By Michael Swanger michael@dmcityview.com

Brown’s light shines on ‘Remember the Sun’

Good musicians have a way of showing us the light when we get lost in the dark. They help us realize there are more important things in this world than ourselves, even when it feels like they’re singing directly to us. They help us see our commonality, not our differences.

Pieta Brown is one of those musicians, as we’re reminded on her fourth and best record due in stores this week, “Remember the Sun.” The album’s 11 original songs are steeped in Brown’s personal history, which as the daughter of two preachers’ kids — including her folk music laureate father, Greg Brown — raised amidst a bohemian and musical family, is a rich and interesting one. But “Remember the Sun” is more than a musical walk down memory lane for this 33-year-old musician and mother. It is also a plea for peace and love as we’re reminded when Brown sings “you’re living with war, it’s inside and out/the barrel is busted, filling you with doubts” on the album’s title track.

“I was really focused on peace and love and how we all need to be screaming those messages as much as we can,” says Brown during a call to her Iowa City home. “I was listening to a lot of George Harrison, Neil Young and the Staple Singers in response to the war and the general political tone going on around us. And then Mother Nature seems to be crying out for help, too, and I just responded to those things.”

Brown has also made her feelings about peace and love clear in the recent release of two songs not included on “Remember the Sun.” Earlier this month, she collaborated with Calexico, her on and offstage partner Bo Ramsey, Ben Ramsey, and Iris DeMent to record Woody Guthrie’s classic song, “This Land is Your Land,” available from iTunes. Proceeds from the online sale of the song benefit the American Civil Liberties Union. She also contributed her own song, “A Soldier’s Prayer,” to Young’s “Living With War” protest song site [www.neilyoung.com]. But unlike some of her musical heroes — Young, Guthrie and Bob Dylan — Brown doesn’t beat the listener over the head with her political views on her new album.

“I’m not ultimately very well educated politically,” she says. “I have some ideas and I read the newspapers sometimes. I really care about these things, but at the same time I feel really strongly about music as its own thing. I don’t have some messages that I think other people need to know. I’m just trying to connect with people.”

Connecting with people through art has been a lifelong passion for Brown. As a young child, she began writing poetry. By her 20s, she was playing guitar and writing songs that revealed a fondness for the organic sounds of folk, country, blues and rock.

In 2002, she released her debut album. And over the past few years she has collaborated with Ramsey, honing her deceptively simple and seductively hypnotic sound. But it wasn’t until she recorded “Remember the Sun,” she admits, that she felt comfortable recording her music.

“I felt really good about it from a performance standpoint,” Brown says. “We recorded it live like I’ve always done, but I felt a lot more open in the studio this time around. Because I was comfortable performing I was able to get closer to some of my ideas from a production standpoint because I wasn’t chasing some kind of performance. There was good chemistry in the studio.”

Brown says motherhood has helped make her more focused, too, as she juggles touring and recording with family duties.

“It’s hard, but it seems like everything is hard as far as jobs and getting by and making a living goes,” she says. “It would be hard if I was doing some other job I’ve done like being a waitress or being a secretary or painting weird houses.”

Not lost in the shuffle, however, are the messages of “Remember the Sun.”

“There are no hidden messages there,” Brown says. “There’s still a lot of room for hope and idealism and peace and love and that’s what we should all be trying to do as far as I’m concerned.”

Estes to sing at ‘Taste of Excellence’

Iowa native and internationally renowned bass-baritone Simon Estes will headline “A Taste of Excellence,” an evening of praise hosted by John Bachman and Courtney Greene, on Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. at the First Assembly of God Church, 2725 Merle Hay Road. The event is sponsored by the Corinthian Baptist Church, 814 School St., and includes performances by Del “Saxman” Jones, Restoration & Prayze and Heartland Youth choirs, Gateway Dance Theater, Langston Hughes Players, Richard Lloyd and Honesty Parker. Tickets are $20 at the door and are available in advance at the Baptist church or by calling 243-4073 or 243-1893.

Scene notes
Jeff Wagner, manager of Blues on Grand, tells Cityview that the Gateway Blues Festival organized by the Central Iowa Blues Society during the Labor Day weekend, was a boon to his business, and as a result he is able to pay for the bar’s liquor license and keep the doors open. Last month, he told Cityview the nationally renowned blues bar was in jeopardy of closing because it might not be able to afford to renew its liquor license. He says business generated from the nearby festival — including BOG’s hosting of the 2007 Iowa Blues Challenge Solo/Duo finals, and an after-hours jam that day — helped save the bar… for now. … Zzz Records in the East Village is celebrating its seventh anniversary through Sunday with sales and drawings for prizes. … Local jazz fans might want to check out the new Web site launched last week by the Des Moines Community Jazz Center, www.dmcommunityjazzcenter.org. It is chock full of performance dates, photos and information about the local jazz scene. The site replaces the CJC’s MySpace page, which officials say will no longer be updated. … KXNO’s Larry Cotlar makes his living in the sports world, but he’s a fan of local bands and plays their CDs on his radio show. In the past, he has posted interviews with groups on KXNO’s Web site. Now he is inviting groups of all genres to visit the radio station to film a few songs for the Web site. Call 289-2000. … Speaking of radio, Clear Channel’s Capital 106.3 FM is giving local bands a spotlight every Saturday at 10 p.m. during “From the Capital Backyard,” hosted by Daniel Bosman. The show includes artist interviews and music. It debuted last week with The Nadas, but continues this Saturday with Steve Robinson and The Foundation, The Josh Davis Band (Sept. 29), Little Mojo (Oct. 6) and Matt Woods and The Thunderbolts (Oct. 13). … Roots-rocker Ryan Adams and the Cardinals play the Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City on Monday at 8 p.m. as part of the school’s SCOPE concert series. Tickets are $25. Adams will release “Follow the Lights” on Lost Highway Records on Oct. 23. The seven-song EP includes new and old compositions recorded in the studio this summer. … Speaking of another show worthy of a road trip to Iowa City, Bob Dylan and His Band plays Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. with openers Elvis Costello (solo) and Amos Lee. Tickets, $47.50 and $67, are on sale now through Ticketmaster. ... The Supersuckers headline Court Avenue’s “Rocktoberfest 2007,” at 10 p.m. on Oct. 6, behind Court Center. Local punks North of Grand open the show. Gates open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $12 to those 18 and over. CV

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