RACHEL RIES

Daughter of Mennonite missionaries, Ms. Rachel Ries hails from the inspiring, vast expanses of South Dakota, by way of Zaire. Her formative years were filled with Congolese spirituals, Mennonite hymns and her mom singing her to sleep with The Carpenters. In her life these days, the choirs have turned into bands, the churches into clubs but her mom can still sing like Karen Carpenter. Classically trained in voice, piano, violin and viola, Rachel marries sophisticated, at times vintage, musicality to smart lyrics. With a self-taught guitar style reminiscent of Mississippi John Hurt and vocals that at times recall Billie Holiday and early Maria Muldaur, her songs range from the romantic simplicity of jazz standards to the distilled intensity of poet Anne Sexton. Ms. Ries has an adventurous ear for melody and a voice flexible enough to accomplish it. Rachel's first album, For You Only, was released on Waterbug Records in August of 2005. For You Only is a charming and literary work given additional breadth with a laid-back smattering of banjo, fiddle, piano, accordion, pump organ and percussion. Judith Edelman for Acoustic Guitar magazine writes, “The album was recorded on vintage analog equipment, presumably to further capture a bygone sound. Some artists might need the boost in creating atmosphere, but Ries is well up to the task of invoking mood, memory, and nostalgia all on her own.” In 2007 Rachel put her heart into making her second album, Without a Bird. Warmly analog and carefully orchestral, Without a Bird showcases the artistry of some of Chicago’s finest players: Kevin O’Donnell (Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, Neko Case), Joel Paterson (Devil in a Woodpile, Kelly Hogan, Steve Dawson), Alison Chesley (Bob Mould, Verbow, Poi Dog Pondering) and Ariel Bolles (Bakelite 78). Without a Bird was recorded & mixed analog and is available on both CD & vinyl through Rachel’s own label, SoDak Records. After the 2008 Righteous Babe Records release of country ep, a split 7" with friend Anaïs Mitchell, Rachel took a quiet break from the mad scrabble of touring and music-making. In 2010, ready to start making noise again, she began exploring sounds and forms different from her norm: from playing electric guitar in a rock & roll version of Wagner's epic Ring Cycle, to writing and recording the music for ReRooted, to learning how to play the drums to tour in Anaïs' band. Looking forward, there's a little pile of songs and a couple impatiently incubating albums waiting to be pieced together. One, steeped in South Dakota, will finally give a home to songs Rachel wrote during a two-year stint as a lonely farmhand back in South Dakota. The songs are for and about her home and family. The second, more illusive album, will be rooted in the present: life and love in Chicago & Brooklyn, and a tumultuous and ever-rewarding relationship with music. Hibernation is something to rise up out of and good, clean, country living is still something to aspire to. So for now, Rachel can be found somewhere in the wilds of Brooklyn, wide-eyed & only half-ways citified; knitting up a storm and in search of a good song.