I can probably count on one hand how many times a song has made me cry in the last ten years of doing this blog. “Landon” makes me cry every time. Texas’ very own Grace Pettis released this song as a single in 2020, but glammed it up for her recent album Working Woman with some help from the Indigo Girls. Whichever version you listen to, her story of condemning her good friend when he comes out to her — and making amends years later — is sincere, heartfelt, and, often, the song pretty much every LGBTQ+ person wishes they could hear from at least one person in their life. The video is a gorgeous mix of stunning visuals and animation, bringing this incredible song to new heights. (PS — Grace helped me make a feminist country music playlist, co-hosted an episode of Adobe & Teardrops with me, and I wrote about her album with Austin supergroup Nobody’s Girl on No Depression.)
“Landon”, is a deeply personal, true story-song written as an unabashed apology from the artist to her gay best friend for not being there when he came out right after high school. The Indigo Girls were so behind the song that they agreed to sing on it. Growing-up in a small town in Alabama, Pettis grew up in a homogenous community steeped in a traditional Christian faith. Deconstructing bias with each masterfully poetic lyric, Pettis puts her own youthful, “traditional” values under the microscope, and the result is a transcendently beautiful testament to the power of change, forgiveness, and the inner strength that comes from standing firm in who you are.
“Landon needed somebody to be on his side. He trusted me. And I let him down,” explains Pettis. “Instead of listening and responding with love and acceptance, I replied with a lot of canned answers taken from my Christian belief system, what the church taught me to say. Years of soul-searching, prayer, and information gathering led me to a very different place. I knew that I had wronged Landon in a way that I could only explain in a song.”
The two have made amends since then and both feel the song is a meaningful way in which to share their story. “We are in a great place now. He’s forgiven me, and we get to be close in a new way, now that we’ve made peace with ourselves. We’re both living a true story now,” Pettis shared. Their hope is that this song may help others who are at a similar crossroads. The song itself is one of her most challenging yet. To Pettis, this song ranks high in her own book because she is grateful it gave her a second chance at saying the right thing. After many years of integration with less like-minded folks, it draws on her new perspectives while exploring her past relationships. Working Woman, Grace’s debut album for MPress Records, features an all-female/non-binary band and was produced by singer-songwriter Mary Bragg and mixed by 2x Grammy® award winner Shani Ghandi. The rest of the credits include an all-female/non-binary team as well, including co-writers, the photographer, and the graphic designer. Featured artists include Indigo Girls (“Landon”), Ruthie Foster(“Pick Me Up”), Dar Williams(“Any Kind of Girl”), The Watson Twins(”Never Get It Back”), Gina Chavez(“Mean Something”) and Mary Bragg(“Paper Boat”).