Singer from Nashville set for local show. Catch her now before she hits it big

Grace Pettis has a hot new single out, “I Take Care of Me Now,” which is a declaration of rebirth and resilience, a cathartic anthem to stepping beyond the past and a toxic relationship. The song and video have been getting rave reviews all over the country, and the album it is on, “Down to the Letter” on MPress Records, will be out on June 14.

But Boston area fans have a chance to catch Pettis before her career really takes off, when she appears at The Burren in Somerville’s Davis Square on Sunday afternoon. (Pettis is appearing with two close friends as part of the "We Shall be Released Tour," since all three have new albums about to drop. Pettis will be joined by songwriters Joe Crookston (former Gordon Lightfoot band member) and Robby Hecht, whose songs have been compared to Tom Waits and Jim Croce, and the trio will swap songs in the round robin format. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door, and the show begins at 4 p.m.. The Burren is located at 247 Elm St. in Somerville, and tickets can be purchased on the club’s website, burren.com, or can call 617-776-6896 for more information.)

Pettis had been living in Austin, Texas, where among other things she has been part of the trio Nobody’s Girl, with fellow songwriters BettySoo and Rebecca Loebe since 2017. Pettis had also released her own debut album, “Working Woman,” several years ago, with a style that straddles rock, country, folk, and soul. But an unexpected personal upheaval led to her sophomore album, as she had to end a 14-year relationship, a breakup that involved a partner’s substance abuse, and wound up moving to Nashville.

Pettis takes new approach for new album

Recording the new album demanded a different approach, so Pettis guitarist Josh Kaler, and producer Mary Bragg moved into the home studio of Jon Estes, while he and his family were away. In just five days, they recorded the dozen songs that comprise “Down to the Letter,” and more or less tell the story of how Pettis had her life fall apart, and then put it back together.

“This is my second album with Mary Bragg producing, and efficient is a great way to describe how Mary works,” said Pettis this week from her Nashville digs. “My first album (2021) was very different; a whole raucous rock band, done in a big commercial studio. This record needed to be more stripped down. Mary is a great ringleader, with a good balance of planning and leaving room for whatever magic may happen in the studio, or changing our minds on instrumentation and so on. We knew we are on a small, indie label with a modest budget, but this collection of songs also needed to be insular and intimate, and this home studio was perfect for that.”

“The first single is kind of misleading,” Pettis added with a laugh. “That song is a big, fun pop number, while most of the album is intimate and introspective. I was getting over a pretty intense 14-year relationship, with some addiction stuff involved, and I needed to feel safe to explore that. Nothing felt safer than being in a house with a couple of good friends, just the three of us.”

Move to Nashville 'a fresh start'

While based in Austin, Pettis had made regular trips to Nashville to connect with music industry people, and explore career opportunities, but after her breakup she made the move permanent.

“This time I went from Austin to Nashville not to get noticed, but just to get divorced,” Pettis said. “I found myself unexpectedly un-partnered, and Austin is an expensive city. It was also nice to get a fresh start, so now I have three roommates. Nashville can be the best and worst city for someone like me: the best for how many incredible musicians are everywhere, where you can see a world-class band for $5 at local clubs, and there is such a music community. But the worst for how the resources are scarce and it is a tough business, so competitive it scares some people away. Those things can be helpful or harmful for your creative juices. I try to pepper my life with a healthy dose of reality, things and people that have no relation to music or the business. Lots of opportunities only exist here, but there’s a lot of other people chasing those opportunities too.”

If the new album is more stripped down, it still displays Pettis’ versatility and ability to easily move between styles. The wistful opening song, “Rain,” could be termed country-rock, while the next song, “Horses,” is a lilting folk ballad, and then the lively “I Didn’t Break This” is vibrant folk-rock. But most of all, it’s the skill of Pettis’ writing that shines through the brightest, with lyrics that are simple and direct, yet deliver their story with impact. As jazz and soul singer Ruthie Foster, who has covered several of her songs, says of Pettis’ work, “She writes what I always wanted to say.”

“Back in 2012, I made a record I was so proud of, and then shopping it around, we were told labels didn’t know where to put it, how to market it,” Pettis recalled. “Since then, I’ve tried to put tracks together that work thematically, if not musically, but even so, each song asks for a different treatment. I just tried to make the best record possible, and have it translated the best way musically.”

New album therapeutic for Pettis

Writing this new album was therapy as Pettis was working through her personal life.

“The first single is definitely part of my life,” she said, “but I ended up writing 27 songs while we were separating. It was like a reflex on my part, to help it make sense. But it was something you can’t just sum up in three-and-a-half-minutes. ‘I Take Care of Myself Now’ was something I used to sing in the shower, and anthem I wrote to pep myself up. I’d been with him since I was 19 years old, and it was a big change.”

One of the album’s most striking tunes is “Sobering Up,” which is actually more about curing yourself of being obsessively tied to one person, despite their obvious flaws.

“'Sobering Up’ is a love letter to the people in that second meeting,” Pettis explained. “Whether it’s alcohol or drugs, most of these 12-step programs are focused on the person who is addicted. But I wanted to talk about the second day’s meeting, for all the people who loved those addicted people, who were betrayed and also had their lives destroyed. They’re on a similar journey. There are so many ‘rehab cowboys’ out there today, singing about their own sobriety – and I’m all for that. But there’s not a lot of songs about all the people in that second meeting – and these are things it is hard to talk about, even with your closest friends.”

Album 'a journey of healing and processing'

The forthcoming album is not gloomy or downbeat in the least, but honest and even uplifting, as the catharsis becomes evident, and a tune like “Joy” reminds us to find the good things in life.

“This record is about a journey of healing and processing,” Pettis said. “You think it’ll be linear, but it’s not. Some days you can’t get out of bed, and other days you just jump up, all happy to be alive. You can’t just use a song like ‘Joy’ to mindset your way out of depression with just a positive outlook. But some people radiate joy, even through the worst times, and that is fascinating to me.”

There are just two co-writers on the album, which fit in with the general theme. “The Year of Losing Things” was written with iconoclastic songsmith Tom Prasada-Rau, while “When Nobody’s Watching” was penned with country veteran Gary Nicholson.

“Those two are some of the oldest songs on the record,” Pettis noted. “The Year of Losing Things’ was pulled from a batch I wrote by text with Tom Prasada-Rau during 2020 – at the height of COVID-19. It was done at that time when we were all dealing with losing jobs and being isolated, and with this album it just fit with the whole narrative. I had met Gary Nicholson years before – he’s just the coolest guy – and that’s just a song about asking yourself, ‘Who do you want to be?’ But it is true that both of those co-writes were done long before my divorce, and just seem to fit in with the whole story so well.”

Pettis no stranger to Boston

Pettis, who is the daughter of country songwriter Pierce Pettis, has played in the Boston area before, and figures she’s performed in the area at least once a year for the past 15 years or so.

“Usually I’m playing at Club Passim, but I have played The Burren at least once before, and I love the whole Boston music scene,” she said. “For this show, we all have albums about to drop, so we’ll be celebrating all of our songs, alternating among the three of us. Joe Crookston is a wonderful musician who’s played with everybody and has his own terrific songs. Robby Hecht is a superb singer and songwriter, and is also now my boyfriend. And I will enjoy playing my new songs, about what I went through, and how I’ve come out on the other end.”

And as we noted before, the new record is so powerful, this may be the last chance for fans to hear Pettis in a small club like the cozy Burren.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Grace Pettis appearing at The Burren in Somerville on Sunday