Charlie Peacock is an artist whose 50-year career spans GRAMMY Awards, solo albums, hit productions, a label founder (re:think/Capitol), and much more. The music industry luminary reveals plans to release his memoir, Roots & Rhythm: A Life in Music, in early 2025 via Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. The book is on track to explore the winding journey from his early days to the present; a heartfelt tribute to the joy and perseverance of a life in music, as well as the ancestral and musical influences that shaped his remarkable career.
For Peacock, it’s all part of the same narrative — a self-described “chapter-by-chapter remix of the music, places, and people that made me and the music I made.” Roots & Rhythm: A Life In Music will include first-hand recollections of his time developing the rock band Switchfoot, producing the acclaimed folk duo The Civil Wars, and co-writing Amy Grant’s pop smash “Every Heartbeat.”
After rewarding records with Chris Cornell and Holly Williams, Peacock pivoted to inventing the commercial music program and directing the School of Music at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee.
With all the momentum of his career in full swing, one morning in October of 2017 Peacock woke with a debilitating headache and a cascade of other neurological symptoms. The headache did not relent, it was chronic. A trip to Mayo Clinic diagnosed him with Dysautonomia and Central Sensitization, brain and central nervous system disorders. All of life halted and getting well was all that mattered. Now in 2024, “the headache isn’t gone, but imagination, hope, and optimism are alive and well,” says Peacock.
Charlie Peacock is an artist-dreamer who was born during the advent of rock ‘n’ roll and grew up inspired to blur the boundaries between genre and generation with his own music. From his pioneering contributions to gospel rock and the Americana/Folk movement of the 2000s to his jazz explorations with legendary bassist John Patitucci, Peacock is more than a connoisseur of American music; he’s part of its DNA, leaving his unique mark while earning Top 40 pop hits across three consecutive decades.
For Peacock, the story goes on. There’s more music on the horizon, including a solo album co-produced by son Sam Ashworth (renowned GRAMMY, Oscar, and Golden Globe-nominated songwriter and producer). The record marks a full-circle return to the very things that first inspired him to make music: classic singer/songwriters, jazz, gospel, literature, and his people. Like the memoir itself, Peacock’s new album takes a reflective look backward, utilizing the lessons learned — and inspiration gained — from a half-century of songwriting to illuminate a new path forward. In other words, it is the roots and rhythm of a life in music.
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Above: Charlie Peacock; Credit: Jeremy Cowart, courtesy of Milestone Publicity
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