Grace Petrie on connection and communion – Attention Engineer Episode 49
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A folk singer, songwriter and activist from Leicester, UK, Grace Petrie has been writing, recording and touring relentlessly for more than ten years. Her unique takes on life, love and politics, and the warmth and wit with which they are delivered, have won over audiences everywhere, across the alternative, folk, political and comedy scenes.
Through all of this, Grace has quietly become one of the most respected songwriters working in the UK today.
Grace’s new album “Connectivity” is out on 4th October 2021 and is available to buy now.
In this conversation, we discuss:
- the unique communion and connection between a performer and their audience at a live show
- how political burnout led to the more personal themes on new album “Connectivity”
- how genres can help and hinder artists
- choosing your own truth on the internet
- trying to create boundaries online – how even a fan can ruin your day
- giving yourself the freedom to write about subjects that matter to you now
Things to do next:
+ Buy Grace’s new album “Connectivity” now
+ Sign up to her mailing list to stay in touch (at the bottom of this page)
+ Get tickets to see Grace on tour around the UK
+ Follow Grace on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Oh, about people talking at gigs I would like to share a story. This was pre-COVID, and I had arranged a reading of some of my works at a local library. The library staff were great, they’d printed posters and had set up a podium and chairs for the audience. My wife was at the back, sitting at a table with some of my books for sale. A man came in, asked my wife what was going on, she told him, and then he sat down by the window.
In the middle of one of my readings, his phone rang and he answered it and started talking. OK, a bit of a distraction. Then he said into his phone, “Sorry I can’t hear you, this person here is really loud.”
Up at the podium, performing my reading, I paused for half a second to drink in the incredulous gall of someone sitting down in an audience area and then being annoyed that I was performing for an audience. Half a second, and then I continued reading EVEN LOUDER. He left.