Folk Singer Megan Peters has been playing in this town for almost 21 years. Her father taught her how to play the guitar, and her mother taught her how to appreciate it.
Megan grew up in a home where music and art were highly valued, and musicians like Bob Dylan, Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Sippie Wallace and Joan Armatrading were major influences."Sippie Wallace was a black singer-songwriter in the 1930s who wrote the song, 'Woman be Wise,' among other great works, then fell into oblivion. Bonnie Raitt started covering her stuff and brought her out of obscurity," said Megan, sounding like a National Public Radio music correspondent during our telephone interview.
Megan's first gigs were at the Unitarian Coffee House, a major local open-mike venue for musicians, whose creator, Hardin Davis, from Acoustic Music, used to tune Megan's guitar.
"Every other Friday night, you bring your own food, wine, beer, whatever and pay $2 and listen to good music," she said. "It's not a Unitarian Church function, it's just a function at the Unitarian Church."
It's for all people, all ages and all musical ability to come and share their talents and have a good time. (If any of you are wondering what to do on a Friday, this might be a good place to check out.)
Eventually, Megan ended up with Big Leg, Utah's golden child -- the band that everyone hoped would be big and go places. A couple of years ago, Big Leg won the South by Southwest competition in Salt Lake City, then moved on to the national competition in Austin. Upon returning to Salt Lake, they broke up.
Initially, I thought, "Oooh, how totally upsetting for Megan, and, boy, would I have bad feelings if I were her." But Megan was kind enough to fill me in on the scoop. (I'm sure most everybody knows the real reason, and that I, as usual, was behind on things.)
When Big Leg got down to SXSW, a producer wanted Megan only, so the band split with no hard feelings and she went to L.A. Megan made some music for the producer, and the guy played it on a radio station he owned in Vegas. But for some odd reason, her stuff didn't click with the crowd and he dropped her.
Megan speaks of this episode without any self-pity and with a frankness that I absolutely admire.
So, she came home and plugged away at performing, gaining a following of large proportion and then made an album.
Her first one, "About Time," was successful. It sold 4,000 copies.
"About Time" was up and pop-ish. Megan describes it as young.
She was making an album she thought her fans wanted to hear, and that's something that young people do. They do things to please others.
Megan's new album, "Queen's Bed," is full of deep lyrics that are painfully personal. Though they are not all biographical, Megan' songs seem to come directly from her well of knowledge -- and in all honesty, they are about her experiences. Of course, how could Megan's stuff not be.
"It's like that song by Janis Ian, 'I Learned the Truth at 17,' " Megan said of how she made the transition from a singer to a singer-songwriter at age 25.
"I tried to write songs like other people instead of write songs about how I talk," said Megan. "I had a friend once tell me that I am what I think you think I am." Megan added as she tossed in Ian's lyric, "late at night when we dared, we'd cheat ourselves at solitaire."
Megan will be performing at noon on Saturday, Sept. 25, at the Media Play in Brickyard Plaza.
It's her big CD release party.