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Southern Gospel Times Feature Article
Rebecca Peck
In this month’s Songwriter Spotlight we’re going to feature songwriter, Rebecca Peck. I first met Rebecca about 12 or 13 years ago. At that time I was the Director of Publishing for Homeland Entertainment and she was a songwriter for another music publisher, Centergy Music. Music publishers will often pair their songwriters with the songwriters of another music publishing company to network and broaden their relationships in the hopes of increasing the chances of getting songs recorded through those co-writing sessions. Some of our songwriters would co-write with “Becky” and other Centergy songwriters and this is not only how I met Rebecca but also got the chance to write with her as well.
Over the past decade, Rebecca and her husband Tom successfully transitioned into managing their own music publishing company, Peck Music Group, and have had a whole lot of songs recorded by a whole lot of artists! They’ve also had great success in having their music in church choral print form and sung by church choirs around the world.
Rebecca is not only a great songwriter but she’s a gifted as a vocalist and pianist. There are two things that have always stood out to me over the years about her. She is a very humble person and she truly puts her heart into the purpose of writing a “Gospel” song. In many of our writing sessions she has stopped to analyze the lyric to see if it is speaking a “truth” to the person who will hear it or if it is really saying what we want it to say. Most often, when writing songs for a genre of music, it’s easy to be more concerned with “is this going to be more appealing for an artist to record it?” To me she approaches writing a song in the same fashion I would approach working on a sermon….you want it to be good AND you want it to be true!
One thing I’ve admired about Tom and Becky over the years is their dedication to their faith and their commitment to having and being involved in a home church. The music they write is the life they live! They are truly sincere and genuine folks! What’s not to like about that?
Here are a few questions I recently posed to Rebecca with her responses:
Mathis: “What song have you written, regardless of who recorded it or chart status it might have obtained, that is your personal favorite song?”:
Peck: “That’s a hard question to answer, because I have different reasons to like different ones. I guess I would have to say the most personal song I’ve written is “Every Step,” which was recorded and singled by the Crist Family a couple years back.”
Mathis: “Why is this your favorite? Is there a story behind this particular song?”:
Peck: “It’s personal because I wrote it about a couple of family members who have gone through many devastating tragedies in life. It took me 6 months to be able to sing it all the way through for my husband because I couldn’t sing it without crying.”
Mathis: “Songs are great for writers and artists and labels for many reasons but ultimately it's the listener that we hope they have the greatest impact on. Can you share a favorite story or encounter that means the most to you where a song you had written impacted a listener's life?”:
Peck: “I’ve heard a lot of stories from people who have lost loved ones or gone through serious illnesses who have found comfort in one of my songs. I’ve also heard about people who were on the verge of suicide who have found hope through a lyric. There have been others who have wayward children or other stressful situations, and they’ve taken the time to let me know the blessing they received in a song. It’s hard to say which one is the most special story, but one of the things that really encourages me is when I hear from young people who are just starting out in ministry, and they’re using some of my material, just like I used music from other writers as a child and a teen. That blesses me to think that what the Lord is allowing me to do is not just impacting this generation, but, Lord willing, even after I’m gone, the message God gave me will still be heard. It also reminds me of the responsibility I have to present the message with Scriptural integrity.”
Rebecca’s lists of achievements are many! She is a 3-time BMI Award winner as well as a Dove Award nominee. Her songs have appeared on Grammy© nominated projects and she has had Five #1 songs to her credit in Gospel Music, numerous Top 10 songs, and hundreds of artist and choral cuts. She is a recognized church choral print compiler and is also a 4-time recipient of the Evelyn Cole Peters Award for Music awarded in Washington D.C.
If you’d like to read more about Rebecca Peck, visit her website! http://www.rebeccapeck.net/
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Past Articles:
(9/4/2012)
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