[Cover photo credit to Jamie Gemitti]
Heather Pierson is a Northeast-based singer/songwriter, pianist, song leader, and performer. Her September 2024 album, Back To The Light, reached #1 on the Contemporary Folk charts and debuted at #5 on the NACC Folk chart.
Today, we’re very pleased to debut Pierson’s new track, “We Will Take Care of Each Other”, which will arrive digitally on March 28th, 2025.
Heather Pierson has crafted the song with an eye towards simplicity and directness, making it very useful as a modern Folk song that could easily be the focus of a group singing event. It allows others to take part and bring their own emotions to the lyrics through this accessible format. The themes of the song are bound to be meaningful to all of us in a world where we often feel overwhelmed and might quite literally think, in the face of challenges, “What will I do now?” It’s those kinds of moments the song intends to address. A simple answer can also be a profound one, a sliver of hope for moving forward by turning inward and assessing one’s core principles.
In this case, those principles of loving one another become a grounding element. From that one thing that you might feel certain about, a much wider structure can be built for community support. In an almost meditative way, Pierson builds the lyrics outward, drawing on the implications of loving one another in our communities and the kind of strength that makes possible. It all stems from the realization that what’s going on in the world around us doesn’t fundamentally change who we are at our core. The song’s approach embraces the possibility of connecting with others beyond differing belief systems, which could combat racism and “othering” of groups based on difference. That becomes key.
Something the song doesn’t address directly, as it happens, is a strategy for dealing with aggressive hate or violence, or the dangerous targeting of others due to difference. But the principles of the song could still apply with plenty of fruitful outcomes. It’s a song that hardly condones harming others, but rather it leaves a door open for change, and changes of heart, that could be important in a healing process. To be there for those who are targeted or oppressed, even if we aren’t the ones directly impacted, is also very, very important in our world right now, and that advice couldn’t be more timely.
Pierson shares about the song:
The first inkling of this song occurred to me the morning after the 2024 U.S. election.
All I had for a while was the first few lines of the chorus. It became a mantra on my
morning walks, and at different times throughout the day: We will take care of each
other, without exception, every single heart. It wasn’t until sometime after the
inauguration that the rest of the song came pouring out of me one night at the kitchen
table. This song is an expression of my deeply held belief that listening to and caring
for everyone without exception—most especially those with whom we disagree—is the
way forward, and that unconditional love is the real revolution.
On “We Will Take Care of Each Other”, Heather Pierson performs vocals and acoustic guitar, it was Produced by Heather Pierson and Shawn Nadeau, recorded at The Santa Barn in Madison, NH, engineered and mixed by Shawn Nadeau, mastered by Andy VanDette, and the song’s artwork is by Kristen Pobatschnig.
In nearly 25 years on her own record label, Vessel Recordings, Pierson has released sixteen albums and several singles of original music, including her most recent, Back To The Light. Back To The Light was recorded “live on the floor” at Acadia Recording Company in Portland, ME with her trio mates Shawn Nadeau on bass and Craig Bryan on drums and percussion. Released in September 2024, Back To The Light combines the grooves of New Orleans, the beauty of Appalachia, and the feeling of Sunday-go-to-meeting celebrations.
