An outlaw country headliner whose music reaches far beyond the genre’s borders, Sara Petite has built an award-winning career with songs that owe as much to the rock & roll roadhouse as they do the honky-tonk.
Hers is a raw, rough-edged version of American roots music, delivered by a five-time International Songwriting Competition finalist who’s spent nearly two decades calling her own shots. Sara has no interest in chasing trends. She’s too busy chasing the muse instead, earning a wide range of accolades — including Top 40 success on the Americana charts, international airplay, and more than a half-dozen trophies from the San Diego Music Awards — along the way. Â
The Empress, her seventh record due out on June 9th via 40 Below Records, marks a return to the intersection of country twang and roots-rock bang. It’s a place Sara knows well, and she sketches its dimensions in sharp detail. These 11 songs take place in dive bars, trailer parks, the throes of passion, and the feedback loop of addiction, with Sara embodying her characters fully. The Empress is an album for all genders, stocked with songs that tackle the universal struggles we all face. Even so, its central heroes are Joan of Arc, Mary Magdalene, and other woman who, like Sara, have pushed against imbalances in society for the sake of fairness.   Â
Today Glide is offering an exclusive premiere of “Tread Softly,” a standout track on the new album that finds Sara channeling a 60s and 70s soul sound that would make The Pointer Sisters and Ronnie Spector but with a twangy country sound. Through her rich vocals, Sara exudes vulnerability, tenderness and resilience all at once. Backed by a top notch country band, it’s easy to imagine this tune wafting from the jukebox at your local bar while you knock back beers and ponder your bad decisions. In other words, it has all the makings of a country song with just the right amount of soul.
Sara describes the inspiration behind the tune:
I wrote this song for my person and initially it’s about sex and sensuality but it’s like a rose as the petals unfold, fear and vulnerability surface. Anyone can have sex, good sex, some kind of relationship. As the petals keep unfolding will you guard your heart when you feel vulnerable or surrender to it. Coming together with another person and being vulnerable spiritually and physically and learning to really trust another person after being really wounded. That’s intimacy.
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This article claims that Joan of Arc and Mary Magdalene “pushed against imbalances in society for the sake of fairness”, which makes no sense. Joan of Arc said she was sent to place her king on his throne, not to correct “imbalances in society”. We know very little about Mary Magdalene, but there’s nothing to indicate that she crusaded against societal “imbalances” either.