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SARAH PIERCE RELEASES NEW ALBUM “BLESSED BY THE WEST” ON BERKALIN RECORDS: CELEBRATING THE AMERICAN WEST THROUGH SONGAcclaimed singer-songwriter Sarah Pierce unveils her highly anticipated new album, Blessed By The West, out now on Berkalin Records. The 13-track collection showcases Pierce’s deep connection to the American West, offering an authentic glimpse into the life, landscapes, and legends that have shaped the region's rich history.Praise for Sarah Pierce:
- “Sarah’s voice and music are constantly an emotional treatment, pensive, persuasive & immersed in sincerity. Her vocal presence in songs like ‘The Cowboy Way (Tied To the Ride)’ and ‘Ropin’ In the Wind’ is magnetic.” – John Apice, Americana Highways
- “Pierce writes and sings songs filled with western imagery and circumstances that appeal not only to those who have lived the life but those who love the idea and romance of it.” – Donald Teplyske, Fervor Coulee
- “Fans of classic country music will enjoy Pierce’s Western fare, and new listeners are bound to be captivated by her timeless style.” – Maurice Hope, The Rocking Magpie
- “Her voice is charming, and the band is tight on every note. This album is a must for your music collection.” – Jim Allford, Steel Notes Magazine
About the Album:
Blessed By The West is a vivid journey into the heart of the West, celebrating its expansive deserts, towering mountains, and the resilience of its people. Produced by Merel Bregante and Sarah Pierce, the album is rich in storytelling and musical depth. Pierce’s love for the West is evident in tracks like the title song, “I Wanna Go Home,” and the self-proclaimed “Trilogy”—three songs that pay homage to the bold, trailblazing women of the American frontier. “The Librarian,” “The Messenger,” and “Rough Stock” tell tales of women who defied societal expectations, carving out paths of courage and independence.
"The West is more than a place; it’s an experience,” Pierce says. “From the creatures that roam the land to the weather and landscapes, it’s a world that gives us a chance to be part of something extraordinary.”
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Will Phoenix
According to her official website and other online sources, Sarah Pierce is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She is “the daughter of a cowboy,” a Illinois native and Texas-based artist. “In the 6th grade she was kicked out of the children’s choir because she sang too low...her incredible alto voice already making itself be known.”
An international performer, her rockin’ resume includes performing live on various radio stations and at least eight previous platters. Additionally, her songs have been featured on NPR and MTV. She also provided the singing voice of Calamity Jane in the television mini-series “The Wild West.”
Sarah Pierce’s signature sound is a blend of authentic and contemporary country and western music. She is inspired by her life and surroundings.
"Blessed By The West” is a 13-track album of mainly original material written or co-written by Pierce. On it, Pierce leads the way on acoustic guitar and vocals. She is backed by several other artists including Mike Dorrien (baritone, electric, gut string, and acoustic guitar), Mark Epstein (bass, arco, and fretless bass, Wurlitzer piano, and acoustic guitar), Pete Wasner (Steinway Grand piano, Hammond B3, and Wurlitzer piano), Dave Pearlman (pedal steel and dobro), John Inmon (electric guitar), Jon Chandler (harmonica), Sandy Martin(bass), Cody Braun and Kurt Baumen(fiddle), and co-producer Merel Bregante (drums, percussion, and background vocals).
The album opener is the single “I Wanna Go Home.” It’s an effective introduction to the personality and humanity in her songwriting and an early fave of online critics. The song is about the West and the places she loves and focuses on: the red earth, the rising sun, and the Rio Grande.
In a recent online post, Pierce added: “Living on the ranch is a gift for me. The livestock, wildlife, and the land make all the work worthwhile. Anytime that I am away, I just wanna go home.”
The second selection is the song “The Cowboy Way (Tied To The Ride).” This one is also written solely by Pierce. It is biographical, potentially metaphorical, and tightly tied to the overall Western theme of this album.The next number is the single and title track “Blessed By The West.” Co-written with Randy Palmer and Bregante, it serves as the first example of what Pierce can do in a tuneful team-up. It reiterates her love for the West too, the animals, the weather, and the land itself. Complete with atmospheric apt introductory elements, it also features Mickie Fuhrman on background vocals.
“Any Place That’s Wild” is the only cover cut on the disc. This is Pierce’s audio adaptation of a 2008 song written by Reckless Kelly’s Willy Braun. Covers are cool as they connect an artist with new audiences via a common cut. The inclusion of this sad song is both fitting and apropos. The proud, positive, patriotic “I Fly Our Flag” follows here. Pierce’s signature sound and her love of home and country are both clear-cut and strong despite the song being somewhat overshadowed by previous pieces.
“Ropin’ In The Wind” is another early fave of online fans and critics alike. Pierce continues to musically paint pictures emphasizing her love of all things West. Doug Figgs guests on background vocals as Pierce prepares to present a thematic subset to this cowboy country compilation.Not to be confused with the 2010 tune “The Librarian” by Laura Jane Scott, this song of the same name is an original co-written with Jim Jones who guests on acoustic guitar and background vocals. It is the first part of what Pierce calls “The Trilogy.” All three songs are “about strong women that defined the character of the West in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.” They focus on “women that were willing to break all the rules...to ‘in the face of great adversity, risk their lives on every ride.’ Women that set the stage for the freedoms found today.”
With a running time of close to six minutes, “The Messenger” is the longest track here. It is also the second part of the above-mentioned “Trilogy.” This one, however, was written entirely by Pierce. Not to be confused with the 2015 track by Roosevelt Road, this rockin’ “Rough Stock” is an original Pierce song. More importantly, it brings the song-story “Trilogy” to an effective end. The Pierce solo compositions keep coming with the reflective “I’d Start Over.” It not only works well on this album but it has its own little The dark “White Dog Revenge” comes next. The signature sound remains solid as does the theme of the album. This one has an "I Spit On Your Grave" feel to it but it’s more serious than the tiresome “I broke his truck windows ‘cause I’m mad” stuff we hear too often today. It features Andi Renfree on background vocals.
Things lighten up again with “There’s Some Things A Cowgirl Just Knows.” This one was co-written with Sissy Camacho. It features Robert Anderson on mandolin and Mickie Fuhrman encores on background vocals.The album's endnote is “A Dream As Texas.” It’s a road trip-ready travelin’ track that also offers the listener one final example of Pierce as both singer-songwriter and musician as well as one last chance for the band to strut their stuff. More importantly, it brings this sincere set of songs to a strong close.
Overall, this new release is, as promoted, a compilation of country vignettes concerning life, death, and Pierce’s personal truth all joined by a common theme expressing her honest homage to the American West. These effective, oft’times emotive cowgirl cuts concern both her love of the specific lifestyle and the rugged, lovely landscape there. Her tuneful tales are injected with effective imagery and transport the listener to a specific time and place with each track and those already in the know note the additional evidence of Pierce’s songwriting strengths. So, check out Sarah Pierce’s “Blessed By The West” and experience “A Dream As Big As Texas
Rocking Magpie
Review by Maurice Hope
Sarah Pierce
Blessed By The West
Berkalin Records
Authentic and Imaginative Classic Country With Rough Edges and a Romantic Centre
Blessed By The West is Rockford, Illinois-born, West Texas raised and daughter of a cowboy, Sarah Pierce’s 9th album, co-produced with Marcel Bregante for Houston based Berkalin Records where the listener is handed a bunch of carefully penned, story-ballads depicting the West and her love for it.
Gently sung, Sarah Pierce songs pay homage to her beloved, American Western environs, its traditions, the people and the land where “the saddle is her church and a long ride confession”, as heard on opening track, I Wanna Go Home where Pierce shares her love and knowledge about the West on this Texas label release; and I especially love the fiddle playing used on the fade.
Pierce songs enjoy stellar support of acoustic guitar, fiddle, dobro, and pedal steel as she rides the range, and sees the sunrise before her departure as she rides off into a beautiful sunset.
Cowboy Way (Tied To The Ride), is warmed through in fiddle and speaks of a young boy born to be a cowboy.
It’s the ‘Cowboy Way‘ she sings of that shows bulls have never scared him, and how one day he will be a horse whisperer like his Grandfather.
“We pray in the saddle even on Sunday,
our horse is our best friend”.
Pierce’s vocals are warm, nicely pitched and ever graceful; her lyrics, tender and poetic. Whether she is speaking of the West’s ruggedness, as in Blessed By The West she never strays, her vocals, unerringly guided by excellent musicians, she sings of how people will never tame her, the majestic mountains or the painted desert and, with it being doused in fiddle and dobro it’s plain to see she’s at home in the saddle.
“Fifteen hands above the ground we watch the sunset,
she’s a beauty,
she’ll take your breath away”.
Any Place That’s Wild opens in determined fashion, with Sarah speaking of a love lost,
“I never rode my pony through the hills of Oklahoma”,
and of a host of other opportunities that have slipped away.
Chugging along to a steady rhythm, acoustic guitar and harmonica Pierce at the end has to settle for riding her pony through the dust of Texas.
I Fly Our Flag speaks of her allegiance to the American flag, and virtues of people of the land.
Neatly warmed in harmonica, swirling fiddle, acoustic guitar and a loping rhythm she tells us of her trust in the land and pride of her country, especially The West, where a person’s word, rounded off by a handshake cements a deal or a promise.
Ropin’ In The Wind enjoys a more mellow feel, as she speaks of chasing a dream, while knowing all too well how good things in the West never come easy.
Fiddle, piano, harmony vocals. etc see her home.
“I could be reckless,
drop the reins
and be fearless”.
It’s soothing music of the finest order as her story takes you to a most welcoming place.
The Librarian (who brought the children books), is the first of what she calls her ‘trilogy’.
Doused in pedal steel and a restless lead electric guitar and pedal steel she creates a feel of movement on sharing the deeds of the first of the three women.
Traversing mountains, streams and surviving bandits, wolves and harsh weather the next woman (from the late 1800s) rides from Portland to New York City. For she is, The Messenger.
Neatly measured, the slow, gently woven ballad speaks of how this woman on her 800 mile route from Wyoming to Oregon re-shod her horse fourteen times. A plucky character, The Messenger risked all to delivery confidential letters.
Rough Stock races force like she was late for a party. This woman rode alongside, against men as she pursued her rodeo dream.
“Looking for eight seconds flat,
knowing that any ride could be her last”.
The roar of the crowd can be all but heard as the pickers urge her on, and being peppered in fiery lead electric guitar, and an urgent rhythm… it’s certainly dynamic.
“Knowing that any ride might be their last,
rough stock still chasing their rodeo dream”.
A superb electric lead guitar break too!
“those gals always had to bring more to the table than any man,
so they lived hard,
played the game,
every ride they were put to the test,
still grateful for living their lives while doing what they did best.”
I’d Start Over is a wistful, melancholy piece and speaks of a Texas sunset, the countryside with the blue bonnets as far as she could see.
“I’d start over…,
I’d have switch from red wine to straight bourbon,
it’s the only way I know to to keep all that hurt in”
she muses on trying to get over a failed relationship.
White Dog Revenge edges down to a slow walk; Pierce’s vocals now warmed in organ and a chugging rhythm alluding to a dangerous situation…. of two women sharing one man.
There’s Something A Cowgirl Just Knows is more relaxed affair as Sarah jogs along with dobro, tasty fiddle and luscious harmony vocals for company while she sings of a cowgirl’s life working as a ranch hand.
Dazzling pedal steel guitar (this guy deserves double pay) , a jostling, hooky rhythm all aid story-ballad A Dream As Big As Texas which shows off some fine innovative flair from the singer.
Fans of Country music of old will enjoy this, and given time and airplay new converts could also latch onto Sarah Pierce’s Western fare too.
https://rockingmagpie.wordpress.com/2024/09/10/sarah-pierce-blessed-by-the-west/
American Highway
REVIEW: Sarah Pierce “Blessed By the West”
by John Apice
Sarah Pierce – Blessed By the West
This is a generous set of music for almost an hour. Ms. Pierce’s songs are draped in her love of the West. The deserts, mountains, people, the life, death & truth of the sand, dust & flesh. The compositions are not earth-shaking but are made up of songs that are gripping, poignant & have lots of individuality.
With “I Wanna Go Home,” Sarah evolves through it with her lovely alto voice similar in tradition to Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Kathy Mattea (“Where Have You Been?”) & the Midwest’s Carrie Newcomer.
The 13 vignettes of Blessed By the West (Drops Sept 13/Berkalin Records/57:20) were produced by Merel Bregante (drums/percussion/bgv) & Sarah (vocals/bgv/acoustic guitar). Recorded at studios in Texas, New Mexico & Colorado — the Illinois-born singer-songwriter was raised in rural West Texas. This is where her rootsy American heartland musical passion emanates from. What’s remarkable is the ease with which Sarah sings her songs. There is no showboating paint, no real assertive vocals, or indulgent push. Her voice & the surrounding music are constantly an emotional treatment, pensive, persuasive & immersed in sincerity. “The Cowboy Way (Tied To the Ride),” & “Ropin’ In the Wind” cruise along with their absorbing melodies & Sarah’s vocal presence.
The songs never ascend into a C&W hokey posture. Instead, it’s far more country easy-listening. Sarah sings about strong women – the prairie women of the 18th & 19th centuries who risked their lives giving birth out in the wilds. The men were absent from ranches so they also did the work of men, learned to shoot, feed livestock, raise & teach children, repair roofs & barns, do the Bible teaching & remember to be mothers.
Perhaps a fine example of this woman would be found in the Loretta Young-William Holden-Robert Mitchum 1948 film “Rachel & the Stranger.”The LP has a rural feel but does rock in spots (“Rough Stock”). It’s a colorfully rough-hewn set with tales Larry McMurtry or Zane Grey would write. The West is a beautiful place but it’s not a friendly place with all its creatures, weather & expanse. Sarah covers it all.
Highlights – “I Wanna Go Home,” “The Cowboy Way (Tied To the Ride),” “Any Place That’s Wild,” “Ropin’ In the Wind,” “The Messenger,” “Rough Stock,” “I’d Start Over” & “There’re Some Things a Cowgirl Just Knows.”
Musicians – Mike Dorrien (acoustic & electric guitars/gut string/baritone guitars), Mark Epstein (bass/fretless & arco bass/acoustic guitar/Wurlitzer piano), Pete Wasner (Steinway Grand piano/Hammond B3/Wurlitzer piano), Dave Pearlman (pedal steel/dobro), John Inmon (electric guitar), Sandy Martin (bass), Cody Braun & Kurt Baumen (fiddle), Andi Renfree & Mickie Fuhrman (bgv), Jim Jones (acoustic guitar/bgv), Doug Figgs (bgv), Jon Chandler (harmonica) & Robert Anderson (mandolin).
https://americanahighways.org/2024/09/11/review-sarah-pierce-blessed-by-the-west/amp/
Fervor Coulee
Sarah Pierce- Blessed By the West review
Sarah Pierce Blessed By the West SarahPierce.com Berkalin Records
If you miss country and western music, Sarah Pierce has some songs for you.
Raised in west Texas, Sarah Pierce writes and sings the type of songs Ian Tyson did during his ‘Cowboyography’ years: songs filled with western imagery and circumstances that appeal not only to those who have lived the life, but who—like Pierce—love the idea, the romance if you will, of farms, ranch land, and stock, mountains, and the people who inhabit it.
All with a bonus Texas focus.
Filled with mournful steel guitar, a bit of fiddle, and gentle strumming, these articulate songs touch on characters strong and fragile, hardworking and playful. “Any Place That’s Wild,” “I Wanna Go Home,” and “There’s Some Things a Cowgirl Just Knows” would sound great on the radio if country radio still played songs identifiable as country and western. Of course, few stations do.
Mid-album she has places a trio of songs specifically written to highlight the strength, perseverance, and individualism of women who inhabited the western states during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. “The Librarian” (“Ride on, Frannie, ride on…”), “The Messenger” (“…declared upon arrival she’d fight for the right to ride astride and vote her mind…”), and “Rough Stock” (“chasing a rodeo dream…”) capture the imagination for a time long past, and just around the corner, I suppose.
Pierce sings with a confident, mature, and distinctively personable alto, fully giving herself over to these songs, all but “Any Place That’s Wild” (Willy Braun) original with several co-writes. Co-producing the album with Merel Bregante, Pierce and company allow her words to rise above the instrumentation. It isn’t that the band ‘lays back,’ but they’re playing as support to hold and shape the song alongside the singer; Pierce is in charge and doesn’t have to fight to be heard.
These thirteen mostly narrative songs allow a peek into the lives of those—past and present—who have lived with the dust, sweat, and backbreaking labour of a life most experience through the glamorous lens of Yellowstone.
Sarah Pierce’s version is not only blessed by the west, it is marked by truth at each turn.
https://fervorcoulee.wordpress.com/2024/09/11/sarah-pierce-blessed-by-the-west-review/
Steel Notes Magazine
SARAH PIERCE had far from a very boring life. She was born in Rockford, Illinois and raised in West Texas. She started singing at the age of 12 and earned a degree in Medical Science in Voice. Her album is about women and breaking the rules to face adversity.
The musicians of this album are:Sarah Pierce-Vocals, background vocals, guitar; Mike Dorrien-Acoustic, gut string, baritone and electric guitar; Mark Epstein-Fretless, arco bass, acoustic guitar, Wurlitzer piano; Sandy Martin-Bass; Dave Pearlman-Dobro, pedal steel; John Inmon-electric guitar; Cody Braun/kurt Baumen-Fiddle; Jim Jones-Acoustic guitar, background vocals; Jon Chandler-Harmonica; Robert Anderson-Mandolin; Merel Bregante-Drums, percussion, background vocals and Andi Renfee and Mickie Fuhrman-Background vocals.
This 13 song album was Produced by Sarah Pierce and Merel Bregante and Engineered and Mixed by Merel Bregante.and Mastered by Jerry Tubb with Additional Recording by Ren Renfree.
I WANNA GO HOME kicks off this album with a very touching song that will surely be able to relate to. I find it amazing she sounds a bit like Karen Carpenter and Lisa Loeb in her reflection of this song. A true gem. BLESSED BY THE WEST has great lyrics as the melody is laid back and her voice is bright and clear throughout the song. The beat is so cool as it's laid as all the pieces fit together great. WOW! Is all I can say.
I FLY OUR FLAG is a song we should all be able to relate to and hopefully things haven't changed since then. The lyrics are perfect as the melody and lyrics once again are really strong. Play this song for your neighbors. THE LIBRARIAN tells a story on its own as her story has us remembering the old times and about life in general during the rough days of growing up in the West. Epic song.
ROUGH STOCK is a very uptempo song that will have you kicking your boots up. The song even might give you a bit of a laugh. I love it, crank it up. WHITE DOG REVENGE is laid back a bit as she once again tells her story and the lyrics are spot on and the melody has a slow kind of groove. Check it out. DREAM AS BIG AS TEXAS sounds like a true country western song as her voice is so charming to hear as the band is tight on every note. I love it. Worth adding to your music collection. You can find her music at: You tube, Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud, Deezer and other sites. ROCK ON, JIM ALLFORD [STEEL NOTES MAGAZINE.]
Rick Huff's Best Of The West Reviews
“Blessed By The West”
Across the course of at least her last four albums, Texas-raised singer-songwriter Sarah Pierce seems to have grown increasingly confident and comfortable with employing full-out Western songwriting to tell the story the way she wants. Rest assured we are definitely the beneficiaries of that transition.
Pierce’s newest release shows off her skills to good advantage in a mix of originals and co-writes, musically acoustic-based but unafraid to use whatever elements add the right punch. She benefits from the co-production presence in the studio of hubby Merel Brigante. By subject the songs range from sweetly languid (“Ropin’ In The Wind”) and ruggedly historic (“Rough Stock”) to tough as nails (“White Dog Revenge”) and beyond! Other picks include title track “Blessed By The West,” “I Wanna Go Home,” “The Cowboy Way (Tied To The Ride)” and a co-write with Jim Jones that definitely travels a less-ridden trail called “The Librarian.”
In the past Sarah Pierce has enjoyed multiple appearances on various music charts in the Country, Americana and Pop genres. There’s every reason to expect some of these new ones to show up as well. Highly recommended, thirteen tracks total.
Sarah Pierce
Barbed Wire (Little Bear)
REVIEWED BY JIM CALIGIURI
A tranquil listen comparable to early Nanci Griffith, the eighth album from Sarah Pierce strikes pay dirt. Songs about her family's heritage thread together subtlety in country trappings about a simpler life. Opener "Small Town" points the way, and she never looks back until proclaiming "I Don't Give My Heart" to just anyone. She and husband/producer/co-writer/drummer Merel Bregante are joined by Willy and Cody Braun on some tracks, but Pierce remains the sharp heart of Barbed Wire.
Barbed Wire (Little Bear Records)
Sarah Pierce
Reviewed by Jeff Lincoln
If you Google "Sarah Pierce," you'll learn about an early American educator who founded a landmark school. Try "Sarah Pierce Texas," and you'll find a lot more related to the singer-songwriter who records out of Austin. There's something to that, as Lone Star sensibilities permeate the songs and values of the cattleman's daughter. This is far from her first rodeo - "Barbed Wire" is her ninth release - but to hear her tell it, this record represents some of the most personal work she's done.
Pierce didn't really come to bellyache - right from the opener "(Small Town") you learn that she loves where she lives, she's got a great man, and the neighbors always check on her. Even when life sends rough patches, Pierce stands defiant. She's honed a gunfighter's spirit. The topics are charming, but this is country/western music that's undergone a sort of twang-dectomy. Sometimes a mandolin or banjo sneaks in, but it's the persistence of the same mid-tempo that wears on the listener. Even the "party" song ("Light It Up") has a restraint, like the rhythm section's riding a brake. Things improve when they highlight Pierce's honeysweet voice - "Find My Way Back to You" is a standout, with a lot of air and sensual delivery. The speedier ode to friendship "Saddle Up" also hits its mark, via bluegrass.
Pierce's lyrics have few curveballs or slick metaphors - you're much more likely to hear plainspoken truths or recollections. There's autobiography at a level not many artists would be game to do. (Pierce practically gives her address at one point.) "I'm the Daughter of a Cowboy's Wife" even takes on a father that left; but a scar or two's fine in this part of the country. One might wonder if she's really as tough and together as she claims. But better to leave the question on the table - who wants to mess with Texas
Sarah Pierce: Love, Light, and Music
Terry Roland
When Sarah Pierce began her journey in the music business, she didn’t intend to be a songwriter. The Nashville music establishment was grooming her for success as a performer – she was expected to sing and make hit songs. Her first album, West Texas Wind, included only one of her originals, but the pull of the songwriting muse proved irresistible for the talented country vocalist.
In the ’90s, she moved to Austin, Texas with her husband, veteran drummer Merel Bregante of The Dirt Band. “Moving to Austin inspired me to write songs,” Pierce explains. “There are great songwriters here. And if you’re a girl and you don’t play guitar and write songs, you just don’t get in.”
The first song that came was called “Another Last Chance,” and it was about her experience of falling in love with her husband. “I had just left a bad relationship,” she recalls. “I had been in a lot of them. But, falling in love with Merel really changed my life for the better. I still feel it today.-
“I’ve [also] had mentors like Matthew Cartsonis,” she says, of the talented multi-instrumentalist she met in Phoenix, AZ. “It is writers like [him] who really helped me get started as a writer. He was very frank and helpful.”
Over the 20 years since that move, her songwriting muse still sings to her at her home in the country outside of Austin. It is a place she and her husband call heaven. Pierce has released a string of well-received albums. Her latest, 2011’s Bring It On, demonstrates insightful songwriting and her exceptional voice. The album carries insights about lost and found love, tales of personal redemption, and colorful cowgirls (her father was a cowboy). It’s an album of well-produced and finely crafted songs – the kind that lift the spirits, because she sings about life with a perspective that is full of hope. There is a brightness to her lyrics supported by the undertow of sweet country-rock complete with electric guitars, pedal steel, dobros and fiddle. Her portraits and insights about the ordinary magic of life in the country are full of light and positivity.
This hopeful worldview is something she’s taken some flak for from critics in Europe. “An Italian critic remarked to me that he liked a song, ‘Love is the Only Way,’” she says, “but [he thought] it would be much better if I suffered more.”
She laughs, then adds, “The music I’ve been writing lately is a bit darker.”
Her new album, for which she’s raising funds on Pledge Music, is titled Barbed Wire. “It’s about getting older,” she explains. “I hadn’t done an album in a couple of years. I was in a writing rut. I hadn’t written anything for a long time. We had just moved from the city to the country, outside of Austin. We were on our land and I found an old piece of barbwire that was from 1876. I thought, ‘This looks like me.’
“It was really beautiful, even though it was a bit twisted.” She continued. “I cut off an 18 inch collector’s cut and brought it home. It occurred to me [that] this is what life makes of us. From that moment I started writing and the songs for the album were finished in two weeks. The album really spring from that moment.”
Barbed Wire will include a song by Reckless Kelly’s Willie Braun as well as Pierce’s originals. Braun will also duet with her on a song she wrote about her grandparents, called “I’m Sorry.” And there’s also a song about her mother. The song, “Daughter of a Cowboy’s Wife,” is like a bookend to Ian Tyson’s classic romantic cowboy song, “Someday Soon.” The story describes the struggles of a wife of a hard-drinking cowboy and her personal redemption after he leaves her. It’s a stark portrait of the wreckage too often left behind by those we love, while, in this case, the mother and daughter vow never to show their tears. If this song represents quality of production and material on Barbed Wire, we’re in for a treat.
Texas-based singer-songwriter Sarah Pierce, the daughter of a cowboy, was raised in a family of cattlemen in rural West Texas. A genuine real-life cowgirl, she’s been making music most of her life—BARBED WIRE is her ninth album—and she’s toured non-stop across America, Europe and Scandinavia. Recently, Sarah and her musician husband Merel Bregante, moved out into the country some 30 miles from Austin and their new environment has inspired this latest collection of self-penned songs. Encompassing the influences of her heritage, Sarah delivers a transparent, introspective window into her soul with a mature sense of wisdom and confidence in her message and her craft—all mused by new chances on life. She has taken her storyteller-writing style and really captured moments within her life and turned them into meaningful music. The songs contemplate true friendship, the unity of the small town folks and the joys of day-to-day life, western and cowboy themes, our part in the natural world, as well as the treacheries of the heart.
Sarah sounds like she has the quiet bucolic beauty of rural roads and the open plains coursing through her veins. Listening to Small Town makes you feel like you’re ambling down a dusty country road toward something that might not exist anymore. She champions strong women in Wild Ones, which she dedicates to Merle’s Mom (Haggard that is), with some neat Roy Nicholls chicken-pickin’ guitar notes in the background. Her no-holds-barred stance Barbed Wire cuts to the quick within the simplicity and poignant themes across the range of this album seeming juxtaposed to the richness of Sarah’s western heritage and her coffee-house folk traditions. This is one woman who knows who she is and won’t be messed around with by anyone.
Her songs are music as landscape, timeless tales that instantly take root in your mind as though they’ve been there forever. The easy gait of Saddle Up, the picturesque visions that spring out of a Mackerel Sky and the working class passion evoked by Call Us Proud reverberate long after the disc has stopped spinning. With some of Austin’s finest musicians providing the accompaniment it’s as musically accomplished as you would imagine, but it’s Sarah’s relaxed, assured vocals, catchy melodies and wry lyrics that are its greatest strengths
Sarah Pierce on music, medicine and more
By Tara Low -
Sarah Pierce, a singer/songwriter from Texas, has a gift for telling a story through her lyrics and music. Pierce recently released her latest album Barbed Wire on Little Bear Records. It was recorded at the Cribworks Ditigal Audio studio in Liberty Hill, Texas, and produced by her husband/drummer/singer/engineer, Merel Bregante. Barbed Wire is a great mix of thirteen songs that Pierce says was “musically influenced by her family’s heritage in the cattle business” and can be seen as a “follow-up to my autobiographical Cowboy’s Daughter CD.”
Pierce and her husband pulled together a great team of musicians for this project which resulted in a mix of raw, emotional folk songs and soulful ballads.
When Pierce isn’t filling her days with working on the farm, writing music, and strumming her guitar, as a graduate of the Emory School of Medicine, she spends her time devoted to her other passion – medicine.
Learn more about this fascinating musician, her music, band, gear, and what inspires her in our in-depth Q&A.
So nice of you to take the time to fill us in on your latest music.
I am honored that you asked me!
Tell us about your newest album Barbed Wire. It was heavily influenced by your upbringing on a cattle farm and the name came to you when you found a piece of rusted barbed wire on the farm. Can you elaborate on the meaning behind the name?
Actually, I was clearing land on the ranch my husband and I own, outside of Liberty Hill, Texas, and came across some old barbed wire. I had been in a song writing slump for two years…could not finish a thing. When I held this old, rusted, hand pounded, barbed wire that had obviously weathered a great deal…and was still doing its job…I thought “this is me”! All of the sudden 16 songs came out of me in about 3 weeks. The barbed wire and the land brought me to a place I was looking for, I just did not know it!
“The beauty of my band and guests…we are family. Extended ~ AND ~ family.”
Tell us about your band and the special guests that contributed to this project and the collaboration for the music and songwriting?
My band is great!
Merel Bregante, my drummer, singer, engineer, and producer…well…Merel is amazing. There is nothing else to say! We just try and keep up with him. He came out of retirement to play with me. He played with Loggins & Messina, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Chris Hillman, Gary Morris, on and on and on. From a Lear jet to a Ford van and a trailer…that is commitment!
Mike Dorrien, my guitar player, is simply great! Mike took the lyrics, chord structure and melody and created the musical hooks along with creating the overall flavor of the CD…surely that which I had heard in my head. I have never had any musician do that on a CD…another amazing player and singer.
Carl Loschiavo played electric and acoustic bass.
Doug Hudson played acoustic guitar and Mandolin, and banjo. Doug has played with me off and on for over ten years. He is a great player and wonderful singer.
John McEuen, founding member of the iconic Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, popped in and played some of his typical world class banjo…as only John does.
Cody Braun, multi-instrumentalist of Reckless Kelly, played all the fiddle and most of the mandolin.
Wiily Braun, writer, lead singer, Reckless Kelly, wrote “I’m Sorry” with me and we sang it as a duet. He is just a GREAT songwriter and singer. Anytime we get the opportunity to tour with Reckless Kelly it is great fun!
David Pearlman took a break from making those amazing Pearlman microphones, which I used for this CD, and played some kick butt lap steel.
Robert Anderson played mandolin on “Daughter of A Cowboy’s Wife.”
Brian Kalenick played co-wrote and played acoustic guitar on “Mackeral Sky.”
I played acoustic guitar, mandolin, and a little Gretsch guitar, too.
The beauty of my band and guests…we are family. Extended ~ AND ~ family.
You really have a knack for telling a story through your songwriting. I was really drawn in to the first single on the album “Small Town.” Where do find your inspiration for songwriting?
Life. As I said earlier, I have to feel it, I am very visceral. I just write about what happens in the day to day and hope to find a little magic in it all. I believe that we are all innately good and when we come together we can do anything. I love the common man/woman. As I have seen it, no matter what country I am in, we all want the same thing…peace, our children to be safe, educated, to have a dream…hope. I think that each of us are working on this in our own way.
Barbed Wire is said to be a follow-up to your autobiographical CD Cowboy’s Daughter. How do you feel your music has progressed over the years?
My guitar playing has grown, though slowly. My writing has improved. Honestly, co-writing in Nashville has made a big difference. I cannot follow the format, but, the re-writing aspect for me has become a bit of a machine and I think that this has yielded better songs.
Cute story I read in your bio about singing to the cattle in the fields after getting kicked out of choir in elementary school. What is your musical background, when did you first learn to play guitar, and how did your family help inspire you?
My family was not musical. I learned to play piano as a kid and did not really play guitar until I was in my early 20s. Then I fell on love with my guitars and am so grateful for the songs they bring me. I loved to sing; I did sing to the cattle. I was kicked out of the 5th grade choir for singing too low. I hid from that point on, never letting anyone hear me. Unbeknown to me, my step father was listening through my bedroom door. He was a bass player in a country band. One night he asked me to sing. I thought he was crazy! I went to the gig. Sang “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” When I started to sing the room stopped, everyone starred at me, all I could think was “Oh my God I am so bad that they are scared to death!” After the song they all clapped and yelled. I did not believe it…and…I kept going from there…I had no choice.
“What makes me a good musician…I work hard and I do my job.”
Who were your early musical inspirations that helped mold you into the musician you are today?
The people who made me want to sing….Karen Carpenter, Patsy Cline, Emmy Lou. It is funny when you say “the musician you are today” I think of depth of heart…Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline. When I think it is hard…can you imagine those women and how big those hurdles were? What makes me a good musician…I work hard and I do my job.
“I do not like to pull the ‘girl card’ so I don’t.”
I actually saw you perform at MEOWCon several years ago. It was a great conference for women in music and I find it promising to see so many organizations available today that inspire and motivate women interested in the music industry. Have you faced in challenges in pursuing your career, and if so, how did you overcome them?
I do not like to pull the ‘girl card’ so I don’t. Having said that, it seems that in many…maybe most…careers we have to work so much harder than the guys to get our feet in the door. Texas has been tough. More so than L.A. or Nashville for me. Competing with the Red Dirt guys is never ending, climbing with bloody fingernails is what I always say…I guess that’s gross and, for me, it’s pretty accurate. Please note, I am not complaining as to women being in this predicament, I believe that we simply have to work harder and be OK with it! Also please note…I am not a male hater. I love some of the Red Dirt guys. Reckless Kelly is my favorite. They are amazingly talented and good people. They work hard and deserve everything they get.
From your experience, what’s the best piece of advice you would offer to an aspiring artist?
As a female be sure you can hold your own, practice, practice, practice. As soon as you can, stop chasing the dream, and live it. Be OK with what you are and love it! That is when your fans start to really identify with you and become those beautiful ‘die-hards’ that you are so honored to have.
Not only a musician, you also attended Emory School of Medicine. Do you still find time for work in the medical field and how do you balance your time between music, medicine and family?
When I am not on the road I do practice family medicine. I love my patients and I am blessed to have the opportunity to be part of their lives. They are also some of my most devoted fans. Luckily for me the doctors I work with…Paul Keinarth, MD and Steve Margolin, MD, have believed in my music since we first met. They have never held me back and are great fans. My family, well, I am the luckiest girl in the world. My husband is my drummer, Merel. My kids are all fuzzy…2 horses, three dogs and a cat, and, I have a great babysitter which allows us to tour.
Fun Questions:
Top 3 songs on my playlist are:
Etta James, At Last.
Phoebe Snow, New York Rock and Soul Review…all of it!
Emmylou Harris, Ballad of a Runaway Horse
One album I cannot live without is:
Patsy Cline, The Collection
I would love to collaborate with:
I wish I could sit down with Maybelle Carter. Hear her stories and write a song.
One thing people don’t know about me is:
I am a fly fisherman, catch and release of course. My ‘meditation guide’ is a trout in the Colorado River at Lees Ferry, AZ.
In one word, music to me is:
LOVE
Sarah Pierce’s Gear:
Alvarez Yairi. Signed and numbered by master luthier Kazuo Yairi…all the songs on Barbed Wire came from my Yairi A Collings D1 acoustic guitar, a Gretsch Nashville, Tonebone acoustic guitar/mandolin preamp, Michael Kelley mandolin, Fender Deluxe Reverb, Vox AC4, handmade Mogame Platinum cables with Neutrix jacks, Fishman Spectrum, saltine crackers, and a song list with a cheat sheet so I am sure of all the lyrics and I know where I am on any given night in the road.
Website: www.sarahpierce.com