HERRIMAN, Utah, Dec. 25, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Erica Dawson is excited to ring in 2025 doing what she loves most: Her “weekend job.”
Dawson is lead singer with PettyMac, a Tom Petty/Fleetwood Mac cover band that also plays a good sampling of newer hits from artists including Post Malone, along with a few original pieces. PettyMac plays the Redemption Bar & Grill, in Herriman, on Tuesday, New Year’s Eve.
The concert starts at 10 p.m. and lasts about three hours.
After drummer Ron Rice lined up the gig, the first thing Dawson, her bandmates and their spouses did was check out the venue and food.
“The food is great,” Dawson said of Redemption. It’s an interesting place to have a bar and grill, and I think it’s really needed up there. It’s like a hidden gem, for sure, and we’re really excited to play there. When I was talking to them, it was like, ‘We can fill this place,’ and I think we’ll do great.”
The three story bar, at 3517 W. Maradona Drive, has its concert/comedy/special events venue in its basement. The ground floor is a sports bar that hosts bingo, karaoke and trivia nights, and features a patriotic and first-responders theme. The second floor has a tiki bar.
Dawson says PettyMac will have no problem filling the concert venue with friends, fans, and interested parties of all ages. The appeal of Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mack has cross-generational appeal.
“What’s cool about this band is we create music that is timeless,” Dawson said. “The PettyMac vibe — which is Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty — is timeless. Many generations know these songs.”
Fleetwood Mac (“Don’t Stop,” “Dreams”) first introduced its soft rock and blues sound in the late 1960s, and went on to sell 120 million records worldwide. Rocker/roots music artist Tom Petty (“Free Fallin,” “Listen to Her Heart”) sold more than 80 million records.
PettyMac drummer Rice, a retired Herriman Police officer and the band’s only non-vocalist, said goal is not to be just a sound-alike band.
“We’re not trying to sound necessarily spot on with them, but we’re trying to do the songs justice,” he said. “And with Erica, our lead singer, some songs you listen to her singing and think, ‘Man, that sounds just like Stevie Nicks.’ And, you know, some songs, not as much so, but it’s still really good.”
The group formed earlier this year, but each member brings a strong musical background. Dawson, for example, was a Nashville recording artist in her 20s, releasing albums and singles including “Strength of a Heart.”
She was still a teenager when she fell deeply and soulfully in love with singing and guitar playing, and the way it seemed to somehow invisibly connect her with listeners.
“I just really love music and love singing, and I’ve never really made any money doing it,” Dawson said, with a laugh. “And I never wanted to make money. I just want to do what I love, what makes me happy.”
Dawson, a South Jordan native, lived and worked in Nashville for a time.
“I learned in Nashville that it’s a rough business, it’s unforgiving, and I lost the love of it when I was there for a little while, because it became a business, you know,” Dawson said.
After the troubling Nashville experience, Dawson decided she had to reinvent herself without music. She found other work, and went on to marry a man from Maine, who taught her to embrace her adventurous side, and encouraged her return to music on her own terms.
She had loved music since early childhood.
“So I just told myself, ‘I’ve got to get back to what I felt like when I first started this,” she said.
“When I was 14 years old, I picked up a guitar and just said to my dad, I want to learn how to play this. And he’s like, ‘OK.’ I didn’t even know I had a singing voice at that point, but it kind of snowballed from there. Growing up as a kid, I didn’t feel like I had any talent. I had all these siblings that had talents, and I was just like, I don’t have any talent. Like, what is the deal?”
Now, her siblings are a tad jealous of the experiences singing has provided, she said.
“They’re all like ‘you do so many cool things, and you’ve had so many cool experiences,'” Dawson said. “Getting up on a stage and performing for people and seeing how they react in their energy, it’s like an adrenaline rush you can’t get anywhere else.”
These days, Dawson and her Maine man live in the Herriman area, and champion each other’s dreams, she said. She has sung with a few groups since her Utah return, and earlier this year, she was asked to audition for the newly formed PettyMac, with members in Herriman and Utah County.
Left to right: Rob Wyckhuyse, Garry Freestone, Layne Gardner and Shannon Otte in photos provided by PettyMac
“The music itself really spoke to me, because I know that stuff and I really love it, and love to sing it,” Dawson said. “Then just getting to know the guys, who are so talented, and we just kind of work well together, and we’re like one big family. I just love the guys. So it’s been really good.”
Once Dawson finishes her normal, wag-earning work week, she usually heads to Utah County for weekend rehearsals. More recently, rehearsals happen several times a week.
“Singing is a passion of mine, and it’s just turned into, like, what I do with my days off of work.”
And the emotional connection she feels with PettyMac’s audiences is like nothing else. Dawson said she understands each song holds different meanings for different listeners, “but I love the way it brings people together. I think everybody in the band kind of has that same feeling. We love it and we believe in it.”
They love the music, its messages, the shared artistry, and the emotional and communal impact they can create.
“It’s pretty much the only time in my life that I do feel super connected to people,” Dawson said. “It kind of doesn’t make you feel like you’re so alone. And it’s just that’s what it’s about, for me, is creating that connection. We do it because we love it and we believe in it, and that’s what it’s about, for me, is creating that connection.”
PettyMac does not yet have videos to share, but may record some footage at the Redemption concert. Redemption’s entertainment venue is fairly intimate, and frequently sells out. To buy tickets, click this link.
Redemption Bar & Grill is a proud sponsor of Gephardt Daily and supporter of independent local journalism in Utah.
