Country music artist, Rachel Reinert made her way into the music industry at the young age of 18 as the front-woman of the widely successful country group, Gloriana. Now, she’s making a name for herself with her fantastic debut solo album, Into the Blue.
We had a chance to chat with the California Country gal, who now calls Nashville home to hear all about how the new album came together, what it’s like to be a songwriter in Nashville and what she has planned next!
Check out our interview with Rachel Reinert!
Photo Credit: Susan Berry
How does it feels to have this album finally out and have fans be able to hear it.
Rachel Reinert: “It’s amazing. I worked really, really hard for a really long time on this and it’s my dream album and it’s everything I wanted it to be and I am so proud of it. I am so happy that people are finally able to have a chance to listen to it.
It’s been a crazy time. It’s not the picture perfect release moment that I was dreaming of for so long. I can’t even believe what is going on in the world right now. It’s very sad and it’s a heavy time. It felt like the worst timing ever, but at the same time, I feel like it is the perfect timing because people need music when they are feeling uncertain about life and the world. This isn’t just America, this is a world-wide pandemic going on.
My hope is that this music is reaching people and helping them and giving them something to hold on to.”
What was it like being able to write all the songs on this album? What’s your songwriting process like?
“It’s something I felt very strongly about. Going from a band dynamic where you are making compromises and sacrifices, it’s collective and everyone has to agree on stuff. Sometimes that means your songs don’t always make it. That was a really hard thing for me.
I was finally getting to take a stand and say this is my project and this is what I feel very strongly about. I didn’t even want to hear outside songs, even thought I love and appreciate the songwriting community here in Nashville. This had to come from me. This had to be mine and I had to have full ownership over it.
That was somewhat of a challenge for me, but also an exciting new chapter. I am so, so pleased and also proud to say these are mine. Whenever I do get to go back on the road and perform these songs, it’s going to feel that much more complete. My heart is going to feel that much more full. Whoever is hearing these songs is also going to hear that authenticity behind it. They’re going to feel it.
The songwriting process is fun. I have wrote so much over the last four years and have went over so many changes that I had a lot to talk about, which was great.”
How did you decide what songs ultimately made the album? Did you go through many processes of determining or did you know?
“I always knew.
I feel like I am pretty discerning when it comes to song choices. I’ll be the first one to say ‘Nope that’s not it.’ I’ll finish a song and live with it a little bit, but typically I intuitively have that feeling of, ‘yes, this is it, this it the one and I am excited about this, so this has to go on the record.’
It was kind of a piece by piece process for me on this record. It wasn’t necessarily looking at a whole list of songs and picking which ones we were going to record. The songs I would get really excited about and I really felt I loved, we would go in and record them.
It was then piecing it together, slowly but surly over time. Finally we got my team together and signed a record deal, that helped speed up the process as well. That’s what helped tie everything together. That’s what helped give me a full album.”
Photo Credit: Susan Berry
What was the most challenging part of putting this album together?
“It was really starting over. After I left the band, I walked away from everything. It was a complete and total reset on not only my career, but my life.
I knew I didn’t want to go back to any of the people I had worked with before because I didn’t want to have to come up with a similar sounding project. I didn’t want people to say, “well this is what you did before.” I wanted everything to be new. That ended up being a really long process in itself finding new people.
Being here in Nashville and living her for 15 years, most of that time, I was on the road, so I wasn’t that plugged in. It was getting plugged in all over again, like when I first moved to town. It was finding my people. It was a really long turnover process — and a patient one at that.
In the mist of that I went broke, I had to sell my house, I had to make all these sacrifices, but to me it was worth it because this is my dream. This is what I have been dreaming of for 15 years.”
Is there one song in particular that you love the most or means the most to you?
“Each one of these songs fulfills something different for me. Each tells a different story. The one that I really, really, love is Here. It’s such a visual song. I love that so much about it. The sounds of it are so dreamy. It has these cool and rough guitars, then a whimsical sound. It’s these things that shouldn’t go together, but they totally do. I love that, but I also love the lyrical content behind it.
I also love Who I Am Right Now and Light Years. I think those are two of the more pivotal songs that everything happens for a reason, everything happens the way that it’s supposed to. I think it’s about embracing that and being ok with being happy and being in a good place after being in the dark for so long.”
You’ve had a whirlwind of a year getting married, releasing and album, what’s next for you?
“I really want to play these songs live! I want to get back on the road! That’s super up in the air right now. I’m waiting it out and hoping and praying that everything works out, like I said, the way that it’s supposed to. I know that it will. I am trusting in this process.
Getting the chance to play these songs with a full band is so exciting. I am ready for that again. It has been so much of my life, from when I was 18 to when I was 26. Sometimes when I think you’re that young and things happen as fast as they did when I was in Gloriana, you sort of take things or granted. I certainly don’t do that anymore. I recognize how lucky I was at that time in my life. It will mean that much more now when I can get back to that point again.”
Thank you so much to Rachel Reinert for chatting with us! Make sure to keep up with her on social media.
