Weekender Encore: Small Crowds, Big Voices at SIP Napa

By Anne Ernst

Apr 04, 2025

Support Napa Valley Features – Become a Paid Subscriber Today

Join a community that values in-depth, independent reporting. Become a paid subscriber today — and if you already are, thank you. Help us grow by liking, commenting and sharing our work.

NAPA VALLEY, Calif. — Countless songs are written about love, but songwriter Gretchen Peters finds a plethora of other subjects more interesting.

“I’m drawn to ideas that haven’t been written about as much,” Peters said. “I don’t know why we tend to feel limited to writing love songs. There are a lot of big life topics that we can potentially explore as songwriters.”

Matraca Berg, right, is joined on stage at Alpha Omega by her husband, Jeff Hanna, a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band — Submitted Photo

Peters, an award-winning songwriter who was inducted in 2014 into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, is a genuine wordsmith who loves films and novels and draws inspiration for her songs from them and life in general.

She will make her debut at the 6^th annual Songwriters in Paradise Napa, which runs April 9-13. April 9 is for “Super VIP” passholders, and April 10 is opening night for all passholders at the Harvest Inn, where attendees will be able to hear Peters sing, play guitar and share the stories behind her songs.

In a slight twist to most SIPs, which are typically held at individual wineries that pour their own wine, the Harvest Inn experience is a celebration of women winemakers that includes Angelina Mondavi, who makes wine for several wineries in the valley, Julie Robertson of Crocker & Starr and Lindsay Wallingford of St. Helena Winery.

Mondavi, a longtime supporter of SIP, invited women winemakers she admires to join her, she said. Mondavi will be pouring wine she makes — such as from her family’s Charles Krug Winery — wines she makes for the labels she shares with her sisters under the Mondavi Sisters’ Collection — Aloft, Dark Matter and Humble Beginnings — as well as boutique wineries Allora Vineyards, Brasswood Cellars and Castle Vale.

Founded by Nashville-based singer-songwriter Patrick Davis, SIP is modeled on the Bluebird Café style of “in-the-round” performances, but it takes place up and down Napa Valley in partnership with wineries. Three artists at a time take the stage and take turns telling the tales behind the songs.

“I’m drawn to ideas that haven’t been written about as much. I don’t know why we tend to feel limited to writing love songs.” — Gretchen Peters, award-winning songwriter and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee

Designed to feel like a curated experience in someone’s living room, the intimate event brings together top-notch talent like Peters with wine-lovers who enjoy music. Davis limits passes to no more than 150 to enhance the homey yet elegant atmosphere.

Some of the artists and/or their songs that Davis brings together are instantly recognizable and have snagged nominations and awards at the Grammys or the Country Music Association, for example.

Smash hits such as Peters’ “Independence Day,” which was performed by Martina McBride, won Song of the Year in 1995 at the CMA and was Grammy-nominated in the same year for Best Country Song. In 1996 the Academy of Country Music nominated Peters’ song “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am,” performed by Patty Loveless.

“Independence Day” was released at a time when domestic abuse was a taboo conversation topic, and some radio stations at the time shied away from airing it. The story is told through the voice of a young daughter whose father abuses her mother.

On Independence Day, while the girl is at a town fair, the mother finds her own independence from the violence by setting the house on fire with both the parents inside.

Patrick Davis, center, is the founder of Songwriters in Paradise, which will be held in Napa Valley from April 9-13. He is flanked by Chris Gelbuda, left, and Jedd Hughes, right, at a SIP performance at Frank Family Winery — Submitted Photo

Joining Peters at her inaugural SIP will be her husband, Barry Walsh, who may end up onstage with her as they have done for many years. They were writing and performing partners long before they married.

Peters will also get a chance to spend time with her two “besties,” Kim Richey and Matraca Berg (a fellow Hall of Fame inductee), who have both performed at past SIPs. Richey’s and Berg’s songs have been performed by artists such as Trisha Yearwood, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney and Deana Carter, to name a few.

The opportunity for the friends to hang out and perform together was really the starting point for Davis, he said.

Artists are on the road a lot and don’t often have the chance to get together, when collaborative songwriting takes off.

Davis’s SIP lineup also includes his wife, Lauren Jenkins, Kristian Bush, Seth Walker, Channing Wilson, Chris Gelbuda, Django Walker, James Otto and Shawn Mullins. In addition to the Harvest Inn, SIP will be held at Alpha Omega, Brasswood Cellars and Whitehall Lane Winery.

SIP Healdsburg comes to Sonoma County on July 26. Passes for both Napa and Healdsburg are available for purchase at SongwritersInParadise.com.

—

Anne Ernst is a journalist who loves covering the Napa Valley.