Sara Petite’s music career fell into place on the quick. As a kid, she liked to sing, but never had the nerve to get on stage. Studying international relations in college meant research, and doing research on myriad topics kicked in a desire to write songs, which she did. That, along with learning a few guitar chords, kicked off playing open mic nights. Next thing she knew she was on stage, and it was a blast.
Petite will make her Colorado debut Saturday when she plays the Light Box at Stillwater music, touring behind her latest release, “The Empress,” which dropped earlier this year.
“I ended up writing a song and was like, ‘Oh, I’m a songwriter.’ I wasn’t too serious when I said that, but then I started doing open mics and I got offered to play this event,” said Petite, who put a band together for the show. “We played five songs, and it was one of the funnest thing I’ve ever done in my life. That’s how it started.”
If you go
WHAT: Country, roots and folk with Sara Petite.
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: The Lightbox at Stillwater Music, 1316 Main Ave.
TICKETS: $20.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.stillwatermusic.org.
She was then urged by her grandmother to push music further, and making a record was the obvious next step to a career that gained steam on the quick.
“I made this album called ‘Tiger Mountain,’ that was kind of just for her. My drummer had been in the music world for quite a while, and he’d say, ‘hey do this, hey do that’ and things just started working out,” Petite said. “I have seven albums now. I’ve written all of the songs except for one on every single album. So, it’s my thing.”
Her “thing,” which is a career in music that is the result of hard work and perhaps even being in the right place at the right time, took off quickly. She was admittedly a little green, as nobody ever prepares you for the ins and outs of touring, or the parts of the music business that involve the tasks required when offstage; she learned all of that on the go. She also realized she was quite lucky.
“I ended upon Universal Music in France. I was a guppy in the shark pond,” she said. “It was Lucinda Williams, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, I ended up on a 40-person compilation with the first song from my first album, and I ended up going all over. We were doing festivals over there, but I was so inexperienced, I knew nothing. It was a good song; it was just crazy and it was beginner’s luck. Then you have to do the real work. I did tours, and I was so inexperienced. But I had a lot of fun.”
File Sara Petite in the record store under “roots rock.” It’s at times a catchall category, but a fitting place for a songstress with a powerful voice who can croon a crying-in-your-beer country cut or bang out a heavy, twanged-out rocker. A die-hard fan of the likes of Bruce Springsteen and The Beat Farmers, she’ll write a tune that can pack a rowdy dance-floor or reveal a load of inner emotions via a heavy ballad.
For Saturday’s show she’ll be on her own, offering a stripped-down set of country-rock and folk along with personal tales that place you inside the song.
“I really love rocking out, but when I do the solo shows, they are so intimate and so vulnerable and so real, I really love those, too. I get to share whey I wrote these songs and things like that, so it’s really special to play alone,” Petite said. “I don’t have my wonderful musicians, but it’s still just wonderful – it’s like story time.
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
