From Australia to LA, Rainee Blake is an accomplished singer, songwriter and actor. Best known for playing the character Alannah Curtis in the hit TV show Nashville, Rainee will be taking to the Adelaide stage as part of this year’s Fringe.
Rainee grew up in a musical household, so it’s no surprise she followed in her mother’s footsteps.
“My mother, and her mother, were both actresses. It’s in the blood. My mum, who is an amazing woman, let me grow up in the theatre; she was often acting in plays, film, or tv. It has sort of instilled in me this passion for performing and for Shakespeare. As I started to discover music in my early teens it all stemmed from this desire to be on stage and to connect with people in a way that makes me feel so alive. My dad is a psychologist, so he’s not in the performing arts world, but he loves music and has a huge CD collection. He introduced me to a lot of Jazz, Country and Folk, all of which I just devoured as I started to find my own taste.”
As a singer-songwriter, Rainee’s music has a real sense of honesty and truthfulness. In her music, you can hear influences of various artists, from Joni Mitchell and Bonnie Raitt to Sara Bareilles and Lake Street Dive. Her Rainee Blake Live at Loveboat Sound Series, which can be viewed on her website, captures her brilliant storytelling ability, both through her song writing and her connection to the audience during a performance.
“I love song writing; I love the process. It’s kind of like a puzzle when it comes to songwriting, where there is this tangible, inexpressible feeling, memory, relationship, or whatever it may be. I kind of piece together these ideas from first ether, as it were, to create something that is truthful and unique to my own filter of experience. It comes through in lots of different ways.
“Live At Loveboat was created with the intention of connecting with an audience. It was recorded all through one microphone and camera, so what you’re seeing and hearing is as we are doing it and it creates that intimacy.”
Rainee is well-known for her role in the TV show Nashville, where she played a singer-songwriter. She also had the fantastic opportunity to write and perform her own work as part of the show.
“I do a one woman show about Joni Mitchell, which I’ve been doing for years, and I put on a bunch of shows in LA when I first moved over here. One of the casting directors for Nashville had seen one of my shows, so when the role came around I had a shoe-in, which was nice. It really is who you know in the business over here. I auditioned and went through the whole process and ended up booking the role, moved to Nashville a few weeks later and lived there for around a year shooting the show. It was a dream job for me as it combined acting and music. I also ended up writing music for the show as well, so it was really just a dream job.”
As part of this year’s Adelaide Fringe, Rainee will be performing, for the first time, here in Adelaide.
“I’m so excited to be coming to Adelaide. I’ve been to Adelaide before, but I’ve never played a show there. I’m hoping to be in town for a week and see a bunch of other shows while I’m there. My show is an hour of a combination of my own original music and some of the songs from Nashville, so fans will hear some of the stuff my character sings, especially the song I wrote for the character. It will be intimate. There will be some story telling – I really love drawing people into a world. People who are fans of country music, folk music, soul music, singer-songwriters from the late 60s/early 70s – they are my main influences, so if people have an interest in any of that then this really will be a show they will enjoy.”
This stripped back, intimate concert will be for two nights only at Nexus Arts.
“I like venues like Nexus Arts where the audience is close and intimate and you really get to know each other. Those venues are really special.”
Rainee Blake will be appearing in concert at Nexus Arts Centre, Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 March at 7pm. Tickets available through FringeTix or at https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/rainee-blake-in-concert-af2022
Interview by Ben Stefanoff
