Album Review: Chris Pierce, ‘Songs for the Heavy Hearted’

We often hear the refrain, “why doesn’t anyone write protest songs anymore?” Those folks haven’t been listening to Chris Pierce. His new album, ‘Songs for the Heavy Hearted,’ needs to be played on repeat, for not only does it call out the injustices tearing at the fabric of our society, but it also testifies to the enduring hope and love living in the shadows that can guide us through these fraught times.

Gently loping rhythms, with layers of harmonica wrapping under and around mellow guitar strumming, carry us into the gorgeous opening track, “This Sunlit Morning.”  With its sonic resemblance to Van Morrison’s “Saint Dominic’s Preview,” every crisp note rings with tenderness, cradling the power of love and mercy as an antidote to the inanimate facelessness of society. 

The soaring gospel-inflected “First Day of School” delivers a heart-rending prayer in its refrain—“Don’t let them kill my child”—that’s on the lips and in the hearts of every parent as they drop off their children during the ongoing epidemic of gun violence in schools. The upbeat tempo of “Madonna of the San Joaquin” mimics the frantic rush of a terrified immigrant running from unjust treatment and looking for a place to lay her head. In his canny lyrics, he likens the woman to biblical Mary—the Madonna—who’s both glorified and vilified. Pierce shines the light not just on her employers who have kicked her out but on all of us who’ve turned our backs on this woman. When the woman asks Jesus where she can find rest, Jesus tells her he doesn’t know because “They kicked me out too.”

The swaying “It Ain’t Ever Wrong to Be Free,” with backing vocals by Haleigh Bowers and Garrison Starr, swells into an emotional singalong that urges holding onto our freedom and fighting for the freedom of others who can’t do it themselves.

Featuring Allison Russell on vocals, the spaciously unfolding “Kalief Browder,” a tribute to a wrongly accused Black man who spent 800 days in solitary confinement, calls to Browder’s presence by speaking his name over and over in the verses and the refrain.

Garrison Starr joins Pierce on vocals on “We Ain’t There Yet,” a towering folk anthem that urges us to keep marching for the change that’s gonna come, even though it’s a long road. The album closes the country folk reel “A Soft Place to Land,” an expression of gratitude for the love of a partner who provides comfort, love, and nurture in the midst of life’s daily chaos.

‘Songs for the Heavy Hearted’ offers us a soft place to land for a moment, giving us strength to move out again into fray that surrounds us.