Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Randy Brown on January 29, 2012 at 6:36pm

I know "On A Bus To St. Cloud" by Jimmy Lafave; who wrote it?

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Permalink Reply by Brian Morris on January 29, 2012 at 6:45pm

I believe Gretchen Peters wrote "On A Bus To St. Cloud". 

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Permalink Reply by Randy Brown on January 29, 2012 at 7:12pm

Cool; I had just assumed Lafave wrote it.  Thanks for the info, Brian.

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Permalink Reply by RP N10 on January 30, 2012 at 1:04am

Gretchen Peters is probably best known as a writer.  Her credits on allmusic stretch to 5 pages.  

Hello Cruel World is her 5th record (after Secret of Life, Gretchen Peters, Trios and Burnt Toast & Offerings).  She also cut a duo record with Tom Russell a couple of years ago as well as an EP with Matraca Berg and Suzy Bogguss - The Suwanee Sessions.  Probably my favourite is Trio the live record she cut with (now husband) Barry Walsh and Dave Francis in 2004.  The Circus Girl best of compilation released a year or so ago  might be a good place for anyone not familiar with her work to start.

Gretchen's also pretty shrewd on the business front with her own label, touring company and using the internet's social networking opportunities for communicating with fans.  Each month she sends out a newsletter with a link to the free download of the month - I have them back to when they started in 2008.  Generally live shows but sometimes demos, interviews.

There does seem to be quite some noise around Hello Cruel World so you're right this might be where she takes the step up which may mean its time to catch as many shows on this spring's European tour before the larger venues take over.

Now waiting for the postman to bring it over the big ocean from Nashville.

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Permalink Reply by Brendan Cooke on January 30, 2012 at 7:58am

Circus girl is certainly a good way into Gretchen's music if you are new to her music. Really looking forward to the new album as RP rightly states it is creating some noise with very good reviews certainly over here in the UK anyway. A very talented songwriter and certainly worth catching live too if you get the chance!

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Permalink Reply by Jim Moulton on January 30, 2012 at 4:54pm

Love Her

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Permalink Reply by RP N10 on January 30, 2012 at 10:17pm

Oops. HCW is 6th.  In my haste earlier forgot Halcyon.

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Permalink Reply by Joe FitzGerald on February 3, 2012 at 8:48pm

Yet to hear the new CD, but she and Barry put on a good show. Worth seeing if she appears in your area. My gf, who shares the same Scorpio birthday (11/14) with Gretchen, is on her mailing list, and really enjoys the newsletter she sends out.

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Permalink Reply by Tincanman2010 on February 4, 2012 at 3:41am

I did a live 'twinterview' with her yesterday. http://bit.ly/ywA0zp

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Permalink Reply by Jack Kidd on February 6, 2012 at 2:14pm

Gretchen is not just a great songwriter (as well as "On a Bus to St. Cloud", there's  "Independence Day" for Martina McBride), she is also a superb live performer (usually with Barry on keyboard). Here in the UK, where she always sells out her tours (either her & Barry or alternate years with Wine , Women & Song) I have seen her gigs for the past 7 or 8 years and have my tickets for the forthcoming tour, at The Sage, Gateshead on March 1st.

I've only listened to Hello Cruel World the one time, so it's difficult to form a strong opinion either way, as usual the songs have significant depth and meaning with terrific melodies, so I'll listen a couple more times before I pass my judgement.

Looking forward to the gig in 3 weeks time to put more definition and context onto the new tracks. 

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Permalink Reply by Brendan Cooke on February 7, 2012 at 8:33am

new album is in the UK top 100 albums this week!

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Permalink Reply by Jack Kidd on March 2, 2012 at 9:17am

I've listened to the album now, over 10 times and still struggle to enjoy. So, we saw her live, last night at The Sage in Gateshead. Gretchen performed the entire new album, track by track (in order), and whilst her explanations and introductions regarding each song helped it still hasn't lifted HCW any further up my personal charts. She, herself admitted it is quite dark, yes it is, but it is also gloomy and depressing and I  much prefer something more uplifting.

Nevertheless, we still enjoyed the gig, she and Barry are great musicians, good performers and come across as lovely people. They were aided by the impressive mulit instrumentalist Christine Bougie, it was a good gig. But I still don't like the new album. Hey ho.

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