Home  Music DAVE PETTIGREW: life's a roadtrip - pack some good songs
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DAVE PETTIGREW: life's a roadtrip - pack some good songs |
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Written by Mita Pogue
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Thursday, 13 April 2006 |
 When it comes to trying his hand at making music, Dave Pettigrew has been at it for years. His interest in music started at the tender age of 5 as he watched the group ‘Sha Na Na’ tear up the T.V. waves with their musical prowess. What began as a childhood dream turned into a degree from Berklee college of Music in Boston, and a trip to New York City to fulfill a dream.
“I started playing the saxophone because of Lenny on the old show ‘Sha Na Na.’ I just loved the sound of it and thought it was cool. I played sax all the way through college and then discovered that I could actually sing as well.”
Born and raised in a Christian home, Dave’s later musical influences naturally tended to be more exclusively Christian. “When I was a kid all I listened to was contemporary Christian music. My parents really didn’t allow me to listen to secular music, so I grew up listening to all of the pioneers of CCM like Keith Green, Mylon LeFevre, Petra, Sweet Comfort Band, Randy Stonehill, Degarmo & Key & a bunch of others. It was great stuff that really kept me focused on God and also impacted my musical life as well.” Being raised in a Christian home meant that God had always been a part of his life, even if only by osmosis at first. “I think I made the conscious decision to follow Christ when I was in junior high school at a retreat that I was on,” Dave reminisces. “A speaker named Terry Prisk was there and I just remember loving everything that he was talking about and I really felt God in those moments. I gave my heart to the Lord that night and have been following ever since.” Dave’s parents didn’t see a career in music as being particularly advantageous to their son’s future, however. “When I first found out that I got accepted to music school, my parents, as you can probably imagine, were not thrilled. I don’t think it’s every parents dream to have their kid have a career in music.” “But, they have supported my musical endeavors,” Dave testifies. “It’s great to have a family that believes in you and will be there through the victories and the losses.” That essential family support eventually resulted in Pettigrew’s debut album “Somebody I’m Supposed To Be.” Recorded in Millbrook N.Y., Dave’s prayer for the album was “Lord, if you show me the way, I will follow”. That prayer became the chorus of the song “I Will Follow.” Dave says one of the more difficult songs on the album was “Closer To You,” where he reveals some genuine angst, and questions whether God really was hearing him at all. “I’d been praying about stuff and just wasn’t getting answers, I kind of felt as though maybe God just wasn’t listening or didn’t care.” No matter what our spiritual level of maturity is at any given time, we’ve all heard that inquiry pop into our conscience. Dave references Psalm 77, where the psalmist anguishes over the silence of God. In verse 9 the psalmist cries, “Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?" Selah. I’ve had that experience myself, and not all that long ago, and then the regret for feeling that way sank in. “After writing it I felt rather silly. Of course God hears us, of course He cares. I think sometimes it just takes Him a little longer to answers our prayers than we hope.” God has shown Dave that He is listening in many other ways. While recording this project, Dave remembers, “One morning I woke up and found a small metal angel on my nightstand. These angels were given out at a church service a few months back at my producer’s church. They’re called guardian angels and are just small oval pendants. Seeing this on my nightstand was no surprise because I had seen my producer’s the night before and just thought that he had forgotten it in my room. I left it there thinking he’d come back and take it. I was in the studio working on some vocals and he came in with the angel saying ‘Hey, I didn’t know you had one of these too.’ “I told him that I had never had one. He produced the one that was on my nightstand as well as the one he’d kept in his pocket. Somehow, during the night, that small oval guardian angel appeared on my nightstand. To this day we still don’t know how it got there.” Will signs and wonders never cease? Apparently not. What is the most important thing that Dave would like to communicate to his audiences? “I’m just trying to take great music to people and get myself and others to think more about God in everyday life, to get God involved in our everyday concerns, the small stuff and the big stuff.” Like it says in Deuteronomy 6, we should ponder about ‘all things God’ in our everyday life, whether we are walking along the road or driving along in our cars, or whether we are talking about them in our home or singing about them on the stage. Dave Pettigrew wants to exhort people to stop sometimes and think about the journey they are on. “And hey,” Dave says, “it doesn’t hurt to have some good songs packed along for the ride.” Nope, it doesn’t hurt one bit. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 22 March 2007 )
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