Pierce Pettis and Howard Finster

Looks like I'll have to miss tomorrow night's Pierce Pettis performance over at Jammin' Java. I've only seen him play once, at Harvard's Veritas Forum, about 15 years ago. I was impressed then not only by the thoughful depth of his music but by how long he stuck around afterwards to talk with people. At first listen, he might seem like just another reflective-Christian singer-songwriter type -- but his songs really grow on you. And as a longtime Mark Heard fan, I have to admire Mr. Pettis' custom of starting every one of his CDs with a Heard cover.

Listening to "My Life of Crime" today, I realized he also deserves a place on the list of "cleverest lyrics ever" with the following mournful lines:
I have held some people up
I have robbed the stage
With my trusty six-string
I have made them pay...
A couple of days ago, I noticed that his CD "State of Grace" features artwork by the Rev. Howard Finster. That name sounded vaguely familiar..... a quick Wikipedia search later, I was floored to learn that uber-quirky artist-evangelist Rev. Finster not only painted for Pierce Pettis, but also did the Talking Heads' Little Creatures, R.E.M.'s Reckoning, and Adam Again's In a New World of Time. That's a lot of excellent (and very different) bands, linked only by ... well, not even linked by geography.

And sure enough, it's his preacherly voice peeking out of the sound mix on Adam Again's "Homeboys". To complete the picture, I checked out the rockumentary Athens, GA: Inside Out from Netflix. Next time I'm in Georgia, maybe I'll visit Paradise Garden.