A special visit to the shop: Pierce Pettis stops by!

I had the pleasure of hosting my friend Pierce Pettis for a few days this fall and he was kind enough to take my Peruvian Walnut Dreadnaught for a test drive! If you aren't familiar with Pierce, check out his many videos on Youtube and be sure to catch him at a show near you.

Here, Pierce demos a new tune he's still working on. Since I recorded the video with my cell phone, there is some fluctuation in the volume and sound. But he sure makes that guitar sing! It is available for purchase. Many thanks for sharing your time and talent, Pierce!

I found Pierce's CD titled "That Kind of Love" on the shelf of the library in Brighton, Michigan, where I lived from 2006 to 2011. Though I had never heard of Pierce, I was getting into guitar and playing and decided if it had a guitar and singer on the cover of the disc, I'd listen. I was doing my daily walk around Whitmore Lake when the title track came on; I was so hooked by the intelligence, craftsmanship and beauty of his writing that I must have listened to that track 50 times in a week!

A few months later, I received an email from Acoustic Guitar magazine, advertising a song writing workshop with Pierce outside Ashville, NC, for a week in the summer. It seemed like fate was offering me an opportunity I couldn't pass up! I applied and was accepted and when June came, I set out to drive to Asheville with my Larrivee in the trunk. I was nervous to play a song in front of anyone, never mind a Nashville songwriter.

The place was called Doe Branch Ink, a retreat for writers, and Pierce was their first songwriter to offer a class. When I met him, though it seemed a bit surreal, he was so genuine and down to Earth that he put me at ease...until of course I had to play a song in front of him that night! My first ever guitar performance outside of my living room! I think I might have been shaking a bit, especially with the addition of his brilliant daughter Grace, an award winning songwriter in her own right, looking on. Over the course of the week, I got to know Pierce well, learning from him and Grace during the days, writing songs, and talking about songwriting, life, our families, politics, history and humor late into the night. Definitely a great experience to learn from a great artist and well rounded person.

As you read this, I am heading off to California for Wintersongs songwriting camp. I will blog that experience as the week progresses.

The sides and back of the guitar are book matched Peruvian Walnut, with maple binding and a Sapele neck.