Rachel Hackett All Too Clear CD

Singer-songwriter Rachel Hackett, 22, combines gutsy lyrics and percussive guitar playing to produce socially critical, poetic, and often humorous contemporary folk music. With a music that combines a personal edge and innovative musical and lyrical techniques, Rachel's music has something truly unique in today's folk scene. Although this is Hackett's second album, it is her solo debut album. She co-produced her new album, All Too Clear, with Doug Hewitt of Watercourse Recording. The album features Rachel on vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, and viola. The 14 songs on the album vary in songwriting style, tempo and poetic content. Rachel describes her technique on guitar as "simultaneously making love to and attacking the guitar." On four tracks of All Too Clear, viola is boldly combined with this powerful guitar style to produce a contemporary folk sound unlike any other. As Rachel says, "the viola really is the second voice on the album." Rachel was born and raised in Portland, ME. She began her singing career at age three when she memorized the words to and performed the Eagles classic, Hotel California. Rachel began to study the viola at age 9, taught herself guitar at age 13, and wrote her first song at 14. By age 17, Rachel was performing in Maine as part of Catnip (later Eulala). While at Smith College, Rachel challenged herself to compose outside of her genre by composing and conducting classical pieces and mixing electro-acoustic compositions. The breadth of Rachel's musical training and experimentation come through in her depth and insight of her style. Until her recent move to Washington, DC, Rachel has been living in Northampton, MA, and playing the New England folk scene. In addition to playing solo concerts in Massachusetts, Maine, New York and Colorado, Rachel Hackett has opened for Colleen Sexton and for Erin McKeown. As part of Eulala, Rachel played in Portland's First Night Celebration ('98 and '99), as well as playing in Northampton, MA; Portland and Lewiston, ME; and Annandale-On-Hudson, NY. Her first album, For The Sky, was released independently in 1998 as part of a folk duo, Eulala (formerly known as Catnip). In addition to these acoustic and electric guitar, viola, and bass, Rachel plays the banjo and violin.