Pieta Brown and JT Bates Team Up For New Pair Of Singles

Beloved singer/songwriter Pieta Brown and acclaimed drummer and producer JT Bates (Bonny Light Horseman, Big Red Machine, Taylor Swift) have teamed up for a new pair of singles titled "In This World" and "Thing or 2."

Out now through Righteous Babe Records, the tracks were mixed by Tucker Martine (Madison Cunningham, Calexico, My Morning Jacket) and mastered by Huntley Miller (The Cactus Blossoms, Sylvan Esso, Bon Iver).

After leaving the road suddenly last year due to an unexpected shoulder complication that prevented Brown from touring for a while, Bates reached out and offered a much welcomed distraction in the form of new song collaborations while healing up at home. "Making these pieces with JT was another musical and production experiment that I learned so much from," stated Brown. "I'm still mesmerized by how these songs I had already written with my guitar could morph so fluidly into these other sonic realms.

It was fun to play the Casio, and to really explore how to sing these songs without my guitar. As a singer I love experimenting with phrasing - the subtlest shifts can make such a difference. One slur and breath and suddenly it all works. JT and I have an on-going musical chemistry that I'm not sure either of us really understands, but is what allows for our spontaneous remote collaborations to happen, without ever feeling distant."

While the two new singles sound very much like Brown, with no guitars in the mix her voice and melodies shine in a new way. On "In This World," an ambient hook-driven Kate Bush-esque folk-pop song, she delivers a deceptively simple lyric with her quintessential blend of emotion and irony: "Days where roads are endless dark / Nights, I could just fall apart / In these cities, old and new / Far far away from the morning dew / Oh I'd do anything in this world for you / Anything in this world for you..."

"The essence of 'In This World' for me is this feeling of 'push and pull,'" she continued. "So often I feel like I would do anything in this world for the people I love. But then some days I can't even find time or space to answer a simple text message from a friend. The push of the isolating hyperspeed at which we are all receiving information. The pull of this energy I get from feeling I would do anything in this world for the ones I love."

On "Thing Or 2," Bates' mastery of rhythm and electronic layering provides a stunning backdrop for Brown's deeply moving performance that spotlights her unique and powerful use of vocal phrasing. Drifting into almost jazz territory, influences like Weather Report, Joni Mitchell, and Bill Frisell can be felt throughout the track.

"The lyrics for 'Thing or 2' started as a song I wrote for my dad, but I could never quite land it," Brown explains. "Recently the song came back to me in a very different form, inspired by a story musician Trever Hagen shared with me about losing his mom. But the original spark for the song was a memory I had of my dad taking me for walks on gravel roads out in the country when I was a little kid. I hold on to that memory because of the sense of safety and comfort beyond any words that it gives me.

As soon as I heard this layered piece that JT sent, I knew it was the right fit for these words that had finally landed all the way. JT's piece felt so 'rivery' and it was so natural to sing this song with it. 'I only know a thing or two / one thing I know I learned from you / love is a river, endless, true / if we let it, it will carry us through.'"

"In This World"/"Thing or 2" marks the second time Brown and Bates have co-released a set of double singles. In 2021, they released "Is/Was" and "Sunday" along with accompanying videos by choreographer/dancer Veronica Tundis and actor/dancer/model Brandise Danesewich. "Sunday" also featured additional instrumentation by CJ Camerieri (CARM, yMusic, Bon Iver, Paul Simon).

Watch the new music videos here:

Tour Dates:

03/15 - Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theatre #
03/16 - Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theatre #
03/18 - Breckenridge, CO @ Riverwalk Center #
03/19 - Ft. Collins, CO @ Washingtons #
03/21 - Salt Lake City, UT @ The Commonwealth Room #
03/22 - Bozeman, MT @ The Elm #
03/24 - Missoula, MT @ The Wilma #
04/27 - Berkeley, CA @ Freight & Salvage*
04/28 - Grass Valley, CA @ The Center for the Arts*
04/29 - Petaluma, CA @ Mystic Theatre*
04/30 - Ferndale, CA @ The Old Steeple*

# supporting Ani DiFranco
* supporting Iris DeMent

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