“I don’t know why I have this attraction to characters who’ve seen a lot of s–t,” Gretchen Peters tells The Boot. She’s speaking to media in advance of her new album, Dancing With the Beast, a project that grapples with themes of darkness, death and female characters who — particularly as they age — go unheard and unseen.
“A month after the election, I lost my mom, and I also lost a couple of friends during that time,” Peters shares. “It was just a season of grief and loss. I sat in it for a while, and then, in 2017, I decided it was time to start writing again.
“But how do you write in this time that we’re in? You can’t not write about it; it’s everywhere, it’s pervasive,” she continues. “I’m not a political writer; I’m a storyteller. I knew I wasn’t going to write an album of protest songs, so how do I express the anxiety and grief and anger that I’m feeling and still do it in a meaningful way?”
To read this interview in its entirety, visit The Boot.