Every Kind of Uh-Oh

Charlie Peacock has been making music for half a century. Although he has spent the bulk of his time behind the soundboard supporting and producing a number of artists over the years (Amy Grant, The Civil Wars, Switchfoot), he has also had an on-again-off-again career as a singer and songwriter. Lately, though, health concerns and a desire to walk alongside young artists has sidelined his own vocal music, although he still wrote and played as a jazz pianist. In a season where he was busy promoting a book, writing a follow up, and producing a podcast, he found himself sitting down at the piano as new songs poured out of him, 10 of them in two weeks.

Despite his other plans, and at the encouragement of his son—also a working musician—Peacock recorded these songs with some A-list Nashville sidemen and the result is Every Kind of Uh-Oh, his first major label release in two decades.

Listening to this album almost feels like peeking at Peacock’s diary. There are reminiscences and confessional musings wrapped in a beautifully played and produced set of tunes in a country-tinged Americana style. The high point, though, is “Get Yourself Some,” a fantasia on the 23rd Psalm in which he sings, “It’s all comfort from here on out. I did not say easy, I did not say easy.” Peacock shows a deep honesty rooted in a deep faith: “Birdsong in the morning after troubled dreams” and “one more time, dear God, turn loss into gain.” Every Kind of Uh-Oh is an excellent album from an artist with a long track record. He’s clearly not done yet.