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From Northampton to Nashville
may lack the romanticism of Emmylou Harris' Boulder to Birmingham
but it seems an eminently sensible journey for any aspiring country
singer to make. But what makes Rachael Warwick's current success
all the more remarkable is that in the late 1990's she was fronting
a punk band. Now Country music fans are acknowledged as one of
the most difficult audiences to please, but even this harsh jury
has been won over by the charms of her debut mini-album MAVERICK.
In fact, on one North Carolina country music radio station the
single, Mistake, has just knocked Tim McGraw off the top spot
as the most played record. However, her association with Nashville
music began much earlier and, in the best "Fairytale"
tradition, quite by accident.
As she explained: "I'd always sang at school, in musicals
and even formed the first pop band in my school. When I was 13
my Father took me on holiday to the States. We went to Texas,
which I loved, and then on to Nashville. We visited Opryland and
the Barbara Mandrell studio there. Anyone could roll up, pay their
money and sing. I recorded a version of You were always on my
mind". From little acorns etc, etc.
After she left school, Rachael began to write and record, then
came that brush with punk via her band called Hype. A tour of
the UK followed and one of the band's songs ended up on a TV commercial
for a music industry board game "Chart Moves", that
and a single were the sum of the bands career but it was great
fun.
"Touring with Hype was the ultimate rock n roll. Sleeping
in a converted Sherpa, all eight of us, performing round London,
living on fast food and Mars bars, playing to one person and then
to 3,000 supporting Shed 7. It was a great time". Then came
another trip to Nashville and it was then that Rachael decided
country music was her way forward. A year spent in a fruitless
search of the UK for like-minded musicians and a producer led
her back to Nashville and the recording of MAVERICK.
Although, in the best country music traditions, she was very nearly
a "legend" before she'd recorded a note. "A part
of the plane's turbine broke off at 36,000 feet, luckily it stayed
inside the casing and we made an emergency landing in Goose Bay,
Canada. The bright side was that I got to see a bit of Canada".
So now it was time to put all that promise (and air miles) into
practice and she recorded MAVERICK at the Emerald A studio with
producer Mark Moffatt (Deana Carter, Stacey Earle, INXS, Crowded
House) and Reba McEntire's band. From Hype to MAVERICK wasn't
just a career change it was a different life. In place of the
Mars bar munching punk, is a self-assured, accomplished country
singer, introducing herself to a world that will surely find it
impossible to resist her.
So at home does she sound in the genre that it's hard to imagine
her ever doing anything else. In this image-conscious world, it
has to be said that Rachael Warwick will not be harmed by the
fact that she is stunningly beautiful. And, if the video which
accompanies the single is anything to go by, she's well aware
of the effect she has. She could be singing a shopping list and
any red-blooded male worth his salt would immediately fall under
her spell. But country music is perhaps the one genre where you
can look good but, if you don't sound good your career is measured
in minutes. The six songs on MAVERICK prove that she can talk
the talk as elegantly as she walks the walk.
There's a freshness about her voice, she doesn't have to go searching
for the sensuality in the songs, its right by her side all the
time. As with all young musicians the question is does she have
the staying power? Obviously its early days, however the confidence
and roundness of sound she possesses should see her through well
enough. Thank You for instance, is not a "standard"
country song, already she is pushing and probing to see just how
far her talent will take her.
A voice to die for and looks to kill for already make Rachael
Warwick a potent force. But she has something that is precious
beyond price, that indefinable quality we bumblingly label X.
It can make stars out of ordinary people and it may just be that
Rachael Warwick is the next one to make the leap. Warwick to Nashville
may sound like a great idea for town-twinning but it could just
be a musical marriage made in heaven.
MICHAEL MEE
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