Gretchen Peters, Tom Russell collaborate on western CD

"When Tom suggested this collaboration it seemed unlikely to me; now it seems inevitable," Peters said. "As we were sifting through the songs for this record, I began to realize the extent to which growing up in the West shaped me, musically and otherwise. Living out west taught me to appreciate a certain kind of spare beauty which I tried to transmute into songs."

Peters, who lives in Nashville, will be appearing at Swallow Hill Music Association in Denver on February 28 to celebrate the album's release. "It's a homecoming for me. I spent years playing in clubs in Denver and Boulder before moving to Nashville, and coming back to Colorado with this particular album is very special to me."

The daughter of an author/activist father and a mother whom Peters describes as a "free spirit", she was born in New York, grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and moved to Nashville in the late 80's "when they were still signing people like Steve Earle and Nanci Griffith."

Peters had songs picked up by Martina McBride, Etta James, Trisha Yearwood, Bonnie Raitt, The Neville Brothers, Patty Loveless, George Strait, Neil Diamond, Bryan Adams and Faith Hill. She won the CMA Song Of The Year in 1995 for her anthemic song about domestic abuse, Independence Day."