Charlie Peacock

Throughout his extensive professional journey, Charlie Peacock has proven difficult to pigeonhole as an artist, having created works spanning multiple styles including rock, pop, R&B, country, gospel, Americana, and jazz. Beyond performing as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist while also crafting songs and penning books, the artist—who has issued over twelve solo albums—earns widespread recognition primarily for his achievements as a producer across genres, including Grammy wins.

Born Charles William Ashworth on August 10, 1956, in Yuba City in Northern California roughly forty miles north of Sacramento, he grew up with an educator and trumpeter father whose affinity for jazz proved formative. After absorbing progressive jazz sounds, with John Coltrane emerging as a standout influence, Ashworth honed his music-theory skills under his father’s guidance and developed proficiency on both keyboard and trumpet. Departing California State University in Sacramento in 1977 to pursue music full time, he joined the band the Runners before adopting the stage name Charlie Peacock the following year in tribute to jazz bassist Gary Peacock.

Peacock began carving out a presence on the Northern California scene by blending new wave-tinged pop with jazz elements. Songwriter Steve Holsapple and Sal Valentino of the Beau Brummels played key roles in bringing him to industry attention. Securing a deal with Exit Records, distributed by A&M—the same label for which he had cut demos in 1980 under David Kahne—he issued his 1984 debut Lie Down in the Grass, which drew praise for its eclectic textures and incisive lyrics. Supporting slots on tours with General Public, the Fixx, Let’s Active, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers followed, yet modest sales prompted a move to Island for the self-titled 1986 release.

The Island association proved brief, leading Peacock to compile three subsequent albums from demo and rough-tape material under the collective title The West Coast Diaries. Sparrow Records/EMI later issued the series; although Peacock has never labeled himself a “Christian artist,” the Christian-music imprint served as his primary recording home for much of the ensuing decade. His next studio album, the 1990 Grammy-nominated The Secret of Time, reflected a wide array of lyrical and compositional touchstones, while 1991’s Love Life ventured an ambitious synthesis of spiritual, romantic, and physical themes. Parallel to these efforts, Peacock built a robust songwriting catalog across genres for dc Talk, Margaret Becker, Philip Bailey, Out of the Grey, and Bourgeois Tagg. The 1991 Amy Grant hit “Every Heartbeat,” which he penned, reached number two on Billboard’s Hot 100 and elevated his profile further. Over the following ten years he produced nearly fifty albums for gospel and contemporary Christian artists such as Twila Paris, Al Green, Audio Adrenaline, and Nicole Nordeman, earning the Gospel Music Association’s Producer of the Year honor three straight years in the 1990s.

The 2000s marked Peacock’s most varied period yet, encompassing a return to jazz and improvisation. Jazz outings included Love Press Ex-Curio, featuring saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, and the duo project Arc of the Circle with Dave Matthews Band saxophonist Jeff Coffin (also featuring guitarist Marc Ribot), which climbed to number two on the CMJ jazz charts in 2008. Additional roles encompassed senior A&R consultant positions at EMI and Sony/ATV, co-production of Switchfoot’s multi-platinum Top 40 single “Dare You to Move” (the band he discovered and signed), and production work with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Sara Groves, and Sam & Ruby.

Further activities encompassed music supervision for film and television plus writing, directing, and producing the 2010 short The Legend of Hank Cochran, which starred Merle Haggard, Elvis Costello, Lee Ann Womack, and Jamey Johnson. He also served as music producer, film producer, and director for Brooke Waggoner’s Go Easy Little Doves concert DVD and as producer for the award-winning documentary Any Day Now.

A longtime social-justice advocate, Peacock has partnered with the ONE Campaign since 2002, when he hosted co-founder Bono and later president David Lane before Nashville’s artist community.

Peacock helmed the Civil Wars’ Poison & Wine EP, whose breakout track appeared on Grey’s Anatomy, and produced their double Grammy-winning gold album Barton Hollow. In 2012 he returned to vocal music with the folk/Americana-inflected No Man’s Land while also producing Holly Williams’ The Highway (featuring Jackson Browne, Jakob Dylan, Dierks Bentley, and Gwyneth Paltrow) and Keith & Kristyn Getty’s Hymns for the Christian Life (with Alison Krauss and Ricky Skaggs).