“I was raised by a California-born, improvising, trumpet-playing father whose grandfather was a Louisiana fiddler. Maybe that explains a little of my ability to move fluidly between several varieties of American music, whether it’s rooted in Hank Williams or Miles Davis.”
CHARLIE PEACOCK, born Charles William Ashworth in Yuba City, California is a Nashville-based, 4x Grammy® Award-winning, multi-format jazz and pop recording artist, composer and record producer. Peacock’s production credits range from Chris Cornell and Ladysmith Black Mambazo to AAA and Americana successes such as The Lone Bellow, Holly Williams, The Civil Wars, Ben Rector and Brett Dennen.
Peacock began his iconoclastic career in the 1980s as a singer-songwriter for Exit/A&M and Island Records. In addition to his unique solo efforts, Peacock has played a lead role in creating major chart hits in three separate decades—most notably Amy Grant's "Every Heartbeat" (1991), Switchfoot's "Dare You to Move" (2002), The Civil Wars' Gold debut album Barton Hollow (2011) - earning Grammys for Best Folk Album and Country Duo - and the (2013) #1 Billboard Pop debut, The Civil Wars, featuring the co-written single, “The One That Got Away.” In recent years, Peacock's solo output has included his acclaimed singer-songwriter release, No Man's Land (2012), and four jazz/improvisational releases, including Trout Creek Ranch (2021).
In the 2010s, Peacock dedicated himself to championing the independent music scene. Toward that end he has worked with Brooke Waggoner, The Civil Wars, Ruby Amanfu, k.s. rhoads, Lenachka, and the Ten Out of Tenn project featuring Erin McCarley, Butterfly Boucher, Matthew Perryman Jones, Trent Dabbs, Katie Herzig and more. A long-time advocate for social justice, Peacock has worked directly with International Justice Mission, and the ONE Campaign (a fruitful relationship that began in 2002 when he hosted co-founder Bono and, later, ONE President David Lane at his home, putting them in front of Nashville's artist community).
Jazz collaborators include Eddie Henderson, Ravi Coltrane, Marc Ribot, Jeff Coffin, Felix Pastorius, Don Alias, Joey Baron, Béla Fleck, James Genus, Kirk Whalum, Victor Wooten, Roger Smith, John Patitucci, Eric Harland, Steve Swallow, Matt White, and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Production credits include, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Holly Williams (with Jackson Browne, Jakob Dylan, and Gwyneth Paltrow), The Lone Bellow, Switchfoot, Brett Dennen, Jon Foreman, Kris Allen, Lenachka, Ben Rector, Chris Cornell, and co-wrote and produced “Hush,” the title theme to the AMC drama Turn: Washington’s Spies featuring Joy Williams and The National’s, Matt Berninger.
Music is a family affair for Peacock. His son, Oscar-nominated songwriter-producer, Sam Ashworth, and daughter-in-law, singer-songwriter Ruby Amanfu (co-writers of “Hard Place”, the Grammy® nominated, break-out hit for H.E.R.), often contribute to Peacock’s productions. Peacock’s daughter Molly, and son-in-law, Mark Nicholas (music publisher), are co-founders of the music platform, Noisetrade.
Peacock is married to the writer, Andi Ashworth. The couple are co-founders of Art House America with branches in Nashville, St. Paul, and Dallas. They've been together for 50 years and have two grown children and four grandchildren.
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