Sarah Peacock Lights up the Underground With a Dynamic Set

“I’m ready when you are,” singer Sarah Peacock told the techs working sound at the Underground, after a quick, careful sound check. After having played hundreds of shows throughout the country, Peacock knows how to get what she needs to put on a good show.

Peacock grew up in a very musical home: “My grandparents were into music so we’ve studied music since we were four. I have two sisters. My middle sister is an opera singer and my youngest turned out to be this crazy piano prodigy child.” She also acquired a formal music education from Belmont University, so she music has always been a big part of her life.

Recently, she self-produced her debut album, “Straight to the Heart.” Peacock has immersed herself in creating and performing music, something her act reflects.

Peacock’s songs traverse narratives of love, both lost and found. In each of her songs, she full embodies the emotions of her lyrics. In one song, she’s lamenting a lover who can’t get over an ex. In the next, she’s “about kicking somebody’s ass.”

Drastic dynamic changes are present in more than the feelings displayed from song to song. Within each song, Peacock wields vocal dynamics to superb effect. Sometimes she sings at almost a whisper, drawing the audience in slowly and subtly before, on a dime, her voice amplifies to fill the room, adding a dramatic effect to her catalogue.

Though she classifies herself as pop-country, specifically “Sugarland meets Heart, with an affair with Bon Jovi,” Peacock is no Dixie Chick. She displays a very rock n’ roll attitude, expressing the aforementioned desire to deliver a brutal beat-down, and sports a look more attuned to Joan Jett than Carrie Underwood. It was this rocking attitude that truly won over the crowd Tuesday evening at the Underground. Crowd pleasers included “Certified Redneck,” a country anthem that was born to grace airwaves and pavilions, and “Jeans,” a song that Peacock bluntly explains, “is about taking your pants off.”

Yet not so long ago Peacock debated leaving the music world behind. “It’s work,” Peacock explained. “I mean 90 percent of what I do is the traveling and the booking and the website maintenance. It does wear on me; I’m not going to lie. I had almost thrown in the towel for sure. I actually was planning my escape route.”

But luckily, Peacock has decided that her run in the musical game isn’t over yet; “I decided that I was getting conformation from the forces that be to not give up just yet. I’m definitely catching the bug again in terms of writing and all that and I’m noticing now that I’ve decided to stick with it that more passion is coming out when I play live and fans are noticing, so it’s starting to feel like a little bit of a rejuvenation.”
This renewed passion was on prominent display at the Underground as Sarah Peacock showed an impressed audience just why the forces that be want her in the game.

[Photo courtesy of Marie Sicola/Bullet]