Rachel grew up in a small town in Oregon with a deep Pentecostal upbringing, from families of Danish dairymen and Irish lumberjacks. As a child, her only exposure to music was gospel - that and her father's secret Stax/Motown collection he'd amassed since his return from Vietnam. She especially loved the black gospel groups as well as Otis Redding and Sam Cooke. Later, Rachel fell under the spell of Hank Williams, George Jones and Loretta Lynn, thanks to the influence of a horse-riding teacher whilst staying with relatives in Montana.
Her rural gospel roots shone through on her 2004 living room demo. That humble four-song EP spent 13 weeks on the Americana Music Association’s chart and garnered the Seattle siren some outstanding reviews. By 2006, Rachel was touring with her songwriting hero and country legend, Guy Clark, winning national songwriting awards, and performing at large festivals throughout the U.S.
From the crossroads of country, folk and bluegrass, her debut CD The Bootlegger’s Daughter (2007) featured some of Northwest America’s finest musicians, and co-produced with two-time Grammy winner Garey Shelton. The album has made its way around the globe, receiving rave reviews, reaching No.1 on the Euro-Americana Chart, and climbing into the Top 40 on the esteemed Americana Music Association’s radio chart in the US.
Rachel's eagerly-awaited follow-up CD City Of Refuge followed in 2008 cementing her astonishing stellar rise in the UK. In her home country, Starbucks requested three of the 10 tracks from ‘Refuge’ for in-store play throughout the USA, supported by national US distribution from Burnside.
Rachel has made a profound impression with her live performances wherever she has played, and already UK venues are re-booking her only a year later after her last gig. For the last two years Rachel has toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe, earning herself a reputation as one of the most hard-working artists on the Americana circuit.
In both 2008 and 2009 she embarked upon marathon three-month tours sponsored by Maverick Magazine, taking in folk clubs, acoustic music venues, arts centres and major British festivals such as Glasgow Americana Festival, Crawley Folk Festival, Beverley Folk Festival, Stamford Guitar Festival, the Larmer Tree Festival, Southern Fried Festival of American Roots Music in Perth, and Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast.
2010 is going to be another great year for the country-soul sensation. Kicking off with an appearance at Glasgow's Celtic Connections in January, Rachel will again be touring the UK in July, August and September. On this tour, she will be accompanied by master dobro player & ex-Lindisfarne founder member Rod Clements whose illustrious credentials read like a who’s who of the folk-roots world. His consummately sensitive musicianship and spine-tingling slide guitar will add mood, depth and colour to her timeless material.
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