Charlie Peacock to Release Memoir "Roots and Rhythm" Feb. 4

Charlie Peacock is an artist whose 50-year career spans GRAMMY Awards, solo albums, hit productions, a label founder (re:think/Capitol), and much more. On February 4, the music industry luminary will release his highly-anticipated memoir, Roots & Rhythm: A Life in Music - currently #1 New Release in Contemporary Christian Music on Amazon - via Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Peacock, the great-grandson of a Louisiana fiddler, is an American musical polymath whose journey is as rich and varied as his music. In his artful memoir, Peacock delves into his ancestral, musical, and spiritual roots, blending backstage anecdotes, creative insights, and personal reflections. From his beginnings as a jazz prodigy mentored by legends like Herbie Hancock to his discovery in Northern California's punk/pop underground by impresarios Bill Graham and Chris Blackwell, he has continually pushed boundaries. A pioneer in the rise of gospel rock in the 1980s and a genre-defying producer, Peacock has shaped the sounds of artists like Al Green, The Civil Wars, Switchfoot, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, crafting a legacy as dynamic as his influences.

 PRE-ORDER THE PHYSICAL BOOK HERE OR THE AUDIOBOOK HERE. 

The forthcoming memoir includes Peacock's seminal NorCal days, the story of indie labels Exit and re:think, his first decade as a Nashville producer (1989-1999), and his essential role in the 21st-century folk/Americana boom (The Civil Wars, Holly Williams, The Lone Bellow). While his exploits and achievements grace the book (including the story of Amy Grant's "Every Heartbeat" and the evergreen "In the Light"), Peacock is hardly the only character. Instead, he writes as a Joan Didion-style essayist, weaving together a quintessential American story. Beat poet Gary Snyder, evangelist Billy Graham, producer T Bone Burnett, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and writers Wendell Berry and Isabel Wilkerson all appear in this sweeping tale where ancestry, migration, teenage love, Jesus, and Miles Davis collide.

The book is an invitation to all, including aspiring musicians: embrace the roots and rhythm of our own lives, letting the music and God's insistent love lead us to gratitude and wonder. For Peacock, it's all part of the same narrative - a self-described "chapter-by-chapter remix of the music, places, and people that made me and the music I made."

Charlie Peacock is an artist-dreamer who was born during the advent of rock 'n' roll and grew up inspired to blur the boundaries between genre and generation with his own music. From his pioneering contributions to gospel rock and the Americana/Folk movement of the 2000s to his jazz explorations with legendary bassist John Patitucci, Peacock is more than a connoisseur of American music; he's part of its DNA, leaving his unique mark while earning Top 40 pop hits across three consecutive decades. After rewarding records with Chris Cornell and Holly Williams, Peacock pivoted to inventing the commercial music program and directing the School of Music at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.

With all the momentum of his career in full swing, one morning in October of 2017 Peacock woke with a debilitating headache and a cascade of other neurological symptoms. The headache did not relent, it was chronic. A trip to Mayo Clinic diagnosed him with Dysautonomia and Central Sensitization, brain and central nervous system disorders. All of life halted and getting well was all that mattered. Now, "the headache isn't gone, but imagination, hope, and optimism are alive and well," says Peacock.

On August 30, 2024, Peacock released EVERY-KIND OF UH OH, a solo album co-produced by son Sam Ashworth (renowned GRAMMY, Oscar, and Golden Globe-nominated songwriter and producer). The record marks a full-circle return to the very things that first inspired him to make music: classic singer/songwriters, jazz, gospel, literature, and his people. Like the memoir itself, Peacock's latest album takes a reflective look backward, utilizing the lessons learned - and inspiration gained - from a half-century of songwriting to illuminate a new path forward. It is, in other words, the roots and rhythm of a life in music.

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