San Francisco based Americana singer/songwriter Rainy Eyes serenades us with her timeless hit and the title track, “Moon in the Mirror” from her debut album. Serene melodies and soulful harmonies enhance Rainy Eyes’ sound that takes you back to simpler times. She has opened for bands/artists like Willie Watson, Patterson Hood, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and many others. Rainy Eyes has performed at shows/venues such as Sweetwater Music Hall, Far West Fest, SXSW, UC Berkeley Redwood Summer Concert. She has created quite a stir by not only winning “best song of the month” at the Fright and Salvage West Coast Songwriters Competition but also by collaborating with grammy winner Peter Rowan.
“Moon in the Mirror” offers an easy-listening folk/country twang — an obvious ode to Americana culture. With an array of strings from acoustic guitar, fiddle, and subtle electric guitar, “Moon in the Mirror” is a beautiful and hopeful song of self-love and positive outlooks. Rainy Eyes and her supporting vocals create incredibly melodic harmonies pleasing to the ear. With a mid-tempo speed, Rainy Eyes and her talented co-musicians convey thoughtful messages of love and hope.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, Rainy Eyes! We’re enamoured with your serene sound and thoughtful songwriting. Could you share where you found inspiration for the title track “Moon in the Mirror”?
Oh, thank you so much! Yeah, I wrote this song after leaving a pretty rough and tumultuous relationship and the title of the song is actually a line from a Gillian Welch song “I dream a highway”. She is probably my favorite contemporary songwriter and a huge inspiration to my songwriting both lyrically and musically as well.
You offer incredibly pure and genuine lyrics, what helps you write to the best of your ability?
I made a commitment to myself to only write truthful and honest lyrics right from the heart, and to not sensor or think about who will hear this song as I’m writing. To me the best songs are written that way, it might be painfully honest but who wants to hear anything but the truth? When I write I try to just let the words flow and not judge in the moment and not go back and edit until later, works for me at least. I’m not interested in clever rhymes and to quote Hank Williams all you need to write a good song is “three chords and the truth”.
As an artist, who or what do you think had the biggest impact on your overall sound and style?
Again, Gillian Welch has been my big inspiration for so many years but also I grew up listening to country and rock music so that is definitely in there as well as songwriters such as Bob Dylan who’s probably my number one inspiration if I really was gonna pick one artist. As an artist going through this COVID-19 pandemic, what do you do to stay inspired in these tough times?
I've actually been so lucky as to have written and recorded a whole album remotely during this time. I'm super excited to release this music to the world soon, and also getting the 2nd Rainy Eyes album mixed as we speak! We recorded last Summer and I'm really stoked to get those songs out there as well! Lots of good stuff happening and I know this is a really tough time for so many folks, and I'm excited to share some love and light with the world to brighten spirits and bring inspiration and hope for the future.
Thank you for talking with us Rainy Eyes! What can fans expect from you next?
Thank you for including me! Well, as I said I got an album soon to be released, and another one in the works with my new musical collaboration, really good stuff and I can't wait to share, please stay tuned @rainyeyesmusic,