TN Writers TN Stories: Roots and Rhythm: A Life in Music

In this artful memoir, Roots and Rhythm, Grammy Award–winning music producer Charlie Peacock flexes his literary chops and gives readers the gritty backstage stories they crave: biographical anecdotes, geeky trivia, and how the hits were written and recorded (from jazz to rock and pop). Threaded throughout is Peacock’s unique ancestral and spiritual story—the roots. Like Coltrane, Dylan, and Bono before him, Peacock reveals a Christ-affection while refusing genres too small for his music. Peacock, the great-grandson of a Louisiana fiddler, is an American musical polymath. He’s been the young jazz musician sitting at the feet of trumpeter Eddie Henderson and pianist Herbie Hancock; the singer-songwriter plucked from the Northern California punk/pop underground by legendary impresarios Bill Graham and Chris Blackwell; a pioneering, innovative contributor to the nascent rise of gospel rock in the 1980s; and the genre-busting producer behind such diverse artists as Al Green, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Chris Cornell, Audio Adrenaline, The Civil Wars, Switchfoot, Turtle Island Quartet, and John Patitucci.

Charlie Peacock is a multi-genre Billboard chart-topping music producer, composer, and recording artist. He is responsible for developing and producing the Americana-Folk duo The Civil Wars and the bands Switchfoot and The Lone Bellow. Named by Billboard’s Encyclopedia of Record Producers as one of the 500 most important producers in popular music history, Charlie has produced music for film and television, including A Walk to Remember, Chris Cornell’s “Misery Chain” from the soundtrack of 12 Years a Slave, and “Hush,” the title theme to the AMC drama Turn: Washington’s Spies, featuring Joy Williams and The National’s Matt Berninger. Charlie has released solo vocal and instrumental recordings in several genres, including jazz, singer-songwriter, and gospel. His songwriter credits include two multiplatinum evergreen songs, “Every Heartbeat” (Amy Grant) and “In the Light” (DC Talk). In addition to his Grammy wins, Charlie is a (3x) recipient of the Gospel Music Association’s Producer of the Year award. Notably, Charlie’s songs and productions exceed 25 million sales.

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This event is part of our TN Writers | TN Stories series. Readings and discussions take place in the Digital Learning Center at the Tennessee State Museum. All events include an opportunity to purchase books through the Museum store and get them signed by the author. If you show your Eventbrite ticket you will recieve a 10% discount on your book purchase in the Museum Store. For more information on the TN Writers | TN Stories series, visit: https://tnmuseum.org/tnwriterstnstories.

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