show at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The live-performance radio show, heard on more than 100 public radio stations and over the Internet through "Mountain Stage" and National Public Radio, is a chance for good exposure to a wide audience, particularly for a young performer.
"I don't know what to expect," Pettis said. "I mean, I guess if I win maybe it will help me find a booking agent."
Pettis can't remember a time when she didn't write songs.
"I've been at it since I could make things up in my head," Pettis said. "I've played guitar for years, but I didn't get serious about it until high school. I was always writing songs; I just didn't think they were any good until then."
Win or lose, she knows what she wants to do. Pettis is following, if not precisely in the footsteps, then at least the general direction of her father, folk singer Pierce Pettis. The elder Pettis is a respected songwriter whose work has been covered by Dar Williams, Joan Baez and Garth Brooks, among others. He's also been a guest on "Mountain Stage."
UPDATE: Five co-winners were announced in the international finals of the 2009 Mountain Stage NewSong Contest, held Saturday, Oct. 10, in the state Culture Center theater in the state Capitol Complex here. The winners are: Reed Waddle of Boston, Mass.; Grace Pettis of Austin, Texas; Liz Longley of Philadelphia, Penn.; David Via, of Greensboro, N.C.; and Betty Soo of Austin, Texas.
Pettis was then chosen by "Mountain Stage" host Larry Groce to appear along with Southern Culture on the Skids, the Squirrel Nut Zippers and other acts on the Oct. 12 "Mountain Stage" show, performed and recorded live on the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Pettis also won "Best Song" for her "9 to 5 Girl."
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Big changes are ahead for Grace Pettis. The budding Texas-based singer/songwriter is starting to take big steps toward a life in music. She's recorded her first album, which she hopes to have ready in a few weeks.
Pettis also is scrambling to schedule shows, mostly weekend work right now. In between launching her music career, she still has to finish college at St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, in May and get married in June.
"The farthest I'm going is to West Virginia this year," she said.
West Virginia is a special and necessary trip. Pettis is a finalist in the 2009 "Mountain Stage" NewSong Contest and appears Saturday night at the Culture Center in Charleston. Along with 11 other finalists from across North America, Pettis is hoping to impress the judges, who include "Mountain Stage" host Larry Groce.
The prize is the opportunity to perform a set on "Mountain Stage" the following day, a road show at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The live-performance radio show, heard on more than 100 public radio stations and over the Internet through "Mountain Stage" and National Public Radio, is a chance for good exposure to a wide audience, particularly for a young performer.
"I don't know what to expect," Pettis said. "I mean, I guess if I win maybe it will help me find a booking agent."
Pettis can't remember a time when she didn't write songs.
"I've been at it since I could make things up in my head," Pettis said. "I've played guitar for years, but I didn't get serious about it until high school. I was always writing songs; I just didn't think they were any good until then."
Win or lose, she knows what she wants to do. Pettis is following, if not precisely in the footsteps, then at least the general direction of her father, folk singer Pierce Pettis. The elder Pettis is a respected songwriter whose work has been covered by Dar Williams, Joan Baez and Garth Brooks, among others. He's also been a guest on "Mountain Stage."
Pettis can't make up her mind about how much of an influence her father has been on her music. Because of him, she occasionally hung out in recording studios as a child. She was around music, but that was as much because of her mother as her father.
"On the one hand, yes," she said. "He's a major influence. I listened to his stuff nonstop. I know every song, but I grew up with my mom in Atlanta, so, a lot of my influence is gospel, soul and jazz."
Still, she hears her father's DNA in her songwriting.
"My stuff comes out very folky," she said and laughed. "That's my dad's fault."
Recording the songs was something else. While she remembered being inside a recording studio and watching her father, she didn't completely understand the process.
"At the beginning of the summer, I knew I was going to record something," she said. "I'm graduating in a year, and I wanted something I could take on the road and sell."
Her ambitions were modest. Pettis just wanted to make a few extra bucks while playing. She figured she could just record something herself and it would be fine. Billy Crockett, a friend of the family and owner of Blue Rock Studios in Wimberly, Texas, told her, "I can't let you do that."
So she spent months raising money through donations received through the Internet. They recorded it through July. During the day, she went to her job at Office Depot, then drove an hour out of Austin to the studio. Musicians were her friends, Crockett's friends and whoever they could find.
"It was a whirlwind, but awesome," Pettis said.
Reach Bill Lynch at ly...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5195.
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