Premiere: Grace Pettis Shares New Single 'Horses'
New album To the letter Releases June 14th
09 May 2024
Photo by Starla Dawn
Nashville-based singer/songwriter Grace Pettis releases her debut album Working woman in 2021 and is set to return next month with her forthcoming sophomore record, To the letter. The album finds her going in a vulnerable direction, exploring themes of loss, grief and recovery in the wake of a marriage breakup. Pettis once again teamed up with producer Mary Bragg for her sophomore record, along with friend and collaborator Josh Kaler, with the trio recording much of the album in less than a week at producer Jon Estes' intimate studio in Nashville.
Last month Pettis shared the album's lead single, “I Take Care of Me Now,” and today she's back with another new track, “Horses,” premiering on Under the Radar.
“Horses” finds Pettis evoking her talent for sweet and ruminative folk, delivering a delicate ballad drenched in swirls of finger-picking guitar and keys. Lyrically, the track works equally as a reflection of girlhood and a tribute to the beauty of horse titles. Trapped in the stillness of memory, Pettis sings, recalling the power and freedom that horses represented to her: “Look, I had this disease that hurt all over my body / So no wheels and no climbing trees for me / But I had the my piano mother, I could make a big old noise / I had horses running in my dreams / When I drew them, sometimes I gave them wings”
Pettis explains, “When I was a kid, I had something called juvenile rheumatoid arthritis for several years. He left as mysteriously as he arrived. During my diagnosis and treatment, my grandmother sent me a small gift every time I had a doctor's visit or blood draw. Once, she embroidered one of my horse designs on a pillow. She loved to sew. In my drawing, a black unicorn jumps over a row of clouds, surrounded by shooting stars. His mane and tail are red and his horn is made of rainbows. Every time I play “Horses”, I think about my grandma and my mom and how they loved me during those years. And I think about the way many girls and women long to be like “horses” and vulnerable and beautiful and strong and free. And how these things are not mutually exclusive.”
Check out the song below. To the letter released on June 14.
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