Ira Pettle

Ira Pettle is a veteran musician that is relatively new to the children's music scene. A fellow nominee for Children's Artist of the Year at the 2023 Western Canadian Music Awards, Ira has hit the ground running with his debut children's album, A Little Bit. His music is full of carefully crafted lyrics that are combine with laid-back vibes that remind me of Jack Johnson and Ben Harper. 

​I'm excited to hit the stage with Ira next month and I'm even more excited to introduce him and his music to you in this week's edition of Beppie's Beats!

Visit Ira's Website

After working in the music industry for 25 years, what made you decide to make a switch into the Children's Music Genre? 

The answer to this question goes back to my childhood when I first began to dream about creating original music and content. Having danced around that dream for decades, in March of 2020, I finally decided to take action and make it happen! 
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Your recent album, A Little Bit, is a collection of masterfully crafted musical stories that transport listeners right into the landscape of your lyrics. 

Thank you  

What inspired the songs? 

In no particular order: 

• The simple joy of creating a melody and bringing a song to life - a.k.a. creativity and collaboration.
• A driving force to manifest (and complete) a childhood dream I'd been harbouring for decades. 
• The time(s) - It was the onset of Covid-19, I was losing bookings and returning deposits as my schedule opened up, creating the 'perfect' conditions to really go for it! 
• Faith and urgency - I'm not 'religious' per say, but I can't deny that my spirit took over in what felt like a 'now or never' situation, catapulting me heart-first into this musical project and I haven't looked back since!  
• The opportunity to collaborate with artists and share my work with the world ​
• 
  

Who was all involved in making this album? 

Juno Award winning Singer/Songwriter, Norman Foote, co-produced A Little Bit and was instrumental in bringing the songs to completion. After we workshopped the songs, Norman sourced the incredible producers and musicians on the album, and sang, played the guitar and ukulele on the record as well. The specific album credits can be found here: https://www.irapettle.com/the-album

How would you describe your musical style? 

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how I would describe my style. I feel like I don't have a style. I'm style-less. Maybe that's my style? "Style-less!" Haha!  But seriously, some keywords that come to mind are; storytelling, melodic, fun, and visual, youthful but not infantile, and universal. Is that my style?   

Some musicians work out songs in the studio and then bring them to the stage, and others workshop songs on tour before bringing them in to be recorded. What comes first for your songs, the performing stage or the recording phase? 

A Little Bit was recorded first and then brought to stage, where the performance of the songs continues to evolve! 

In your opinion, what's the coolest thing about being a Children's Musician? 
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I feel a certain freedom in this distinction because it opens your music up to young audiences while still keeping it accessible for everyone else to love, too! 

If you were performing on stage in front of millions of people, but you could only perform one of your songs, which one would you perform?

If we're talking about millions of people AND I can only perform one...I think I am going to choose, Backpack.