Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, June 15,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5A
Dawsonville native writes
debut country music project
Amicalola EMC
awards funding
to local groups
Photo courtesy of Peytan Porter for the Dawson County News
DCHS graduate and country musician Peytan
Porter is releasing her first EP "In My Head" on
June 24.
By Staff Reports
In April, Amicalola
EMC’s Operation
RoundUp program
awarded $25,821 to local
organizations.
Organizations receiving
funds include the Lloyd
Harben Memorial
Scholarship Fund, Act
Last Friday, the RLN
Grocery Store, also
known as Real Love
Now, held a community
outreach event as part of
its ‘Serve Days’ to help
further its presence in
Dawsonville.
Led by The Church at
War Hill pastors Don
Allen and Sam Nissen,
RLN offers significantly
discounted items such as
bread, canned goods and
toiletries to help local
people in need.
At Friday’s event, the
two pastors and fellow
church volunteers helped
organize an open house
event that displayed the
wide array of discounted
goods for sale.
The open house includ
ed many of the basic day-
to-day household needs
as well as other products
such as gardening sup
plies.
Outside the store, the
volunteers set up a boun
cy house for kids and pro-
Together Ministries,
Angels on Horseback,
Burnt Mountain Center,
Ferst Readers of Pickens
County, Gilmer Learning
Center, Goshen Valley
Foundation, MUST
Ministries, Operation
Appreciation, Pickens 4H,
Ruth House Ministries
and Tiny Stitches.
Nissen, who runs the
daily operations of RLN,
described the outreach
event as an important part
of the grocery store’s
overall aim to help those
in difficult financial situa
tions.
He also mentioned that
the store seeks to serve as
many people as possible
so that the proceeds can
go toward the church’s
continuing mission of
providing for the commu
nity.
For Allen, he shared
similar thoughts with
Nissen while also empha
sizing the importance that
dignity plays in the pur
pose of RLN.
While the store focuses
mainly on the necessities,
it also offers snacks and
other products that can
bring a sense of normalcy
to anyone who is in need.
RLN can be found just
outside downtown
Dawsonville at 169 Hwy.
9 South in the Heritage
Square shopping center.
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County High
School alumna and coun
try music artist Peytan
Porter has stayed busy in
2022.
The 24-year-old
Dawsonville native will
play at the Country Music
Association’s CMA Fest
in Nashville this weekend,
and she will release her
debut EP “In My Head”
June 24 via major digital
music retailers.
Porter was born and
raised in Dawsonville as
the second of three sisters.
A 2019 DCN article
detailed how, as a child,
she developed a passion
for writing and perform
ing music.
After graduating from
DCHS in 2016, Porter
moved to Nashville,
Tennessee to attend
Lipscomb University and
study communications
and music. She interned
at a music publisher
before graduating early
from college in 2020.
Then last year, she signed
a joint-venture deal with
Jody Williams Songs and
Warner Chappell Music.
Over the past year or
so, Porter has built a
steady following on social
media, made up of hun
dreds of thousands of fol
lowers and subscribers
between Instagram,
YouTube and TikTok.
“In My Head” features
the seven songs “Why We
Broke Up,” “Champagne
Problems,” “First Stone,”
“You Go Girl,” “Therapy,”
“Someone’s Love Song”
and the title track.
Porter said her songs
cover the gamut in terms
of emotions. The words
are all drawn from
authentic personal experi
ences, from relationship
troubles to hoping for the
right person or dreaming
of more prosperous cir
cumstances.
She explained that she
took a bit of that moun
tain town-type sound with
her to Nashville for when
she wrote the songs.
“It’s not the southern
Georgia, red dirt [type of
style]. It’s breezy and
airy...that’s where the
ethereal part comes from,”
she said. “Coming from a
northern Georgia moun
tain town, that’s definitely
something I wanted to
capture.”
She called “Someone’s
Love Song” her most
challenging to write.
“It was a little more
vulnerable than the oth
ers... and I’m not great at
being vulnerable, but I’m
good at being open,” said
Porter, “so I wrote it with
two people who pulled it
(the inspiration) out of
me.”
Like many other song
writers, Porter described
the difficulty of narrowing
down thousands of songs
she’d written since 2013
down to the seven final
candidates that ended up
on the EP.
She’s happy with how
the project culminated,
though. Based on the
responses she’s gotten so
far, her listeners seem to
feel the same way, such as
with her first single,
“Therapy.”
“People have started
sharing stories relating it
to stories about drugs or
alcohol abuse or problems
with parents...things that
are a lot bigger than just
my break up,” Porter said.
Such is the subjective
nature of music, she
added, commenting that
it’s hard to predict which
songs will captivate peo
ple.
The EP’s song, “First
Stone,” takes more of a
worldview lens than a
personal focus with the
emphasis on treating oth
ers kindly, she said.
“One of my former bas
ketball coaches, Steve
Sweat, called me, and told
me that all of his grand-
kids knew all the words to
it,” she said of the tune.
“It’s cool to see a bigger
message clicking with the
younger kids.”
In that respect, being
nominated for the
“TikTok Songwriter of the
Year” award at the “I
Heart Radio Music
Awards” caught her by
surprise, but it was a wel
come surprise.
Likewise, Porter’s one-
weekend tour with Willie
Nelson this April was
only her second time
playing with a full band.
“Because performing
and releasing music is all
I’ve ever wanted to do, I
felt prepared to take it on
and not fall flat on my
face. I was not as scared
as I should have been,”
she said, laughing. “I still
have a lot to learn, and
I’m excited and eager to
learn.”
Porter thanked all the
people that have support
ed her during her creative
journey, from her family
and other loved ones back
home to a wealth of sup
port in the Nashville area,
too.
Porter will perform at
Nashville’s Ascend
Amphitheater on Friday,
June 10 starting at 7 p.m.
as part of the Country
Music Association’s
annual CMA Fest, a four-
day country music festi
val held in the Tennessee
city.
Also as part of the fes
tival, she’ll play on the
Spotify Fresh Finds
Rooftop stage on June 11
at 6 p.m.
For more touring and
music details, people can
check out peytanporter-
music.com.
Nonprofit store
holds outreach
By Rio White vided free food for the
riowhite@dawsonnews.com attendees.
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