Garrett Pierce (born March 17, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter from California. Pierce has released three full-length albums and two EPs (Crossbill Records,

Narnack Records Narnack Records is an independent record label founded in 2000. The label developed in New York City's underground music scene and quickly became known for its ability for developing new artists Coachwhips, OCS, Langhorne Slim, Thee Oh sees, ...

Early life

Garrett began writing songs on guitar at the age of thirteen and put out several demos while living around

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

, Glendale and

Echo Park Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake, Los Angeles, Silver Lake to the west and Chinato ...

in Los Angeles in his youth. At age 22 he moved to

Davis, California Davis is the most populous city in Yolo County, California, United States. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 66,850 in 2020, not including the on-campus population of the University of ...

where he completed his first official recording, the in His Arms EP. Pierce then moved to San Francisco in 2005 where he began to perform at venues such as

Bottom of the Hill Bottom of the Hill is a concert venue located at the corner of 17th and Missouri streets in the Potrero Hill district of San Francisco, California. According to ''Rolling Stone'', the Bottom of the Hill is the best place to hear live music in San ...

and the

Great American Music Hall The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre. It is known for its decorative balconie ...

and subsequently recorded his first full album, ''Like a Moth'', which featured fellow musicians

Jolie Holland Jolie Holland (born September 11, 1975) is an American singer and performer who combines elements of folk, traditional, experimental, and rock. Career Growing up in her birthplace of Houston, Texas, Holland left in 1994, moving to Austin, Ne ...

and Matt Bauer. Critics favorably compared the songs to other moody wordsmiths such as Mark Kozelek and Will Oldham.

Later career

While touring with respected New York anti-folk artist

Diane Cluck Diane Cluck is an American singer-songwriter. She describes her music as "intuitive folk". She currently resides in Virginia. Early life Cluck was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She began taking piano lessons at the age of 7, and was classi ...

, Pierce met and began working with songwriter and instrumentalist Timothy James Wright and soon after recorded Garrett's second album All Masks in Wright's barn and house in the gold rush town of

Columbia, California Columbia is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Tuolumne County, California, Tuolumne County, California, United States. It was founded as a boomtown in 1850 when gold was found during the California Gold R ...

. All Masks featured ten musicians and lush arrangements on several tracks; a departure from the more his more stripped-down freshman album. The album was regarded for its dense lyrically content and mythological themes. Pierce's third record was recorded in the childhood home of long-time collaborator Eric Ruud ( Sholi) in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

. Originally slated for release on Crossbill Records, who put out Garrett's first two records, the new project City of Sand was picked up and released by Los Angeles-based Narnack Records most known for their work with Thee Oh Sees, The Fall, and Lee "Scratch" Perry. The City of Sand is Pierce's most successful to date with several music videos created for the singles "Everybody Breaks", "Why oh Why" and "Statue Song". Pierce also made videos around this period covering Joy Division's "Twenty-Four Hours" and Seal's "Crazy". His 2011 EP ''Everybody Breaks'' featured some dramatic compositions. Pierce has just completed his fourth record which is slated for release in 2017.

References

External links

Interview with Submerge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Garrett Living people 1981 births Singers from California 21st-century American singers