The true story behind folk singer Rachel's rapid rise (From Echo)

The true story behind folk singer Rachel's rapid rise

9:00pm Friday 26th June 2009

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WE all love a good story, but which do you favour – fact or fiction?

When Rachel Harrington is faced with this literary quandary, she comes down firmly on the side of true stories as opposed to tall ones.

This may sound like a strange question for the new darling of American folk music, but then Rachel’s songs are as much about the tales she tells, as the music that accompanies them.

“I really prefer true stories to fiction,” she states.

“I love history, I love stories and I love individuals, so my songwriting tends to take on that sort of character.

“I like to re-tell stories from the past, it’s what comes naturally to me.”

The folk singer’s latest album, City Of Refuge, is exactly that, a collection of historical, personal and sometimes mythical tales from the American west, the area where Rachel grew up and discovered her passion for music.

As the follow-up to her 2007 debut, the Bootlegger’s Daughter, the new record tells the stories of characters seeking respite, escape or salvation.

Prostitutes working during the Alaska gold rush, American short story writer Raymond Carver, and Harry Truman, the 83-year-old man who refused to be evacuated from Mount St Helens before its 1980 eruption, are just some of the subjects.

“I was a kid at the time of Harry Truman and he was a local hero,” she recalls, fondly. “He refused to leave, saying, ‘If the mountain blows, she’ll take me with her.’ “He represented the independent spirit of the American west, and when the mountain blew he was buried in the ash and rubble.”

Although Rachel developed an interest in music from an early age, she only began to play publicly at open mic nights in 2004.

In the five years that have followed, she’s recorded an EP and two successful albums, played countless shows in America and Europe, and even had tracks from City Of Refuge selected for in-store airplay by coffee giant Starbucks.

She recalls: “I went into Starbucks and heard my song and thought, ‘That is so cool.’ “Then I looked around and realised nobody really cared, it was background music. But it felt validating, even though people sipped their coffee to it and probably never noticed.”

Even if her music, which she describes as “acoustic country, rooted in old American musical forms”, escapes the coffee house regulars, it’s not been ignored in the right circles.

Her debut was heavily praised by BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris, and the follow-up has attracted great reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.

Most, if not all, of this can be attributed to Rachel’s commitment to getting her name and music to the masses.

“I’ve worked so hard at writing and making records,” she says. “I’ve spent five months of the last year on the road.

“I’m hands on in all aspects and even though I have a booking agent in the UK and mainland Europe, everything in the States I still do myself.

“Maybe it comes from the fact I’m a single parent – I’m just used to having a big, full plate and a lot to do.”

Rachel’s tour will see her at the Leigh Folk Festival on Sunday, for her second appearance at the free event with musical partner, guitarist and mandolin player Zac Borden.

Although she describes the festival as “super charming”, she admits British audiences have been difficult to fathom.

“At first I thought they were cold and stiff. Then they would say how much they loved the show,” she says.

“It’s taken me a few years to figure out that the quietness during the concerts is just audiences being polite.

“So I try to encourage a little boisterousness, because it’s about spending an evening together and enjoying that.”

After the tour finishes next month, Rachel will return to America to begin recording her third album, and once again her resilience shines through.

“I’m scraping by and when I get home I will do other types of work I need to do to get by,” she says.

“But I feel that there is momentum and it’s all going in the right direction.

“I don’t know why else I would be playing this music if I didn’t love it.”

For more information, visit www.rachelharrington.net

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