“I’d like to get stoned,” sings Alice Peacock over a shambling electric guitar at the beginning of her fourth album, Love Remains. It’s a startling, if tongue-in-cheek, way to kick off a set of country-tinged pop-rock tunes recorded in the heart of Nashville.     
 
The Chicago based singer songwriter found inspiration with her collaborator and co-producer/co-writer Danny Myrick, “It was about the vibe,” she elaborates. “Who could we put in the room? 

When Danny and I were writing together, just the two of us with guitars, cracking up and having a blast, the music had this Tom Petty/early Linda Ronstadt/John Mellencamp/Sheryl Crow-made-a-country-record feel to it,” Peacock reveals. “I said, ‘Pedal steel? I want it on every damn song!’ I love that ’70s, California-country sound, and I’m totally unapologetic about trying to recapture it.”
 
The players who helped sculpt the aural landscape of Love Remains include pedal-steel player Dan Dugmore (Linda Ronstadt); multi-instrumentalist Phil Madeira (Emmylou Harris); guitarists Kenny Greenberg (Willie Nelson, Brooks & Dunn, Gretchen Wilson), Rob McNelley (Delbert McClinton) and Scott Dente (Out Of The Grey); drummer Will Denton (Steven Curtis Chapman, LeAnn Rimes); and mandolin and banjo whiz Ilya Toshinsky (Bering Strait), and Danny Myrick, living up to Peacock’s description of him as “the groovemeister,” played bass.
 
Love Remains is a both a timely and timeless collection of novellas that brings to mind the joy simple things and the prospect of a better world. Along with several songs she wrote on her own and a few she penned with other songwriters (such as John Paul White, with whom she crafted “All About Me”), this latest batch of tunes finds Peacock in a new place, both thematically and geographically. 

Alice’s abiding belief in the power of music is a constant. “Can music change the world?/Yeah, I think it can,” she sings in “Forgiveness,” and she has a story to back it up. 

Alice may be working on new material, but her fans in the media are still rhapsodizing about "Love Remains" and her recent performances featuring songs from the album. Exhibits A, B and C:

The Woodstock Independent's John Daab described Alice's voice as "slightly husky but with a bell-like purity, like the offspring of burlap and velvet" and noted with approval her "openness to wonder." He went on to cite "Angel" as "easily his favorite song on the disc, the number I keep returning to for an emotional jolt" and confided, "I find it almost painfully moving." He also reserved special praise for "Lovely," which he called "a simple meditation on the joy of appreciating a loved one" and "a pretty fair evaluation of the entire album," elaborating, "Like a good relationship, it seems to just get better the more time you spend with it."

Opined Terry Loncaric in the Post-Tribune: "Peacock's tunes are hooky, tongue-in-cheek, and occasionally edgy ... [She] sings in a mid-range voice that sails buoyantly over her thoughtful lyrics ... There is a prophetic quality to the songs in her album. Peacock wrote 'Angel' while she was having difficulty becoming pregnant." Loncaric then quoted Alice as saying, "The song came out of a painful and frustrating time ... Now I'm holding my baby. How joyful is that!" He further noted: "In her latest tracks, Peacock is focused on sharing more intimate feelings. The truth of her storytelling shines in every song."

For his part, NWITimes.com correspondent Tom Lounges, who described Alice's music as "a tasty blend of folk, country and pop," declared: "Like the radiant bird she shares a name with, Alice Peacock makes music flush with color and life." Read the whole story here.

Love  Remains includes pedal-steel player Dan Dugmore (Linda Ronstadt); multi-instrumentalist Phil Madeira (Emmylou Harris); guitarists Kenny Greenberg (Willie Nelson, Brooks & Dunn, Gretchen Wilson), Rob McNelley (Delbert McClinton) and Scott Dente (Out Of The Grey); drummer Will Denton (Steven Curtis Chapman, LeAnn Rimes); and mandolin and banjo whiz Ilya Toshinsky (Bering Strait), and Danny Myrick, living up to Peacock’s description of him as “the groovemeister,” played bass.

Who I Am was recorded at the Hollywood Sound Factory by Andrew Williams best known for his work with Victoria Williams, Peter Case, Dog’s Eye View and the Williams Brothers.

One of the outstanding features of the album is the string arrangements by Andrew Williams a disciple of the celebrated arranger Paul Buckmaster.

Amongst the musicians contributing to Who I Am are guitarist Danny Howes (Alice Peacock, Tender Idols), bassist Curt Schneider (of Five for Fighting) drummer Jay Bellerose (Suzanne Vega, Paula Cole, Sam Phillips) and on acoustic guitar Andrew Williams.

The album’s cover was photographed by legendary rock photographer and visual historian of the last four decades of popular music Henry Diltz. 

The album 'Real Day' introduced Alice to Europe especially through the tracks 'Real Day' and 'My Love I Will.' Both songs received extensive airplay from BBC Radio 2. A tour with Lucy Kaplansky followed introducing her to British audiences where she was an immediate hit.

I came into this world in the year 1969 in what is commonly known as the “north country” in the US. Growing up in a musical family, it seemed like I always sang whether it was putting on “shows” around the house with my little brothers and sisters – including “dance contests” where one sibling would choose the music and the other would have to do a theatrical interpretation -- or singing in the children’s choir at St. John’s Episcopal Church in my hometown of White Bear Lake, Minnesota. 

According to my Grandmother Dorothy Hayes Peacock, I get my gift for storytelling from my Great Great Grandmother Jane Horgan of Ballyhorgan near Killarney Ireland.  She married John O'Donoghue and they settled in Boston, Massachusetts where my Great Grandmother Helen O'Donoghue was born. Helen married Henry Hayes whose family had come over to America around the potato famine time.  They were from Wexford Ireland on the southeast coast. Apparently, the descendants of Jane Horgan still have the family farm at Ballyhorgan. My Great Aunt Ruth met them when she visited Ireland not long ago.   

The Peacock side of my family hails from Liverpool, England and came to America by way of Vancouver Canada three generations ago.  My Great, Great Grandfather Anthony Peacock came from Yorkshire.  My Great Grandmother on my Father’s side was Ada Pennington from Liverpool as well.  I hear from my Dad that Albert Peacock, my Grandfather, was a very good mandolin player!  My maternal Grandmother was a cabaret star and composer in Berlin before the Second World War.  My maternal Grandfather, Fritz Gnass, was a miner-turned-actor who appeared in Fritz Lang’s classic film, “M,” and was part of Bertold Brecht’s fabled Berliner Ensemble.  

Dad played guitar and sang at the Officers Club at Fort Snelling -- he sang silly songs like “Do Your Ears Hang Low” and “Peanut Sitting on the Railroad Track” to us as children making up stories as he went along.  Mom played her 1959 Martin folk guitar (hence my love for Martin guitars) and sang Pete Seeger and Weavers songs.  We didn’t have a TV because my mom thought it turned your brain to “jello” (God only knows what it does today!) so I grew up listening to records and radio all the time – public radio, classical, folk/bluegrass, Gordon Lightfoot, Johnny Cash, Glen Yarborough, Burl Ives, and Garrison Geillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” on the radio every Saturday night for as long as I can remember.  Dad would rent a TV for special occasions like the Olympics or when USC (Dad’s alma mater) played in the Rose Bowl.  Once he rented one for Princess Diana’s wedding to Prince Charles and, due to the time difference, I got to stay up really late to watch the whole affair unfold -- the parade through the streets of London, all the pomp and ceremony and, like most young girls I imagine, dreamed of being a princess.  I used to sleep with a clock radio under my pillow to listen to Casey Casem’s Top 40 Countdown every night so I knew all the hits at the time by heart and in the daytime sang into my hairbrush in the mirror. 

We were always without much money and once had toys donated to us by the firemen at Christmas and often had well-meaning friends bringing groceries over…my parents had a strong belief that God would take care of us and He always seemed to.  Although we never seemed to have enough of anything (money, food, clothing) no one starved and we managed to get by just fine.  I probably would have never known that we had money troubles except for the stress that my parents felt at barely making ends meet.  I think music for me was the ultimate escape, a necessity to help me get away from the realities of my childhood.  I was an especially sensitive child and I picked up on all my parent’s worries and made them my own.  My mantra to myself was “someday I will be a star and the people that teased me will be sorry and I will be famous and have no more troubles in my life!”.  In reality, the therapeutic process of songwriting has allowed me to let go of the want for fame and to enjoy music for the wonderful gift that it is!

My Mother tells me that I started composing at the piano at a very young age – the first piece I can recollect that I penned I called “The Russian Song”.  It was instrumental and apparently pretty sophisticated for a young child, enough so that my Mom took me to the local piano teacher Miss Tijeoux to get her advice. Miss Tijeoux said “playing by ear was one thing but I needed to learn how to read music”!  I never really did as I quit piano lessons about 6 months later and then Miss Tijeoux died. I’m sure my quitting was not the cause of it.

I also had a paper delivery route when I was about 12 years old.  It paid for my candy and a little something here and there.  It wasn’t a real moneymaking endeavor.  I have to say that money was never a real motivating factor for me…I was more interested in socializing with the old folks on my route – coming in for hot chocolate and listening to them tell me stories.  In fact, I often did not have the heart to collect the money which baffled my mother since they had ordered the paper in the first place.  I was never good at saving it anyway.  I would rather get my Red Flyer wagon and take my younger sister and brother on a “runaway day” to Wendy’s or Dairy Queen.
 
In my early teens, I discovered the theatre.  I tried out and got a leading role in the Central Junior High School “Follies”.  I loved the ensemble experience.  Even today I can’t think of anything more fun than a bunch of creative people getting together and creating music or theatre!  I loved the applause of course and it made me feel special…not poor, not weird.  I was convinced, as many children are, that my family was the weirdest ones “out there”, It wasn’t until college that I discovered that every family has their stories, their secrets and numerous oddities -- that’s what makes life so rich…but I digress.

From my first organized theatre experience I was convinced that I was going to be an actor -- using my musical ear for Broadway shows perhaps?  I auditioned for every play that came along and wished desperately that I could pursue the stage professionally as a young actor.  Of course, that would’ve required expensive photos and someone shepherding me to auditions in the city….needless to say there wasn’t any extra money available for that so I settled for school plays and dreams.  I guess it made me very independent at an early age.  
 
I wrote songs in high school and occasionally was brave enough to play them in front of my classmates.  I remember on one occasion playing a song I’d written my junior or senior year of high school to much razzing from my school mates.  It didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for making music and performing but it did give me pause as to whether I could write songs or not.  I think, at that age, I saw myself mostly as a singer; other than my academic years of singing in the concert choir I sang blues, jazz and rock and roll at night in various bands.  In college I was in two bands; the Alligator Boogie Band and The Basic Food Group.  We performed a mish mosh of Beatles, Rush, Pat Benetar, Led Zepplin, Heart,  The Police, classic blues, Stevie Ray Vaughn…you name it.  We played it!  

 
In college I performed during the summers in professional regional theatre in Door County, WI.  It was during those summers that I met many musicians and songwriters – many who were recording their own records.  This was the first experience I’d had of having friends write and record their own music.  I, alas, doubted my songwriting abilities…after all what could I possibly have to say?  I also thought that if I couldn’t write like my idols (Joni Mitchell, Neil Young) then why try at all?  My roommate one summer was dating the former guitar player for Alice Cooper, Dick Wagner, and I remember him telling me to “write what you know… that no one else can express that quite like you” and for some reason the “light bulb” went on in my head and I thought that indeed if I wrote what I knew, from my unique perspective, that no one could take that away from me…it was real.

I moved to San Francisco after college, following a boyfriend who was in cooking school.  I thought that at least I was in California and perhaps there would be more opportunities there!  I folded towels in a swanky health club on Nob Hill and sang at night and on weekends in a popular cover band fronted by E.C. Scott.  E.C. was a local blues singer who had a raunchy, raucous show complete with costume changes by the back-up singers of which I was one. 

We played nightclubs during the week and weddings/bar mitzvahs on the weekends.  One of our more memorable gigs was playing the inauguration of Willy Brown, the Mayor of San Francisco.  We opened the show and Ray Charles was the headliner.  At the end of our set we walked through the kitchen back to our dressing rooms and passed Ray waiting there to go on…I was thrilled just to be next to him!
 
The boyfriend and I moved down to Los Angeles after about a year and a half in San Francisco.  I waitressed and watched all the successful musicians come into my restaurant.  I waited on Joni Mitchell, made smoothies for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and wondered how I could get a gig in a city where you had to “pay to play”.  This meant you had to buy the tickets in advance for your show at the club and hope to sell out so you could make your money back.  I met some folks in the business over that next year and it became apparent to me that unless I wanted to work with a producer who would write with or for me and shape me into who they thought I should be, I needed to leave town and figure out who I was as an artist!  So I moved to Chicago.

Chicago proved to be a town with lots of music venues and available gigs for the beginning musician.  I had been playing piano primarily up until then but picked up guitar for the ease of mobility.  I got involved going to shows and participating in open mic nights at the Old Town School of Folk Music where people like Steve Goodman and John Prine had been schooled.  I once went to a John Gorka show there and was so moved by his performance that something came over me and I tracked him down in his dressing room after the show, introduced myself and exclaimed “we’re going to work together someday”!  Years later John and I are great friends and have done hundreds of shows together…hmmm.   I met like-minded musicians at the Old Town School and started to play out more eventually forming several bands.  I gigged everywhere I could and wrote incessantly.  At some point I had enough material to make a record or two and officially entered the world of Alice Peacock singer/songwriter. 

People often ask me if I planned to be a singer/songwriter or how I did it. For myself I know it’s something that just kind of evolved.  I needed to find out who I was as an artist and why I’d been given these musical gifts and I realized that I wanted to express myself though my own lyrics instead of singing or acting out other people’s thoughts and emotions.  Three CD’s later and countless of other songs scratched in many different notebooks I am still refining and enjoying that journey although I think I really found my voice on my newest album “Who I  Am.”  And I know it’s something I will do forever even if I am just writing and playing for my cats!  I know that just by living and continuing to feed the creative “bank” that the music will continue to flow.  Plus, you’ll never get me to stop performing – I’m too much of a ham.

Pat Tynan Media
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