What does singer/songwriter Rachel Lynn have in common with jazz vocalist Al Jarreau, novelist Anthony Burgess, and comedian Rodney Dangerfield? Give up? Answer: They all began their respective careers around age 30. This makes them what some might term ‘late bloomers.’ But the amount of time flowers take to open is irrelevant. Rather, it’s all about the beauty in the blossoming, and Rachel Lynn is blossoming at just the right time. You don’t need to be a green thumb to realize that only good soil produces healthy flowers. Wisconsin-born Lynn grew up in Northern Virginia, but by relocating to Austin, Texas, she’s firmly planted herself in an artistically enriched region where stellar singer/songwriters are the primary crop.
“After moving to Austin, I met a lot of musicians and started getting interested in playing guitar,” she recalls. “And the typical Virgo that I am, I waited a couple of years. Within six months after starting to play, friends of mine started asking if I was writing yet, and that was encouraging. I started writing about a year later and then started playing out.”
If you think Lynn was intimidated by all the famous Austin, TX singer/songwriters in her newfound hometown, you’re wrong. “I don’t think I ever would have started playing out anywhere else,” she explains. “It’s kind of intimidating in a way that there are a lot of people playing, but it’s really more supportive. People are just really encouraging.”
Whenever Rachel Lynn sings, it’s impossible not to stop, take notice, and listen. Her style combines an urgently strummed acoustic guitar with a dead-serious vocal tone. Although this approach immediately brings equally somber Texans, like Townes Van Zandt to mind, Lynn struggles to name any specific musical influences. “I write when I’m inspired to. And there are people who are my favorites, but I don’t purposely try to sound like them,” she says.
Songwriters can spend a fortune learning how to properly pen songs, but Rachel Lynn is simply naturally gifted. “I still like the first song I wrote,” she says. “I don’t play it out very much anymore, but I probably should. One of my first gigs, I played two 45-minute sets, and somebody said, ‘Ooh, I really like this one song,’ and it was the first song I ever wrote.” Listeners easily relate to Lynn’s songs because she is like an honest friend who is unafraid to tell the truth, even if it hurts. So rather than stringing together lyrical lines of sugarcoated happy talk, she uses her words to help and heal. You might feel slight twinges of pain, but like peroxide dabbed on an open wound, this sting is only a reminder that the medicine is working.
It may have taken Rachel Lynn’s musical secret garden a little while to see the light of day, but this new rose of Texas is in now in full bloom and here to stay.
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