For
LA based pop singer / songwriter Adrienne Pierce, there seemed like no better
place to record her Christmas EP
Winter, than in
Gibsons,
Winter,
is a fun CD that treats Pierce’s fans to some upbeat tunes such as, “All That We
Want,” and the fourth track, “Making Angels,” which get you shuffling your feet
and swaying to the music. It is however the tune, “Raise Our Voices Up,” which
provides a true reflection of Pierce’s soul. To those who know Adrienne Pierce
she views life through a lens of almost childlike innocence. That is not to say
that she is naïve, because she is far from it, but it is to say that she takes
delight in the little things which life has to offer, and she believes that
collectively, we as a people, just ought to try harder to get along.
Childhood memories of the
Charlie Brown Christmas Special, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer animation (with
narrator Burl Ives), and other memories from Pierce’s childhood inspired the
imagery that is reflected in “Raise Our Voices Up.” Through her eyes you see the
stringing up of the Christmas lights and children making a snowman. The
songwriter’s words, “If
I was a little tree, just waiting in the lot, I would see you there and hope
that I would be the one you bought,” evoke
images of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree and, “If
I were a pair of skates in the corner of the store, I would really hope that
you’re the one I’m for,” remind us of the
Island of Misfit Toys.
“I was thinking of that Christmas tree in the Peanuts
Christmas special. It’s that little tree that you feel so badly for, and you
want someone to take that little tree home. I realized afterward how much of an
impression that made on me, as a child,” says Pierce.
The song, “Raise Our Voices Up,” begins with Adrienne
Pierce singing the first line, “If I was a snowflake falling, I would follow
you.” “I was thinking from the perspective (she laughs) of the snowflake, and so
I continued on with personified objects,” she says
Ari Shine is featured on lap steel guitar and Adrienne
sings with a falsetto voice, once again bringing a childlike wonderment to her
original, “Raise Our Voices Up.”
Since it was summertime and
not winter, Pierce recalls, while giggling, one of her sources of inspiration
for her song, “All That We Want.”
“I rented the movie
Elf,
because I thought that it would get me in the Christmas mood, and at the end of
Elf
there is a Stevie Wonder song, I can’t remember the name of it, but it is a
Motown Christmas song, and it made me feel so happy that I wrote my song, “All
That We Want,” in that vein.
The seeds for “All That We Want,” were however sown
years earlier, when she was touring with Jane Siberry, now know as Issa. “We
were talking about children’s songs that we would like to write, and I told her
(she laughs) that I would like to write a song about making cookies. I had this
idea in the back of my mind, and I wanted to write something really joyful,
positive and sincere, which you could listen to at almost any time of the year.
I think that it is important to make music like that right now.”
“Making Angels,” brings out the soulful quality in
Adrienne Pierce’s vocals and although it is tough to pick a “best song,” from
these six wonderful tracks, “Making Angels,” brings with it the most promise
that we will continue to hear it for many years to come. She first wrote the
song in her head several years ago while sitting in an airport waiting for her
connecting flight, and as she says, she carried it around in her head for years.
Eventually, she got together with her friend Vincent Jones in the studio and the
two of them recorded, mixed and mastered, “Making Angels.”
When asked if the images in, “Making Angels,” draw upon
more memories from her childhood, Pierce replied enthusiastically, “Yes, Yes,
definitely, definitely, all of those, getting garbage bags and sliding down the
driveway (in the snow). When the snow falls, things become magical and it is a
whole new world. I have pictures, and I am not sure how strong the memories are,
or if I have made new ones, based upon pictures of my sister, brother and I in
snowsuits, playing in the snow as the street light came on.”
“Christmas Time Is Here,” composed by Vince Guaraldi and
Lee Mendelson, has been recorded by numerous outstanding musicians and singers,
since we first came to associate it with Charlie Brown, but Pierce’s vocal
rendition ranks up there as one of the prettiest interpretations that you will
hear.
“There is something about the song, “Christmas Time Is
Here,” from my childhood that seems (both) sad and magical to me. I wanted to do
this song, but I saw that several very talented people had done it, so I wasn’t
sure if it was the right choice. Everyone had sung it in the key, and nobody had
sung it the way that I remembered it. I thought that I would just sing it like a
child. That was fun to do,” says Pierce.
Yes that is a kazoo that you
hear during the bridge of, “Christmas Time Is Here,” and Pierce explains, “I
started playing it as a joke and then it started reminding me of times in the
Peanuts cartoons what it sounded like when the adults were talking, a wa a wa a
wa.”
The last track on the CD
Winter
is a cover of the Jackie DeShannon song, “Put A Little Love In Your Heart,” a
tune which allows us to hear more soulfulness in Pierce’s vocals. Ari Shine who
helped produce this CD encouraged her to record the song, in part, so that her
fans could hear that quality in her voice.
Adrienne Pierce’s EP
Winter
is now available to purchase through Borders book stores, which has the
exclusive retail rights for marketing the CD, and digitally you can purchase
Winter
through iTunes.
In the spring of 2009 Adrienne Pierce will be
releasing her full length CD
Oh Deer, also
through Borders and early in 2009 her previously recorded
Faultline
album.