PEBE SEBERT IN COLOR

5 hours ago

3 min read

The Singer-Songwriter and Mother to Kesha Reflects on Hollywood in the ‘80s, Sharing a Chiropractor with Dolly Parton, and Releasing Her Eponymous Album 40 Years After Its Recording

This story is taken from VALŪS Issue 005 Autumn 2026 - ORDER YOUR COPIES HERE

CHANCES are you will recognize one of the many songs Pebe Sebert has written over the years. From Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton to Miley Cyrus, Pitbull, and of course her own daughter Kesha (impressively, some 16 tracks), Sebert has been on the airwaves in one way or another for nearly 50 years. Yet for most of that time, a piece of the Tennessee-native’s life sat dormant, waiting to be heard.

Recorded more than 40 years ago, Sebert’s new eponymous album “Pebe Sebert”—released via Kesha Records—faded to the background once she walked away from the life she had been building in Hollywood. The recordings deteriorated on old-school analog tape, but now, thanks to modern restoration technology, the completed work can finally emerge. Sebert describes the experience of reviving the album as “digging somebody up and reanimating them.” A striking metaphor because the album represents more than archival material. It captures Sebert’s voice and spirit at a time and place when most of her professional work was devoted to writing for other people, for the demands of the market. Tracks like “Vampire” and “Fun To Be Young” stand out as prime examples of Sebert’s expert singing and songwriting abilities, even that early in her career. The “Pebe Sebert” album, as Sebert puts it, was different from her other work. It was personal. “Plus,” she adds, “my voice back then was totally different to how it is now.”

That sonic distinction matters. Looking back, Sebert recognizes the complicated circumstances surrounding her old self, the person who made the album in the first place. Had she achieved pop stardom in the 1980s as she had originally planned, Sebert believes the ‘80s culture surrounding celebrity would have dragged her down. She is proudly in recovery for drug and alcohol addiction, so the unrestricted access fame would have provided her could have easily turned deadly. Instead, and luckily, Sebert chose a better route. Rather than experiencing rock-star life from center stage in the 1980s, and likely eventually overdosing, Sebert experiences it, safely, alongside her daughter.

Sebert also has a remarkable connection to country music history (for a Tennessean, this is only natural). She co-wrote “Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You” with her then-husband Hugh Moffat after casually uttering the phrase to him one night. At the time, she was more interested in folk than country. “I started thinking of the most cliche country melody I could think of. I was sure I was stealing something. It was almost a joke to me because I didn't love old country music. I do now, but at that point in time, I didn't appreciate it.” Nevertheless, the track found its way into the country mainstream. Dolly Parton recorded her own version, which became a number-one hit. Sebert was traveling near the Mexican border when she got on a call with her mother, who informed her that the track was a hit. For a then-struggling Sebert, this was a source of financial hope.

Years later, when Kesha decided to re-record “Old Flames,” Dolly herself agreed to duet on it, and Sebert produced Dolly's vocals. She remembers Dolly fondly and as extraordinarily energetic. “We ran into each other because we shared the same chiropractor,” she shares, “and I remember once she told me that she had been up since 3 a.m., had already written two songs, and had baked fresh biscuits. All that before 8 a.m. Typical amazing Dolly.”

Now in semi-retirement, Sebert is focused on her family, her songwriting, her grandchildren, and, of course, Kesha. Plus, Sebert cares for a veritable barn’s worth of animals at her home—dogs, cats, birds—and is kept busy running her animal welfare charity, The Magic Mission.

The long-delayed “Pebe Sebert” is more than a rediscovered album. It is a conversation between past and present, a reminder that creative chapters do not disappear because they are unheard; they wait patiently, for the right time, the right technology, or the right audience to bring them to life.