Rachel Reinert Details Creating "Into the Blue," Her First Full-Length Solo Album
Taking the spotlight as a solo act and forging your own path takes patience, courage and grace. Former Gloriana front woman Rachel Reinert proves she encompasses all three as she enters the next stage of her musical journey with a renewed sense of self. She’s a trailblazer that’s ready to break barriers again, only this time she’s at the forefront. "Into the Blue" marks Reinert's first full-length project and follows her successful 2019 single, “All We Have."
Video Transcript
[THEME MUSIC]
MATT FORTE: Hello, world. What is up? Welcome to BUILD at Home. I'm your host, Matt Forte. And I'm coming to you from my home, as is our next guest. We'll kick things off in just a second.
First, before we do, something incredibly important-- kids in need have missed more than 805 million meals due to the school closures that are happening with coronavirus and everything. With nokidhungry.org, we're helping schools and community groups find new ways to feed these kids. But we need your support.
If you happen to be someone out there in a position who's able to give a little bit right now, then I'd urge you to take a look at nokidhungry.org to see all the amazing work that they're doing to help feed these kids. So, thank you guys. Take a look at that site.
Our next guest released her first full length solo album about a month ago to universal high praise and critical acclaim. And rightfully so. "Into the Blue" is a deeply personal autobiographical record with an outstanding sound that is both completely fresh and somehow also nostalgic.
I'm super excited to have her on the show. Please welcome the wonderful, the great, the one the only, Rachel Reinert is here, everybody. Rachel, how are you? Hello.
RACHEL REINERT: Hi. Wow, that was an awesome introduction. Thank you so much.
MATT FORTE: Thank you for making this record and making my job very easy.
RACHEL REINERT: Thank you, thank you.
MATT FORTE: I'm excited to talk to you about the music and get into all that. But first and foremost, of course, just how are you? How are you doing? How's life at home? How are you holding up?
RACHEL REINERT: You know, I'm hanging in there. When I was dreaming about my album finally coming out after working on it for the last four years, these were definitely not the circumstances that I imagined.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: But, you know, that's life. And I'm just-- like I said, I'm just hanging in there. And, you know, life is good. And I've got a wonderful husband who is just the best. So I'm really, really glad that at least we're stuck together. You know? And just trying to adjust to this reality and get the word out about my album as best as I can.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: You know? Because all of the promotion that I was supposed to be doing around the album wasn't able to happen. I literally released the album on March 13th, which was-- basically, that was like the day where--
MATT FORTE: Exactly, it was like right at the exact same time that everything came to a stop.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: Yeah. Which is just wild. I can't even imagine. You have all these plans, all these things booked, and all this stuff that's got to happen. And then, you know, everybody kind of went through that anxiety of, like, I have no idea what tomorrow looks like. What do I do with the next month of my life?
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: So one, I'm happy we're here, and that you're there, and we're able to do this.
RACHEL REINERT: Yes, me too.
MATT FORTE: How is-- you know, I think I saw, before we started and went proper live, I think I saw Caleb running around in the back. How's he doing? You guys are coming up on a year in August, right? It'll have been a year anniversary?
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, one year anniversary in August. It's just crazy because I feel like it's just flown by. But yeah, you did see him. I was, like, busy, you know, getting my hair done and doing my make-up.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: I'm pretty sure I forgot how to do it. And so he was getting me all set up, and making sure the framing was good, and the lighting was good, and all that. But he's-- he went to go run an errand. So--
MATT FORTE: [INAUDIBLE] yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: I was like, get out of here.
MATT FORTE: Has the experience of being cooped up together like this reveal things that you didn't previously know about each other? Like, oh, I guess he chews with his mouth open, I never caught that before. Like, has that happened to you?
RACHEL REINERT: No, we've been together for a really long time. We've been together for-- in total, it'll be six years this year.
MATT FORTE: Wow.
RACHEL REINERT: So yeah, no more big surprises. And thankfully, he does not get on my nerves. And I'm pretty sure it works both ways. So--
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: We're good. We're doing well. And, you know, it would really be a true test, I think, especially in the house that we're in now. Because it's a small house. It's only 1,000 square feet and we have one bathroom. So--
MATT FORTE: So, there you go. Welcome to the first year of marriage. You are figuring it out.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, he spends a lot of time outside.
MATT FORTE: Nice. Nice. Well, I assumed things were going well. Because you posted, like, this beautiful acoustic version of "Some Kind of Angel" on your Instagram and YouTube. It's like, all right, if she's still singing that, then I imagine they're all right.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, we're good. We're good, thankfully. And we were actually able to-- the spot where we got married was this little tree house about an hour. It's outside of Nashville.
And the owners asked us if if we wanted to come stay for a night. We just did that earlier this week. So it was--
MATT FORTE: Oh, cool.
RACHEL REINERT: --nostalgic moment for us. You know? And it's super secluded. And you're just kind of out there in the woods by yourself. So it was nice. It was nice just to get a little pause on--
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: --on the one place that we've been looking at for over a month.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, for sure. That sounds awesome. Just to go back to the acoustic cover, one of the things that I really enjoyed seeing with a lot of artists doing all this like homemade content and seeing it come out, is you kind of-- everybody gets to really see how talented our favorite artists are.
Is it scarier for you, as a performer, to release something without, like, all the production bells and whistles, and without a band? It's just you, your voice, your guitar in your house-- that's it. And here it is, it's out to the world. Is that is that a scary thing to put out there for you?
RACHEL REINERT: I guess it's like a yes and no. I think just cause I'm a singer first, and I can, like, make my way around the guitar. You know? But I'm definitely not a great guitar player, by any means. So I think that's where I probably feel, like, the most self-conscious.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: But, you know, I mean, I think people are just happy to just have something to look at from the live point of view. Just because, you know, we can't go to concerts right now. And that sucks.
So I'm willing to kind of put my pride aside a little bit when it comes to my very mediocre guitar playing. And people have been super, super sweet. And, you know, I'm just thankful to be able to have things like Instagram. Because, I mean, if this was happening 10 or 15 years ago, you know, I mean, we had Myspace.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, exactly. But that was not the same.
RACHEL REINERT: No, no, no.
MATT FORTE: It is crazy to see all the-- after, I don't know, a year and change, of how bad social media and the internet can be, it's interesting to see all the good that it can do now and how it's kind of saving a lot of us because it's the only way we can communicate. And it's bringing us a lot closer together, I think than it has in the past, which is pretty wild.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think, you know, I spend like half the time cursing it. But at the same time, I'm like, well, I'm pretty grateful for it right now.
MATT FORTE: Yeah. Talking about that particular song, it's a beautiful song, outstanding piece of music. What was it like the first time Caleb heard it? Do you remember his reaction? Did you tell him you were writing a song that was kind of inspired? Did you to spring it on him? What was that like?
RACHEL REINERT: You know what's so funny? Is I actually didn't even realize this until I was doing-- I'm doing, like, a little-- I'm putting together this project where I went and did calls with all of the songwriters from the album. And we just talked about what the process was on writing each of those songs.
And I didn't even realize it, but I wrote that song with my producer, Davis Nash and another co-writer, wonderful girl named Autumn McEntire. And we wrote that song in 2016. And I was like, there's no way-- there's no way. And they were like, no, we wrote that song. So I mean, it's almost been four years since that song was written. So my memory on it is a little bit fuzzy. But I definitely remember showing it to Caleb. And I think he was over the moon about it.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: He was like, yeah, I am, I am some kind of--
MATT FORTE: Nailed it.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: That's me.
RACHEL REINERT: I know. It's funny because, one of the funnier reviews that I read was, you know, it's typically a guy calling his girl an angel.
MATT FORTE: Right.
RACHEL REINERT: So it's definitely flipping the script a little bit. But I find that to be my truth. And he really is. He's a god-send for sure.
MATT FORTE: That's awesome.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: Well, we're going to talk about the record a little bit more now. But just, I'm happy to see that you both are doing so well, and you're hanging in there, and you're staying healthy. And it's just nice to see that. And I'm happy to see that. So keep doing what you're doing. Wash your hands.
But let's talk about this record. You know, we mentioned four years-plus in the making. And, as I said in the introduction, it came out. Tons of critical praise, tons of love from the fans. That's got to be great to see.
When you have a record that's so personal, it's got so much of you in it, is it scary coming up to the release, like the uncertainty of how it will be received and how people are going to hear it and think about it?
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, I was totally freaking out. I was--
[LAUGHTER]
We had to go take a trip to Florida just to kind of clear my head a little bit. And I was just reading a ton of books and trying to be as zen as I possibly could. But, yeah, I had a lot of-- I would say I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the release.
MATT FORTE: yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: Just because I wanted it to go so perfectly. And I wanted people to like it. And I put everything that I am into this album. You know, so that's-- when you're kind of entering into something with so much uncertainty around it, that's definitely a scary thing. But obviously some crazy things happened.
And, I mean, literally the day that we got back, the tornado hit Nashville. And I mean, it just absolutely devastated our city. So that was horrible. And then the quarantine happened. I was supposed to have a listening party the day before the album came out that we had to cancel.
So there were a lot of things that, it just kind of felt like, you know what? There's so much that's just out of my hands and out of my control. And I just have to surrender to that.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: And I have to be OK with that. And if this is how this was supposed to play out, you know, I'm at peace with that. And that took me a little bit to get to, to finally get to that point.
MATT FORTE: Right.
RACHEL REINERT: But I'm just glad to be able to be doing things like this and still trying to get the word out in whatever way that I can.
MATT FORTE: For sure. Yeah, that's a great point to be at. But it definitely takes time. Nobody gets there right away. You've got to go through all those stages of frustration, and disappointment, and-- all those different things have to happen before you can arrive at, all right, this was supposed to happen. So that's a difficult--
RACHEL REINERT: Right.
MATT FORTE: That's a difficult journey to have to take. Did you write any music during that journey, by any chance? Were you, like, inspired? Or were you just too in it, in the moment?
RACHEL REINERT: You know, I haven't really been writing a ton right now, just because I wanted my sole focus to be on promoting this album.
MATT FORTE: For sure.
RACHEL REINERT: I've written a little bit here and there. But I found it to be a little bit hard to feel super inspired right now.
MATT FORTE: I get that. I get that.
RACHEL REINERT: [INAUDIBLE]. But yeah, I mean, there was so much build up of just uncertainty and nervous excitement. And then the tornado really, really brought--
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: --to a place of just-- I just was so heartbroken over that.
MATT FORTE: Sure.
RACHEL REINERT: And we went out and tried to help where we could. But man, it's just-- like, you realize how much is so much bigger than you and your own stuff. You know?
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: And so I had to just put my own selfishness aside.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, yeah. Well, good on you for doing that and pitching in where you can. That's-- I forget the-- I'm going to butcher the heck out of this quote.
But that Mr. Rogers bit about, you know, when he was little and he would see bad stuff on the news. And his mom told him to always look for the helpers. When you see scary news, look for the helpers. And that's how you know we're going to be all right. Again, I ruined a brilliant man's beautiful quote. But the sentiment is there.
RACHEL REINERT: No, I love-- and honestly, that kind of thing just gives me the chills. So, I love that. And that's the truth. And Nashville really came together.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: You just saw so much community come together for everybody, for each other.
MATT FORTE: That's pretty awesome. Going back to talking about-- how you're not really writing right now. But I want to talk about the writing on this record. There's so many great lyrics and lines. I wrote down a couple of them that stood out, even after the first couple listens. "I get afraid I'll be remembered not for the fire, but the embers." I didn't write this down, but literally the entire chorus to "Who I Am Right Now" is amazing.
You know, you co-wrote the whole record. How often are lines like that found in a writing session? And how often do they come to you kind of spontaneously you've got to jot them down quickly in your phone or something before you forget them?
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, so, I mean, the perfect example of a moment of just random inspiration that struck me that I wrote down was pretty much the entire first verse to the song "Here." I had those lines. But I didn't have music or melody.
So I went into the room that day with Davis and another wonderful writer named Tommy Lee James. And Davis kind of had this vibe going, just musical. And I pulled up those lines. And I just started singing them out. And they just fit. And then the rest of the song fell into place.
But there are definitely moments, like with "Dark Star," the "I get afraid I'll be remembered not for the fire, but the embers," that just fell out in the session. So, you know, I try to do a lot of work, like prior to my session. And I try to be as prepared as I possibly can. But sometimes you just go into the room and just see where the song takes you.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: But thank you for saying that. That's definitely one of those lines that people bring up a lot. And then I think on "Who I Am Right Now," it was the same situation where it just sort of fell out. I wrote that one in Los Angeles outside, over at my friend Garrison Starr's house.
And she has this just beautiful, beautiful house in-- oh gosh, where is she? I forget where she is exactly in LA. But, just tons of, like, giant succulents, and just trees, and just gorgeousness.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: And so we wrote the chorus of that song I think first and then kind of built the verses around it. And that song was so-- it just was-- we were putting out so much honesty and truth. And I think it just it was so vulnerable that at first I resisted it.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: You know? But that ended up being one of my favorite songs on the record. And I'm so glad that I put it on there. And Davis definitely gets a lot of credit for that. Because he was just like, this-- this is a song.
MATT FORTE: Yeah. There are a lot of moments on the record where you're like, oh, this is a song. This is, like-- it's really great. When you talk about, you know, it's four years in the making, and four-plus years. And there's so many songs that are clearly pulled from significant moments in your life.
You know, such a biographical piece, are there lines or moments on this record that, when you hear them, you're immediately transported back in time to that moment, to what you're singing about?
RACHEL REINERT: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I was surprised when I was chatting with everybody about those sessions, how much I did remember. And, you know, just because you write so many songs. And over the last four years, I've probably written, I don't know, 60, 70-plus songs. You know? And so you narrow it down to 11.
But I definitely have vivid memories of what I was feeling, and what we were thinking, and even sometimes just exact things that we were talking about that day.
MATT FORTE: Right, very cool.
RACHEL REINERT: You know? And that's why I love songwriting so much. And a lot of us are having to do our writing sessions over Zoom. And that's great. And I'm glad that we're able to do that.
But when you're in a room with someone, you have this reciprocal just chemistry thing.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: And I-- it's just an energy thing. And I definitely miss that.
MATT FORTE: You miss that, yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: And I'm looking forward-- yeah. I'm looking forward to getting back in the room with people. And I think that's probably why I haven't been writing so much lately.
MATT FORTE: Yeah. I'm sure it's not the same thing. But there was a really cute video on Caleb's Instagram if you guys playing bongos together. That felt like a-- just probably like a piece of that.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: You know, talking about-- I mentioned "Who I Am Right Now." A friend of yours, a couple of weeks ago, posted a video of themselves dancing to the track. It was this amazing improvised dance.
What's it feel like to see your response like that to your work, and to see your music bringing people comfort? Because there was a, in addition to the dance, like a beautiful little piece, like, in that post just about what that song meant and how this album is making them feel right now in these crazy times. How does that make you feel when you see that your art is doing that for other people?
RACHEL REINERT: Well, I mean, that's what it's all about for me, right? It's about the human connection. And that's what drew me to music in the first place when I was a little kid, was the fact that I could turn on a song and it could capture exactly what I was feeling. It's the human experience of it, right?
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: And to see it translated through somebody else's medium, that takes it to a whole other level for me. You know? And my friend Andy, who was dancing to the song, I actually flew him out here to be in a music video that I'm getting ready to release for "Here." And he's dancing in the video. And--
MATT FORTE: That's amazing.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, it's so special. And, I mean, that's how much all of that means to me, right? And so he's just kind of used as an extension of my words and the song. And so he's just-- what he could do with his body that I could never do just kind of takes everything to just a whole other place and brings the song to life in a new way.
MATT FORTE: Wow.
RACHEL REINERT: So, yeah, I mean, I adore seeing stuff like that. I love when my words and my experiences can move other people--
MATT FORTE: Very grateful.
RACHEL REINERT: --and they can relate to it and connect to it.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, for sure as people are turning to your music, you know, during this time and finding comfort in that, is there an artist or a record in particular that you turn to that brings you comfort, like a big audio security blanket that you hold onto and, oh, this place, this record makes you feel good?
RACHEL REINERT: Oh man, I mean, I'm a huge Fleetwood Mac fan. The Buckingham Nicks record is just-- I know it's like a rare, rare thing and it's hard to find. But that's always a go-to for me.
And, gosh, what else do I love? I mean, I'm a Big John Mayer fan as well.
MATT FORTE: Very cool.
RACHEL REINERT: I love what Harry Styles is doing. His new record is really cool. But, you know, I listen to a lot of stuff. I listen to a lot of old stuff. I listen to a lot of new stuff. I love Ielo. You know?
So I think for me, it's just kind of whatever mood I'm in. If I'm cooking, I just want to listen to, you know, like an Italian cooking playlist on Spotify.
MATT FORTE: Nice.
RACHEL REINERT: That actually, probably-- that's my favorite right now.
MATT FORTE: Yeah, the Italian cooking playlist? That is a go-to in my household as well. Yeah, it's very nice.
RACHEL REINERT: It's the best, right?
MATT FORTE: It's so good. Yeah, it's perfect. It's the exact mood. And it's exactly what I need to hear while I'm cutting up some garlic and putting some oil on the pan. It's exactly there.
RACHEL REINERT: Exactly.
MATT FORTE: Like, [SMACKING NOISE], perfect.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah.
MATT FORTE: Well, a lot of great examples and a lot of great artists in there to listen to for those that are watching and looking for other stuff to add to their playlist. And while you're adding to your playlist, "Into the Blue" is out right now. And I can't say enough good things about it.
I've got to let you go and wrap things up. Rachel, before we get out of here, remind everybody once more-- the record, it's only a month old. It's brand new. And it's beautiful. And it's a fantastic record. "Into the Blue," you can listen to it where you listen to things. So go listen to that thing.
Anything else you want to tell? Keep an eye out for that music video, that's coming.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, that's coming. And I actually-- I just got my vinyl.
MATT FORTE: Whoa, congrats.
RACHEL REINERT: Thank you. So those are ready to order now too. If you just go to rachelreinertmusic.com. you can order it through there. That's R-E-I-N-E-R-T. you. Can see it right there.
Yeah, this is my first time having vinyl. And I'm super, super excited about it. And they're all, like-- they're all blue.
MATT FORTE: Oh, you went all out.
RACHEL REINERT: Yeah, I know. This is, like, such a big deal for me because I'm a big vinyl fan. So, yeah, those are finally officially available.
MATT FORTE: Oh my gosh.
RACHEL REINERT: So, super get excited about that.
MATT FORTE: I know I'm wrapping things up. But this is your first vinyl. It's huge. It's a gorgeous vinyl. What was it like the first time you opened that box and saw your first one and held it?
RACHEL REINERT: Oh my gosh, I mean it-- I did it yesterday. I didn't cry. You know what's so funny? I didn't even cry at my own wedding. But I definitely felt a moment of just pride, for sure.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: Because, you know, it's been a very, very long journey. And, yeah, it just-- it feels surreal to me still, I think.
MATT FORTE: Yeah.
RACHEL REINERT: You know?
MATT FORTE: Very, very-- well, we're in surreal times.
RACHEL REINERT: Yes, yeah.
MATT FORTE: Surreal on top of that, I can't even imagine. Rachel, I've gotta let you go. But thank you so much for taking some time, and hanging out with me, and talking about the record and everything you've got going on over there.
I'm happy you're doing well. I'm happy Caleb's all right, that you guys are healthy and hanging in there. Keep doing what you're doing. And "Into the Blue," everybody. Thank you so much, Rachel Reinert.
RACHEL REINERT: Thank you. Yes, stay safe and take care. And thank you so much.
MATT FORTE: Thank you.
RACHEL REINERT: All right.
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