Eric Peters

“Eric Peters is cursed with an inability to settle or to sell out, afflicted with a need to follow his nose musically, lyrically, while spiritually he has falteringly tried his best to follow where God leads.”

Andrew Peterson wrote those words about the Louisiana native for the Square Peg website of which both songwriters are a part and the sentiment is spot on. The ring of familiarity might come for some from the ’90s duo Ridgely yet others might know his strong folk work on Scarce or More Than Watchmen. But we’re betting that most are new to Eric’s world which is why he’s being featured here.

A new album is finally on the way yet the process is different than what you’ve encountered before – instead asking fans to be a part of the journey. We recently spoke with Eric to discuss the wiki-approach and how his story has changed over the years.

Soul-Audio: Can you describe to us the process you’re using to raise money for your next album and where that idea found its genesis?

Eric Peters: The overall idea was that of Ron Davis and Geof Morris, two of the Square Peg Alliance’s biggest supporters. They knew I had been needing to make another record, and, based on our phone and email conversations, also knew that I was going to have to finance this one a little differently than those in the past. One of them forwarded me a link to an artist named Jill Sobule who was, in true indie spirit, soliciting patrons and supporters of her music to finance her album. The album budget she was trying to raise was $85,000. Mine is $15,000. Incredibly, she reached the goal within a few short months. It was exciting to think (hope) that perhaps my own fan base might be willing to help lend a hand in the making of this, my eighth album.

So Ron, Geof and Andrew Peterson (proprietor of The Rabbit Room), along with a blast to my mailing list and various other folks who have taken it upon themselves to promote the album patronage in their own blogs, have helped immensely to get the word out. Though the $15K goal is still over the horizon, we are now over 1/3 of the way there, and, at this point, any amount helps cushion the blow of such a “massive” financial undertaking since, without any record label assistance, the budget still comes out of my own pocket. Same story as always.

SA: Were you reluctant at first to the idea or was it an instant “yes?”

Eric: I didn’t need much in the way of persuading. We just had to tweak the idea a bit, make it as simple as possible for folks to join the fray, and try to get the word out.

SA: For those who would contribute, is there a benefit?

Eric: The goal is to get 300 folks to chip in $50 each. For that, each patron receives 2 signed copies of the CD, their name and thanks in the liner notes, a photo of them holding their CDs on the website along with a couple of free tickets to a show in their area. Aside from any financial implications, I hope that the main benefit for people will be in any satisfaction it might bring to know that they are holding up the arms of a struggling singer-songwriter to further burden the world with something that hopefully brings the breath of beauty and a speck of the memory of majesty into the cold, crumbling world.

That’s not meant to be melodramatic, but having done this for a slew of years, having made a handful of records, I full well realize that I, as a part of the music industry at large, certainly don’t amount to a whole heck of a lot. But as a member of Christ’s Body, I can only hope that my capillary of art (if I may so call it) will be of some minor significance in the life of someone in their own lurching championship of faith.

SA: What if people want to give but they don’t have $50? Are there ways to give other amounts or is it locked in to that amount?

Eric: The patronage isn’t set up for a tiered system of donations. I’m terrible at multi-tasking so I wanted to keep this as simple as possible. Since several have asked though, I’ve requested that folks contact my monopolized, unionized task force sub-committee (i.e., me) to see about contributing less (or more, if your economy so allows) to the project. I’m absolutely open to the idea. Email “us”: info@ericpeters.net. If emailing is too 2007 for you, there’s always the option of making individual donations via PayPal. Those can be directed to orders@ericpeters.net. I realize that sounds a little sketchy, so just email me first, if that’s not too awkward, and we’ll figure it out. I’m a husband and father running a mom and pop operation, so I always love to hear from folks.

SA: That’s a great line about holding up the arms and normally in a fan to artist relationship, that’s just not available. While that might be humbling to an extent to be in this position, are you finding a beauty in this being possible?

Eric: I’m finding that it is beautifully frightening. What I mean by that is, with such an outpouring of contributions, I feel a distinct responsibility to those patrons to make an album worthy of such trust and worthy of their material contributions. I’ve been bad at writing and finishing songs lately, so I worry that I will let people down with these, my current attempts at storytelling. I worry that these songs are so sad, and I worry for my struggle to keep hoping, and I worry…. well, I just worry too much (reference “Squeeze” on Scarce).

SA: You referenced your current attempts at storytelling and I wanted to ask about that – what stories are you telling at this point that you’ve never told before? And are there any stories that you’ve stopped telling?

Eric: There’s the story of a dear friend who, over the course of the past year, lost his business, his home and nearly everything else when his business went under. He battled angrily with God throughout the ordeal, was changed, and was born a new man; I love this honest-to-life, mercy-filled story. I’m telling the story of an abandoned bicycle I saw in Washington DC. There’s my attempt to relate my life to that of an onion (courtesy of a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye). I’m telling the story of fearful, weary rabbits in the song “Run Down” (based on the Richard Adams novel, Watership Down). There’s the story of some friends of ours who went through a divorce.

Lastly, there’s the story of my spending the week immediately following Labor Day 2008 in Baton Rouge, LA in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav and in the sorrowful days following the death of my wife’s father the same day the storm broached the coast of Louisiana. I wrote the song in my widowed mother-in-law’s front yard while picking up storm debris. Though they’re not all directly my personal story, there’s some part of me, some part of my humanity in each of these songs.

The wonderful Frederick Buechner quote, “The story of any one of us is, in some measure, the story of us all”, has found fertile soil in my mind over the past year or so. In my acedia and battle with defeat and hopelessness, I’m finding that all of these experiences as a middle-aging man has made their way into the new material, and, for better or worse, these songs will be more personal and forthright than any I’ve written before now. By sharing such sadness, I can only wonder if any – or none – of it will relate on a personal level to those who hear them.

I suppose that’s a risk I must to be willing to take. To write fraudulent, dishonest songs of feigned happiness is not, nor has it ever been, who I am as a writer. I’m terrified that not a single word or thought on this album will be relatable to anyone besides me.

SA: Can you tell us the tangible details surrounding where you’re at in the recording process right now and where it’s headed as far as you know?

Eric: We just had a productive couple of weeks tracking drums and bass – Brent Milligan on bass and autoharp, Ken Lewis on drums and percussion, Paul Eckberg on drums and percussion and Tony Lucido on bass), and last week we wrangled Andrew Osenga into playing electric guitar all over the project. Everyone got sick last week, so there’s still more electric to be recorded. Ben has been doing his various overdubs and pads here and there as he goes, but, as for me, I’ve merely been a witness to the goings-on.

For the most part, I’ve been trying to finalize lyrics. A couple of these songs are putting up a good fight, or at least making me work very hard for it. Aside from the electrics, we’ll get strings recorded eventually, keeper piano and keys, pedal steel, banjo and all the various ideas we may hear as we continue in. I still have to record final vocals. I’m hoping to get some friends to help me do BGVs. I’m honestly not quite sure yet where the whole thing is headed, but I suspect I will love where it ends up. I love Ben’s brain, he’s full of great and creative ideas. It’s been good for me to be around him during this herky-jerky process thus far. We officially started this album back in June, so it’s not been the most consistent thing ever, but that’s had a lot to do with my trying to do the album patronage and Ben’s already steady work schedule.

• www.ericpeters.net
• www.myspace.com/epeters

↓ 4 comments

#1 eric peters » Soul Audio interviews Eric on November 20th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

[...] Click here for the Soul Audio interview with Eric. [...]

#2 The Rabbit Room on November 21st, 2008 at 5:43 am

[...] Read the interview here. Leave a Reply Name (required) [...]

#3 Ron Davis - moreron.com » Eric Peters Interview on November 24th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

[...] it took me a few days to get around to reading it, but last night I finally sat down and read this interview with Eric Peters.  Two very cool things about that [...]

#4 EP on the Next Record @ SquarePegAlliance.net: Helping bang the Square Pegs into place on November 26th, 2008 at 1:18 am

[...] Soul Audio has an extensive interview with EP about the next record, including name-checking me and Ronzilla for pushing him to embrace the concept. [...]

Does it Resonate with you?

Name (required)

Email (will not be published) (required)

URL