https://www.npr.org/2023/07/27/ [login to see] /peter-one-tiny-desk-concert
Peter One's tender voice has a storied past. His opening song, "Cherie Vico," the one that hooked me on his music, is a love song sung in Guro, the language of his homeland Ivory Coast in West Africa. He tells the NPR crowd, "That's where I started playing music a long time ago. I came to America in 1995 and I moved to Nashville a few years ago. So far, I've been working as a nurse, but now I'm back to my passion: music as my career."
These are passion-filled songs often with references and connections to his past. "Birds Go Die Out Of Site" tells the story of a friend also from the Ivory Coast and now living in America, who wants to go back home. "It wasn't the right time because the 2010 elections in the Ivory Coast were still causing some political problems," Peter One said. "My friend didn't listen to me. He went anyway. I got a phone call. My friend had died." And with a Southern blues tone, complete with harmonica, guitar, pedal steel and backing singers, Peter One continues the tale.