Grace Pettis – Down To The Letter: Album Review

By John Barlass on 10th July 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Songs of heartbreak and defiance. Down To The Letter, the new album from Nashville singer-songwriter Grace Pettis is everything we were expecting – and more.

Release Date: 14^th June 2024

Label: MPress Records

Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital

We’ve been waiting for this one – ever since lead single, I Take Care Of Me Now burst forth upon us, back in early May. Down to the Letter is the long-awaited second album from Nashville-based, Alabama-Austin-raised singer-songwriter Grace Pettis and, let me assure right now: that wait has been well worthwhile.

Grace’s acclaimed debut album, Working Woman, came out back in 2021; since then, it’s fair to say that she’s suffered her share of emotional turmoil and, just as you’d expect from a songwriter of Grace’s philosophical, poetic and articulatory talent, she’s captured that turmoil, expressed it, reconciled it and condensed the results into 12 excellent songs. Down to the Letter captures Grace Pettis at the peak of her songwriting prowess. Chronicling the end of a long-term relationship in heartbreaking detail, her lyrics deftly toe the line between personal autobiography and universal catharsis – and it’s all done with impeccable taste.

Sure, there’s no shortage of self-pity, regret and reproachment on Down to the Letter, but the overwhelming sentiments that come across in these twelve songs are defiance and healing. Grace admits that she’s suffered great pain but the – often upbeat – musicality in the songs, the clear production that pays full heed to the ‘less is more’ maxim and, most importantly, Grace’s impeccable vocal delivery, leave the listener in no doubt: Down to the Letter is all about moving forward, not dwelling upon past woes.

Since we last featured Grace Pettis in these pages (see our review of this album’s lead single, I Take Care Of Me Now, here) she’s gone ahead and issued a couple of further singles – Horses and, most recently, Joy. Both are excellent songs and both sit comfortably on an album that is packed with high-quality, well-performed and well-produced music. Alongside a host of vocalist guests, Grace is joined by her friends, Josh Kaler on a wide range of guitar-like instruments, Jon Estes on keyboards, bass and drums, Jordan Person on drums, Owen Biddle on bass and Mary Bragg – also the album’s producer – on backing vocals. They make a wonderful sound together!

A pulsing rhythm, with highlights provided courtesy of Josh’s lap steel, sets the scene for Rain, the album’s upbeat opening track. Like much of the album, there’s self-pity to be found in the lyrics by those who care to search for it – “Don’t know how to be happy/ With or without him, some other shade of grey/ So I don’t sing about sunshine/ All I write about is rain” – for example, but the solid guitars and the sheer certainty in Grace’s voice convey one overwhelming sentiment – and that’s defiance.

There’s a wonderfully gentle vulnerability to Horses, the album’s second single, as Grace reflects upon the magic she experienced as a child, whenever she was in the presence of horses, or even when horses entered her dreams and imagination – and Josh’s pedal steel adds to the dreaminess of a thoroughly excellent song.

Grace’s reflections on her broken relationship continue with the pared-back I Didn’t Break This. Josh and Jon provide the sparse backing on, respectively, guitars and bass/drums on a song that is intimate, confessional and extremely tasteful. And the pared-back approach is continued for Sobering Up, a song in which Grace compares the feelings she experienced during her first flush of love to a drug rush, and the feelings that she’s endured since her break-up as withdrawal. It’s another intense and intimate confessional, beautifully sung – and Josh’s guitars really are the only accompaniment the song needs.

We’ve already passed our gushing verdict on I Take Care Of Me Now, the album’s lead single and I can confirm, without fear of contradiction, that it’s a song that gets better every time you hear it – it’s surely one of the best songs of 2024 so far! The optimism and euphoria, as Grace expresses her determination to leave the bad times and the bruising behind, to put on her favourite clothes and to savour glasses of wine are palpable – and repeated listens expose some glorious chunky noises in the background that may well be missed first time around…

With lines like: “Something wild/ Why can’t they leave it the way they found it?/ Why did they do that to love?/ Why did they do that to us?” Grace makes what are probably her most explicit expressions of regret on the gentle Wild. It’s another pared-back song, with Grace accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, but it’s highly atmospheric, nonetheless, and Josh’s shimmering synth sends shivers down the spine.

The selection of tracks to release as singles from Down To The Letter has been faultless, and that’s particularly the case for Joy, the most recent of the album’s three singles and – just maybe – the album’s strongest track. Grace has enlisted the services of a veritable choir of guest backing vocalists, and they work their magic in turning a lazy blues number into a gospel epic. The vibrancy increases as Jon coaxes brass tones from his synth and Grace, once again, consigns the regrets and disappointments that she’s suffered, firmly into the past.

Guest vocalist Emily Scott Robinson joins the band for the folky A Thousand Times A Day, and her vocal harmonies are very, very, special. And the full band are back for The Better and the Worst, a bluesy recollection of wedding vows that were made, then were later dishonoured. Grace’s lyrics come closer to outright accusation than anywhere else on the album, and Josh adds to the anger with a soaring electric guitar solo.

Every song on Down To The Letter is perfectly structured but, even so, the country ballad, Vivian, stands out as a song with everything. The vocals are great, the production is spotless and the keening pedal steel and intriguing lyrics just HAVE to be heard. It’s glorious.

Ten of the tracks that comprise Down To The Letter are entirely Grace’s own work but, for the album’s closing pair of tracks, she’s enlisted the compositional support of two pretty impressive collaborators – and first up is the renowned Ethiopian songwriter, Tom Prasado-Rao, who’s helped out with the magnificent The Year Of Losing Things. It’s a sultry, sinister number, with a slithery, slimy backing. Jordan’s cymbals shiver and Josh’s guitar quivers as Grace delivers a truly dramatic vocal. It almost seems like Dr John has returned and relocated to Nashville.

And it’s Texan singer-songwriter Gary Nicholson who’s stepped forward to collaborate on the album’s closing track, When Nobody’s Watching, a song that also features the voice of Robby Hecht on backing vocals. And, somehow, this contemplative, positive, folk song is exactly the right way to conclude a splendid album.

We’ve waited patiently and it’s been worth it. Down To The Letter is everything we expected – and more.

Listen to Joy – the most recent of the three singles taken from Down To The Letter – here: