Erin Rae at the Raccoon Motel -- October 22.
Sunday, October 22, 7 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
With Under the Radar calling her latest album Lighten Up "a warm, quirky, and heavily atmospheric concoction, richly-textured and poetically potent," folk-pop singer/songwriter Erin Rae headlines an October 22 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the artist inspiring Rolling Stone to rave that "her arrangements – anchored by pedal-steel guitar and the steady strum of an acoustic guitar – may be rooted in modern-day indie folk, but the songs themselves rustle up comparisons to Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne."
A Nashville native, Rae began her singer/songwriter career as the bandleader of Erin Rae & the Meanwhiles in 2012 with the release of the EP Crazy Talk, while three years later, she released her debut full-length album with the Meanwhiles titled Soon Enough, an album that was recorded in only two days. In the summer of 2015, Erin Rae & the Meanwhiles recorded a Daytrotter session at Big Light Studio in Nashville, and the ensemble's second full-length album Putting on Airs debuted in June of 2018. In 2021, as a solo artist, Rae took part in the Newport Folk Festival before releasing her third full-length album Lighten Up in February of last year. a work followed by the live album Lighten Up & Try: Live & From The Heart this past August. Additionally, Rae was featured on Tyler Childers' album Rustin’ in the Rain, which was released only last month.
As stated at the artist's ErinRaeMusic.com Web site, Lighten Up "showcases a new level of personal growth for Rae, and invites listeners to share in the results of her work towards self-acceptance. 'My last record was a lot of self-assessment and criticism, and trying to kick old habits and ways of relating to people,' Rae acknowledges. 'This one is about blossoming, opening up, and living a little more in the present moment. Accepting what it is to be human.' In the lead single 'Modern Woman,' Rae celebrates womanhood and femininity in all of its forms, countering outdated beliefs over driving drums and rocking guitars and inviting an inclusive perspective through her cheeky lyrics 'come see a modern woman.' With 'Lighten Up and Try,' a song that embodies the album’s title as well as its ethos, Rae dwells on the process of opening up to love and to life, and the vulnerability that comes with that process. Expounding on the song’s meaning, Rae shares, 'This song for me just feels like celebrating the vulnerability of living. Saying yeah, ‘No one really knows what they’re doing. You just have to try.'"
Erin Rae plays her Davenport engagement on October 22 with an opening set by She Returns from War, admission to the 7 p.m. concert is $15, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
