Erin Rae

Emerging from Nashville around 2012, singer-songwriter Erin Rae and her band the Meanwhiles introduced a style steeped in dreamy indie folk, Americana, and 1970s pop and rock. Her first solo album, the spare Putting on Airs, appeared in 2018, while the more animated, retro-pop and country-oriented Lighten Up followed in 2022.

Erin Rae McKaskle, born and raised in Jackson, Tennessee, spent her childhood in a home centered on music. Once her family settled in Nashville, she acquired her first guitar and began composing songs there. Drawing inspiration from singular roots figures such as Bobbie Gentry, Lee Hazlewood, and Don Williams, she launched Erin Rae & the Meanwhiles in the early 2010s. The group released its debut EP, Crazy Talk, in 2011, then delivered the warmly received full-length Soon Enough four years later.

Rae disbanded the Meanwhiles before issuing her next project, 2018’s Putting on Airs. Marking her initial release on John Paul White’s Single Lock label, the album drew notice for its memorable melodies and personal reflections on existence, romance, and sorrow. In 2021 she recruited producer and artist Jonathan Wilson, whose credits include Father John Misty and Billy Strings, to shape her most animated material yet. Issued the following year, Lighten Up wove in touches of light psychedelia, indie pop, and cosmic country. The bonus track “Rich Man,” cut during those sessions, surfaced later that year as a single.