Guitarist Diana Rein to Hold QUEEN OF MY CASTLE CD Release Concert

Rising blues artist Diana Rein celebrates the release of her new album Queen Of My Castle (Gulf Coast Records) with a CD Release Concert at The Merc, 42051 Main St., Friday, August 16. Showtime: 7pm. Tickets: $10. (purchase here). Info: (866) OLD-TOWN (653-8696) or visit https://tickets.temeculatheater.org/eventperformances.asp?evt=1245.

Rein - a Temecula resident for several years now - performs in front of an audience of family and friends. The Blues-Rock guitarist/vocalist recently returned from a performance in front of thousands of music lovers at the Open Air Blues Festival in Romania, where Rein was born.

Queen Of My Castle, the follow-up to her critically-acclaimed 2016 album Long Road, was released on Mike Zito's fledgling Gulf Coast Records this past June. The fifteen-song disc is co-produced by Michael Leasure (drummer for the Walter Trout Band) and is mixed by Lincoln Clapp, who previously mixed Texas Flood by the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of Diana's biggest influences.

There's nothing traditional about Blues artist Diana Rein. Diana's parents escaped communist Romania in 1981 when she was three years old. They arrived in Chicago with only Fifty dollars in their pocket and a dream for a better life. Diana brought her family's strong Romanian work ethic to performing arts school, where her talents flourished, eventually leading her to a role in the classic American 90's comedy "Home Alone". Diana's love of the Blues started at age eight, when her parents brought her to a Chicago Blues Club, arranging to have her perform some songs with the band. This was a defining moment. A blues artist was born. Over the years, Diana's music heroes and influences emerged: SRV, Prince, and Phillip Sayce to name a few. But it all started back in Chicago, the home of amazing Blues legends like Buddy Guy.

Diana followed her heart to California, where it would be broken repeatedly and made stronger each time. With experience came strength, self-reliance and plenty of songwriting material. At one point when hope was slipping away, Rein promised to make music her life's work, grabbing the reins (no pun intended) on her songwriting and guitar playing. Music never stopped knocking and Diana is glad she finally swung the door wide open and let it in. So are her fans. Today Diana calls Southern California home, where she continues to release original music and play what feels good for anyone who will listen. Her promise to her fans is that she will never stop making music and growing as an artist.