Pieta Brown

[Announcer] Coming up on Studio 3 LIVE, it's Pieta Brown.

♪ In a glitter town ♪

Brown: The songs, for me, are kind of these otherworldly, mystical visits, I feel like, that just kind of appear when I pick up my guitar. I still don't really know where they come from a lot of times. It's collaborative for me in the recording process, but a lot of times in the writing, it's just me and my guitar or piano, banjo.

[Announcer] Funding for Studio 3 LIVE is provided by:

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Funding for this program was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation, as well as generations of families and friends who feel passionate about the programs they watch on Iowa PBS.

(Applause)

Good evening and welcome to Studio 3 LIVE. I'm your host, Mickey Davis. Tonight, we are so excited to be joined by Pieta Brown on the Studio 3 LIVE stage. A singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, visual artist, and actress, Pieta is often hailed as one of the most gifted and singular voices in contemporary music.

Since her debut album in 2002, Pieta has released multiple albums to critical acclaim, continuously incorporating new collaborators and new layers of her songwriting and performance with each release. She has shared the stage with luminaries including John Prine, Brandi Carlile, Ani DiFranco, Mavis Staples, and more. And she has appeared in concert halls and festivals across the world. Tonight, Pieta is joined by Iowa music legend and frequent collaborator Bo Ramsey on guitar and Des Moines musician and producer Bryan Vanderpool on drums. Please help me welcome to the stage Pieta Brown.

(Cheers and applause)

("Mercury" playing)

♪ Hey, hey, one, two, three ♪ 
♪ I'm on fire like my favorite trees ♪ 
♪ Maple, willow, and oak ♪ 
♪ But you won't catch me by the smoke ♪ 
♪ Through all the hills, down by the shore ♪ 
♪ The rush of the engine, my mind does roar ♪ 
♪ Mercury sky, mercury sea ♪ 
♪ Mercury love inside me, yeah ♪ 
♪ Mercury ♪ 
♪ And all my nights for you ♪ 
♪ There's nothing to see through ♪ 
♪ Yeah, I'm just as plain as day ♪ 
♪ I'm just a traveler ♪ 
♪ I'm on my way ♪ 
♪ Through all the hills, down by the shore ♪ 
♪ The rush of the engine, my mind does roar ♪ 
♪ Mercury sky, mercury sea ♪ 
♪ Mercury love inside of me, yeah ♪ 
♪ Mercury ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ Out beyond the sun ♪ 
♪ You are my only one ♪ 
♪ And I am just a child ♪ 
♪ I'm high and low and wild ♪ 
♪ Through all the hills, down by the shore ♪ 
♪ The rush of the engine, my mind does roar ♪ 
♪ Mercury sky, mercury sea ♪ 
♪ Mercury love inside me, yeah ♪ 
♪ Mercury ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ Hey, hey ♪ 
♪ Uh, one, two, three ♪ 
♪ I close my eyes to see ♪ 
♪ All the way there ♪ 
♪ And back again ♪ 
♪ I never did like ♪ 
♪ To count to 10 ♪ 
♪ Through all the hills, down by the shore ♪ 
♪ The rush of the engine, my mind does roar ♪ 
♪ Mercury sky, mercury sea ♪ 
♪ Mercury love inside of me, yeah ♪ 
♪ Mercury ♪

(Instrumental break)
(Cheers and applause)

("Wishes Falling Through the Rain" playing)

♪ Stars, broken like arrows ♪ 
♪ Clouds, passing by rainbows ♪ 
♪ Wishes falling through the rain ♪ 
♪ All this love, it can't be in vain ♪ 
♪ All this love ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ Shadows, just pictures on windows ♪ 
♪ Your face, it's soft as a light goes ♪ 
♪ Wishes falling to the rain ♪ 
♪ All this love, it can't be in vain ♪ 
♪ All this love ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ And sometimes a friend is not a friend ♪ 
♪ Sometimes the end is just the end ♪ 
♪ Sometimes time, yeah, starts again ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ Chasing, just for the chase ♪ 
♪ So fast, it gets hard to trace ♪ 
♪ Wishes falling to the rain ♪ 
♪ All this love, it can't be in vain ♪ 
♪ All this love, it can't be in vain ♪

(Instrumental break)

(Cheers and applause)

[Mickey] Pieta, thank you so much for joining us at Studio 3 LIVE. Tell us a little bit about life lately. What have you been up to?

[Pieta] I've just put out a new record. It's called "Dreamin' Of." Super proud of it. I recorded it around the Midwest, actually, in a couple different places, Minnesota and Wisconsin, a little bit in Iowa. I produced it with, Sean Carey, S. Carey, and Mike Lewis. They're both part of the Bon Iver crew. They played on it, and then a beautiful guitar player, Jeremy Ylvisaker, he's a big part of the sound of the album. And then Bo Ramsey played on it. Bryan Vanderpool played on it.

[Mickey] Tell me a little bit about the kind of songwriting process leading up to this album, and in general, is your songwriting process — do you bring in some of those collaborators? Do you kind of bring more of a finished product when you — when you start working with others? What does that look like for this album?

[Pieta] Yeah, the songs for me are kind of these, otherworldly, mystical visits, I feel like, that just kind of appear when I pick up my guitar. I still don't really know where they come from a lot of times, to be totally honest.

[Mickey] I see the through line of so many Midwestern musicians. What kind of makes you gravitate towards those musicians?

[Pieta] I think spending my early years around so much music as a kid in mostly southeastern Iowa with a lot of family musicians. My great-grandparents were musicians. My great-grandfather played the banjo. My great-grandmother played the pump organ. My grandma, my dad's mom, Grandma Mary, played electric guitar in church. And, of course, my dad and his songs, there was this kind of, I don't know, these sounds that kind of came up out of the ground almost or something — something from these parts, and it's hard to put it into words. There's some kind of mystery in it, but you kind of know it when you hear it. People will say something about an Iowa sound or the Midwest sound, and nobody really can quite describe it, you know?

[Mickey] Yeah, yeah.

[Pieta] And then we've got the rivers, you know, we've got the Mississippi close to us. We've got the Iowa River, the Des Moines River, and there's something about those rivers and how they shape the landscapes and how people bring the music in from all these places. And there's some kind of really great convergence, I think.

Well, this next song is off of my last full-length record that I put out. It's been a minute, but it was the first record that I put out on a label called Righteous Babe Records, which is my friend Ani Difranco's label. And,   it was really fun to become a part of that label. And this song, this next song's called "Ask for More." And it ended up being the single that they chose for the release of this album. And I was shocked I guess would be the — the way to say it, that they chose this song as the single and, maybe you'll know what I mean after I play it. But I do really love playing this song and it actually kind of — the sparks for this song landed in an airport. And, for me, a lot of times when I'm writing songs, I have an instrument, usually this one, but sometimes the piano or the banjo in hand or near me. But I was walking through an airport, and I think I had a long layover that got longer and longer. Delays and what not. It's getting to be more common. But I was just kind of wandering through the airport and I sat down at a random, you know, in a random seat at a random gate. And I looked down and there was a newspaper there, and I hadn't picked up a newspaper in a while. And I picked it up. And there was this article about the floor of the ocean and this little line stuck with me. I didn't know this, but supposedly there's 40,000 miles of volcanoes on the bottom of the ocean floor. Did you know that? I didn't, either.

That was the spark for this song. You know, a lot of other things made their way into this song eventually, but just seeing that line. That's really something. I mean, we're up here in Iowa on the tundra, you know?

("Ask For More" playing)

♪ I don't want what you can't give ♪ 
♪ And I won't tell you how to live ♪ 
♪ No, I'm just not that kind ♪ 
♪ Or something like that ♪ 
♪ Plus, you really blow my mind ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ Like 40,000 miles of volcanoes ♪ 
♪ Singing in silvers and dancing in golds ♪ 
♪ On the bottom of the killing floor ♪ 
♪ Don't worry now, I'll never ask for more ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ A penny for your thoughts, well, that's okay ♪ 
♪ I want them all, and I will pay ♪ 
♪ With wishes in the purest form ♪ 
♪ Just hold me now through the eye of the storm ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ And then I won't ♪ 
♪ No, I won't ♪ 
♪ Then I won't ♪ 
♪ No, I won't ♪ 
♪ Then I won't ♪ 
♪ Ask for more ♪

(Instrumental break)

(Cheers and applause)

(Strums guitar)

[Pieta] Have y'all heard of a songwriter named Malcolm Holcombe? Yeah.

(Applause)

Bless him. He's out there. He's with us somewhere. He subscribed to my mailing list at some point, and every once in a while when I would, you know — when the kind of e-mail newsletters — please join it, by the way. I'm just realizing I could actually invite you to do that. I'm terrible at everything like that. But when the kind of tour date notes would go out I would get this little note from Malcolm Holcombe almost every time there for a while saying, "Ah, I hope you play that song 'Calling All Angels." So these days when I sing it, I think of that. So we're sending this one out on that wavelength.

("Calling All Angels" playing)

♪ Well, I'm ♪ 
♪ I'm just a stranger in this land ♪ 
♪ A stranger after all ♪ 
♪ I'm standing ♪ 
♪ I'm up against the wall ♪ 
♪ I'm watching strangers fall ♪ 
♪ Into the red, into the blue ♪ 
♪ Who in the world's gonna cover for you? ♪ 
♪ Calling all angels, I'll be damned ♪ 
♪ I'm just a stranger in this land ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ I'm waiting ♪ 
♪ I'm waiting like a friend ♪ 
♪ The clouds are coming down ♪ 
♪ A smile ♪ 
♪ Like a wave that's hanging around ♪ 
♪ A doorway to the sound ♪ 
♪ Into the red, into the blue ♪ 
♪ Who in the world's gonna cover for you? ♪ 
♪ Calling all angels, I'll be damned ♪ 
♪ I'm just a stranger in this land ♪ 
♪ And all through the day ♪ 
♪ All through the night ♪ 
♪ There's only music now ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ I'm nowhere ♪ 
♪ I'm down and out, I'm alone ♪ 
♪ Just whiskey in the sand ♪ 
♪ Oh, you ♪ 
♪ You have a flower in your hand ♪ 
♪ You're just a stranger in this land ♪ 
♪ Into the red, into the blue ♪ 
♪ Who in the world's gonna cover for you? ♪ 
♪ Calling all angels, I'll be damned ♪ 
♪ I'm just a stranger in this land ♪

(Instrumental break)

(Cheers and applause)

[Pieta] This next song, this is another one where the — it's kind of like this one little line — the little spark for this song. I was actually walking around town with one of my favorite singers and one of my favorite songwriters, Iris DeMent. One of us said something about drinking side something or another, and then the other one of us said, "The drinking side of town." And sure enough that stuck with me. This is a pretty new one, so we'll see how it goes.

♪ Blue eyes ♪ 
♪ Your sweet blue eyes ♪ 
♪ Under ♪ 
♪ A sky of gray ♪ 
♪ Please don't ask me ♪ 
♪ To let you go ♪ 
♪ Today ♪ 
♪ So fast ♪ 
♪ Driving so fast ♪ 
♪ Out past ♪ 
♪ The lights and sound ♪ 
♪ You'll find me waiting ♪ 
♪ For you to come back ♪ 
♪ To the underground ♪ 
♪ On the drinking side of town ♪ 
♪ Where you take one down ♪ 
♪ You don't pass it around ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ River ♪ 
♪ River of tears ♪ 
♪ Ain't got ♪ 
♪ Nothing on me ♪ 
♪ Bottled up and gone ♪ 
♪ Lost at sea ♪ 
♪ A broken melody ♪ 
♪ On the drinking side of town ♪ 
♪ Where you take one down ♪ 
♪ You don't pass it around ♪ 
♪ On the drinking side of town ♪

(Instrumental break)

(Cheers and applause)

[Mickey] You've been performing in Iowa for a very long time.

[Pieta] Mm-hmm.

[Mickey] What does it feel now, and how have you noticed, you know, whether you're in Iowa City or Des Moines, how have you noticed these communities kind of changing as you've been performing in them over the years?

[Pieta] Yeah, I mean, think like everywhere, I mean, everything's changing all the time. I think that with the way that social media and screens and all of that have infiltrated everything, really, you know, musically especially, but there's also something pretty cool about the way that has brought a lot of people from around the world, I would say now, to places like Des Moines and Iowa City especially. And there's this kind of — I feel like there's a new surge or kind of a fresh current of just energy of new music and music from all over the place coming through here, and it's really fun to see. And there's something — yeah, you can feel some really cool energy, I feel like, happening in Iowa now. It's kind of a renewal or something.

[Mickey] Tell me a little bit about the song "Glitter Town."

[Pieta] "Glitter Town." That one I wrote in a hotel room in Australia. I think I had just gotten to Australia. I toured there a few times and I don't know if you've been to Australia or not, but I went there from Iowa. It's about 26 hours. That's a long time. So I got there, and Iowa was kind of dreary. I had a hotel and I couldn't really sleep. And there was this giant photograph on the wall of a bunch of people standing in bikinis, and there was a balcony right outside, and you could see the water, and it was just, like, full sparkles. Down below me there was some people blasting this song by War on Drugs and I'm a War on Drugs fan. I love them. And I had been playing Otis Rush on my little phone. That all made its way into the song. We had fun recording it, and Bryan and Bo played on "Glitter Town" on this new record so we had a great time in the studio. We're gonna try it, and I've got you all with me, standing on that balcony.

("Glitter Town" playing)

♪ Up on a balcony in Bondi town ♪ 
♪ Woke up with the sun upside down ♪ 
♪ Feeling lucky, feeling a little sad ♪ 
♪ Can't seem to shake something I never had ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ Standing by the window, blasting Otis Rush ♪ 
♪ Down below, they're blasting The War On Drugs ♪ 
♪ There are people in bikinis in a photo on the wall ♪ 
♪ Glued to a phone, I still can't call ♪ 
♪ Upside down ♪ 
♪ In a glitter town ♪ 
♪ I'm running with the hunted ♪ 
♪ Trying to break free ♪ 
♪ From all these things ♪ 
♪ That tattoo me ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ A story in the news humming with the fridge ♪ 
♪ Man escapes enslavement, now he's married with kids ♪ 
♪ Renting an apartment, they don't even have a bed ♪ 
♪ And like the girl on the corner ♪ 
♪ I'm seeing sunset red ♪ 
♪ Upside down ♪ 
♪ In a glitter town ♪ 
♪ I'm running with the hunted ♪ 
♪ Trying to break free ♪ 
♪ From all these things ♪ 
♪ That tattoo me ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ Flashing on old friend, needle to the skin ♪ 
♪ Something about it like the shape I'm in ♪ 
♪ Out on the water, boats head for the shore ♪ 
♪ At least it's love that keeps me heading back for more ♪ 
♪ Upside down ♪ 
♪ In a glitter town ♪ 
♪ I'm running with the hunted ♪ 
♪ Trying to break free ♪ 
♪ From all these things ♪ 
♪ That tattoo me ♪ 
♪ Running with the hunted ♪ 
♪ Trying to break free ♪ 
♪ From all these things ♪ 
♪ That tattoo me ♪

(Instrumental break)

(Cheers and applause)

We did it. That's actually the first time I've played it with a band in a room, so thank you. How about Bo Ramsey on the electric guitar?

(Cheers and applause)

And Bryan on these beautiful harmonies and domes.

(Cheers and applause)

Speaking of pesky songs, this next one, I'm gonna tell you all the long version of the story. We'll see if it makes it out of this room tonight. But this next song is a song called "Street Tracker." It's a song I wrote about a motorcycle. I just picked up this guitar here, actually, and this little song tumbled out and I realized it was kind of a road song. And around that time, I was making this album called "Postcards" and sent out these different demos. They were really just demos. They were just kind of new songs that I had written, and I recorded them. So I called it "Postcards" 'cause the songs felt like sending postcards, and I was — you know, it was kind of an open collaboration project. So I sent songs to some of my favorite musicians and bands, and this next song I got to send to Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, and I had done a tour with Mark, so it wasn't a cold-call postcard which is, like, "In case you're interested." So I sent this song to Mark, and he was really sweet and played, of course, really beautifully on the track and sent it back. And, of course, I'm honored to be playing this song here tonight with one of my other favorite guitar players in the whole wide world. Beautiful Iowa artist Bo Ramsey.

(Applause)

("Street Tracker" playing)

♪ Phone is talking, my head is buzzing ♪ 
♪ Wheels are turning, my mind is fuzzing ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna ♪ 
♪ Don't wanna go home ♪ 
♪ Blue bells and daisies, bar stools and bottle ♪ 
♪ Daydreams and maybe street tracker throttles ♪ 
♪ Don't wanna ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna go home ♪ 
♪ Baby ♪ 
♪ Ain't gonna be a whipping stone ♪ 
♪ I'm running wild, and my love has grown ♪ 
♪ It's grown ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna go home ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ I like it here, I like it there ♪ 
♪ And maybe I just like it everywhere ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna, don't wanna go home ♪ 
♪ Highways and tunnels, hotels and tanks ♪ 
♪ They say, "The road, it gets in your veins" ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna, don't wanna go home ♪ 
♪ Baby ♪ 
♪ Ain't gonna be a whipping stone ♪ 
♪ I'm running wild, and my love has grown ♪ 
♪ It's grown ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna go home ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ It ain't because of me, it ain't because of you ♪ 
♪ Sometimes it's false, sometimes it's true ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna, I don't wanna go home ♪ 
♪ Tomorrow's another day ♪ 
♪ I bet we might ♪ 
♪ Just find our way but for tonight ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna, I don't wanna go home ♪ 
♪ Baby ♪ 
♪ Ain't gonna be a whipping stone ♪ 
♪ I'm running wild, and my love has grown ♪ 
♪ It's grown ♪ 
♪ I don't wanna go home ♪

(Instrumental break)

(Cheers and applause)

[Mickey] I think about your creative output, of course, as singer, songwriter and musician. You're a photographer, you're a producer, you've acted. You know, I think, as your career has gone on, your creative output has not only grown but also expanded. When you think about photography and visual arts or acting what has drawn you to these other media and, you know, what have you learned about kind of going beyond maybe that original scope and finding new ways of creative expression?

[Pieta] It's all music. That comes to mind. I think, for me, a lot of that — those other experiments and other kind of reaching out in different directions is still kind of part of the process of finding songs, I think. Yeah. But I remember when I have done the little bit of acting and filmmaking and that stuff that I've done, I felt like it was so connected to music. It's so — something about the motion and the energy and the music, but there's something in all of it. I feel like all of these expressions that we have, there's light and sound and vibration, and there's some — like, when you're taking a photograph, when you're playing a song, when you're painting, when you're acting in a room with others, there's that spark that's kind of in all of it, I think, and I'm fascinated by all of it.

And so I'm just — it's more of a reaching out, a lot of those things. Like, this feels like home but the other stuff helps me grow as an artist, I feel like. I was out in California to do some shows and staying at a Travelodge in Santa Monica. And, again, it was one of these moments where I had come from Iowa, flown out to California to do a show, I think, later that night. But I walked down to the ocean and it was the middle of winter, I remember vividly. So I'm walking along the ocean, you know, ocean side there for a minute and I get back to the Travelodge and I'm trying to get all my stuff together and, you know, I'm like, getting the guitar out and undoing my bag and this postcard of Allen Ginsberg fell out on the bed. And I don't know if there's any poetry fans here or any poets, maybe, but this postcard of Allen Ginsberg fell out right there on the bed, and I didn't know that I had it. It kind of surprised me, but I looked at it, and in the photograph, he's sitting in the stream of lights kind of coming through a window. So I had all this kind of streams-of-light thing happening, you know, in that moment. And so I sat down on that bed in the Travelodge, and I wrote this next song.

The wild part of this story is that, when I went to record it in Iowa City in that little garage studio, I just did one take of the song. I was with Bo, I think, and we did just one version of the song, and we're like, "Oh, okay, I think we got it." Like, "I think that was the take we want to keep." And so we decided to go get some lunch. And I got in my car. This is like a year later, you know? And I get in my car and I flip the sun visor down and a postcard of Allen Ginsberg fell out in my lap. What are the chances? I had no idea that was there. I had no memory of putting it there. So, yeah. Pretty amazing.

(Strums guitar)

("In the Light" playing)

♪ I'll blur the line if you want ♪ 
♪ I'll take the time if you don't ♪ 
♪ To call you my friend in the morning sun ♪ 
♪ We never started so it'll never be done ♪ 
♪ Just like an old song ♪ 
♪ The water is wide ♪ 
♪ But that doesn't mean it's impassible ♪ 
♪ Sometimes blue, it's just laughable ♪ 
♪ We cross the bridge if we get to it ♪ 
♪ We watch the waves if our feet get wet ♪ 
♪ Sometimes there's only one way to go ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ As we walked over the sparkling sands ♪ 
♪ The wind was blowing, and I watched your hands ♪ 
♪ Moving like you had something to say ♪ 
♪ You didn't, but I heard you anyway ♪ 
♪ Just a mile or so ♪ 
♪ From the undertow ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ Counting the gulls over the parking lot ♪ 
♪ Sometimes leaving costs a lot ♪ 
♪ Leaving for good or just for a while ♪ 
♪ So many mornings of your sweet smile ♪ 
♪ I can stand ♪ 
♪ Strong as on Earth ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪ 
♪ In the light ♪

(Instrumental break)

(Cheers and applause)

[Mickey] Next year, 2027, will mark 25 years since your debut self-titled album.

[Pieta] Yeah.

[Mickey] What have you learned most about yourself in those 25 years of pretty relentless touring?

[Pieta] Nothing.

(Laughter)

[Mickey] Yeah.

(Laughter)

[Pieta] Um, I'm still chasing all of it. That's a — I think I could talk to you for, you know, a lifetime or 30 seconds about that...

(Chuckling)

Yeah, yeah. ...but when I first started, I wasn't sure. I hadn't — you can't know how long you might do something like that. When I first started doing shows, I was still really terrified to sing into the microphone. I have had a lot of shyness over the years and, over the years, as I've gotten more comfortable with just sharing all those different layers, you know, it's really opened me up in a lot of different ways. And also, there's something about — you just grow to trust the music more and more. And, in some ways, like, one of my favorite things about all of it is that it just keeps feeling like a beginning. It doesn't feel like something I even know how to do yet. Yeah. And so I feel like, could I have 5,000 more lifetimes to keep doing it? I don't feel — I feel — as far as the music and playing music in a room with people, that just feels as new and inspiring as it ever has, and in some ways, maybe more so just in these times, too, there's something so connective and natural in music, and that gives me a lot of hope.

[Mickey] Well, Pieta, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for joining us on Studio 3 LIVE.

Thank you. Yeah, thanks for having me. Thank you for being here.

(Applause)

This next song's a little hopeful cry song. I feel like that's never a bad thing, right? To lean on the hopeful cries in the world. Anyways, thank you so much. Bo Ramsey on electric guitar.

(Applause)

Bryan Vanderpool.

(Applause)

("Other Way Around" playing)

♪ If wishes were horses ♪ 
♪ I would ride ♪ 
♪ Down to the river where the water is wide ♪ 
♪ 'Cause an eye for an eye ♪ 
♪ Just leaves blood on the ground ♪ 
♪ Someday ♪ 
♪ It'll be the other way around ♪ 
♪ Someday ♪ 
♪ It'll be the other way around ♪ 
♪ I'm getting nowhere ♪ 
♪ Nowhere fast ♪ 
♪ I don't get it ♪ 
♪ Nothing's meant to last ♪ 
♪ Nothing and nowhere on me like a hellhound ♪ 
♪ Someday ♪ 
♪ It'll be the other way around ♪ 
♪ Someday ♪ 
♪ It'll be the other way around ♪ 
♪ Beggars aren't choosers ♪ 
♪ So I've got no choice ♪ 
♪ But to give my love and give my love a voice ♪ 
♪ Peace of mind, it is hard to be found ♪ 
♪ Someday ♪ 
♪ It'll be the other way around ♪ 
♪ Someday ♪ 
♪ It'll be the other way around ♪ 
♪ Beggars will choose whether to ride ♪ 
♪ Nowhere will just be a place to hide ♪ 
♪ And we will all have enough love inside ♪

(Instrumental break)

♪ You got your fine shirt, I got a cheap cigar ♪ 
♪ You're in the sunshine, I'm in a dirty bar ♪ 
♪ Back by the jukebox, I'm lost in the sound ♪ 
♪ Someday ♪ 
♪ It'll be the other way around ♪ 
♪ Someday ♪ 
♪ It'll be the other way around ♪ 
♪ Ah, someday ♪

(Instrumental break)

Thank you, everybody, for coming out.

(Cheers and applause)

Thanks to Iowa Public Television for having me.

(Cheers and applause)

(Instrumental break)

Bo Ramsey on the electric guitar.

(Cheers and applause)

Bryan Vanderpool on the big drums.

(Cheers and applause)

(On screen text:
Studio 3 LIVE Featuring Pieta Brown

Pieta Brown — Guitar & Vocals
Bo Ramsey — Guitar
Brian Vanderpool — Drums & Vocals)

(On screen text:
Host — Mickey Davis
Producer & Director — Josh Buettner
Production Supervisor — Sean Ingrassia
Audio Mix — Brian Vanderpool
FOH Sound — Jon Locker
Production Technicians — Roberto Ibarra, Neal Kyer, Kevin Rivers
Camera Operators — Darrin Clouse, Scott Faine, Kate Thalacker, Eric Gooden, Kenny Knutson, Mark Haugen
Recording & Post Audio — David Feingold
Interns — Liam Brennan, Carson Duinink
Set Design — Rob Sunderman
Set Construction — Vince Rubino
Lighting Design — Will Coeur
Lighting Technician — Sonja Woener
Graphics — Joe Bustad, Brent Willett
Executive Producer — Andrea Coyle
Copyright 2026 Iowa PBS
)

(Instrumental break)

[Mickey] Studio 3 LIVE is also available as a podcast. Get it wherever you get your podcasts.

Thank you so much for being here, y'all. Thank you.

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