On Feb. 16 at 8 p.m., Skye Peterson played in Union University’s coffee shop, Barefoots, and Almost Isaac served as the opening act.
The concert took place on the same weekend as Union University’s annual scholarship competition, Scholars of Excellence. Students, scholars and members of the community were gathered to listen to Peterson’s music.
Almost Isaac, a one-person band featuring Michael Smith, opened for Peterson. Smith is a singer and songwriter from Jackson, Tennessee and a Union alumnus. The audience laughed when he said his band was called Almost Isaac because he was almost named Isaac.
After Smith’s performance, Peterson took the stage. Peterson is 21 and a singer and songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee.
“I play for all different sorts of rooms,” Peterson said, “but this is my favorite.”
The room contained both students who were familiar with Peterson’s songs and students who had never heard her music before. Emmeline Arehart, a senior film studies major, has followed Peterson’s music for eight years.
“She writes things that are so poignantly beautiful and often quite sad and just evoke this yearning for heaven,” Arehart said. “She’s very open about her faith and the struggles that come with the Christian life and that this world is beautiful, but this world is broken…That grief mixed with joy mixed with longing is exquisite and speaks to something that I just really need to listen to and be reminded of.”
Sarah Grace Patrick, a sophomore double major in english and political science, had never listened to Peterson’s music before the concert.
“The entire vibe of her songs is very relaxing, so it kind of feels like you’re at a poetry reading but then with some soft acoustic music in the background,” Patrick said. “It kind of feels homey, like the way that she described the house that she lives in, The Hollow, her music feels like that.”
Patrick explained that she was excited to listen to Peterson again.
“I’ve already added some of her songs to my playlist, and I sent them to some of my friends,” Patrick said.
Peterson’s music is available on Spotify, and exclusive songs and content are available for members of her Patreon at the following link.
