Chris Pierce’s Huge-Hearted California Folk

My friend Chris Pierce joins me on the podcast this week. The Pasadena, California-born musician is creating freedom songs for people who might not even identify as freedom fighters just yet. His new album, Songs for the Heavy Hearted, has its topical moments and brushes with gospel music, but more than anything it manages to touch the raw feeling of now, the longing of now. Cindy and I think it’s one of the best-sounding roots records of the year, and it’s one of the few I will find myself coming back to over and over. The album manages to address our current moment in history with integrity and openness.

That’s a tough tightrope to walk — not many songwriters are able to articulate their vision for a better world in such a way that the listener feels instantly invited in. But Chris has always been a uniter. He has always been someone who went deeper. He experienced racial violence at a young age and he sought to understand the hearts of the people participating in it. He lives with hearing loss and has become a source of wisdom and camaraderie for others going through the same thing. Moments before our interview, he was at his neighbor’s house teaching them to play guitar.

Powered by RedCircle

If there’s one thing I would take away from this episode, it’s that the world is ready for a new folk revival, and Chris Pierce is right at the center of it.