Independent songwriter/recording artist Eric Peters played “more songs than I have in a long time” (as he told me later) to an enthusiastic crowd at Westminster Seminary’s first Westminster Cafe Coffee House Concert of the year. The small audience at the beginning of the evening grew to over sixty after evening classes let out. Extra credit points to Prof. Mike Kelly for ending his Old Testament for Ministry class early to bring the students over to the concert! I had wooed him by telling him that Eric was a “prophetic” songwriter…and I don’t think I stretched the truth too far. The other students in the back frantically studying for their Prophets midterm certainly hoped it was true.

Though it’s a safe bet that most of the people in attendance had never heard his music before, Eric quickly won their hearts and attentive ears. Even the Hebrew scrabble board on the center table went unused! My wife Karyn, who ran the “merch” table, was impressed by the way that people were seeking to purchase particular CDs of Eric’s because of a song or two from the concert that had impacted them.

It’s too late and I’m too tired to write the full review this concert deserves, but I did not want to go to bed tonight without publicly thanking Eric for the gift he gave us tonight. As good as his songs are on the CDs, I think you’d really need to see him live to fully appreciate them. Rich in imagery and Mallonee-influenced metaphor, often weaving stories reminiscent of his favorite author Flannery O’Connor, Peters’ songs benefit from being incarnated in front of an audience. Even his frequent apologies for forgetting lyrics embodied the “I’m a mess but God graces me anyway” message of his songs. His mellow voice, carrying the pathos and expressivenes of a Don McClean, works in counterpoint with his punchy, rhythmic guitar playing. And the self-effacing humor, never seeming staged, made everyone feel like they were hanging out with a good friend. Not to be missed is his song about a race horse who wants to be a cow, accompanied by a strange Brazilian ukelele called a charango (HT to Gaines for the name!).

Over dinner at McNally’s Tavern (find this place and have a “Schmitter” then send me your thanks!) I got to hear some of Eric’s story, although it’s a little hard to drag it out of him…he’s so not into himself that he’d much rather hear about your hopes and dreams. I came away from the night with a new musician on my “must see” list for whenever he gets within Philly radar range.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 20th, 2005 at 10:56 pm and is filed under Music, WTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.