Erin Rae on Grief, Creativity & Letting Go of the Dreamland | MCP #225

Erin Rae is a Nashville singer-songwriter whose music blends introspective folk, vintage pop, and Americana into a sound both timeless and, I’d say, quietly radical. Raised in Jackson, Tennessee by musician parents, Erin was immersed as a kid in the language of song and storytelling. We talk about her early years in Nashville (she moved in her early 20s): late nights at the Cafe Coco RIP, and finding a community for her unique approach to songs and songwriting. She began developing her distinctive voice—soft, clear, emotionally precise.

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Her 2015 debut Soon Enough, released under the name Erin Rae and the Meanwhiles, introduced a minimalist approach to country-folk songwriting that drew early comparisons to Emmylou Harris and Gillian Welch. But it was 2018’s Putting on Airs that truly announced Rae’s arrival as a songwriter of depth and nuance. The album explored mental health, identity, and self-acceptance with disarming honesty—particularly on tracks like “Bad Mind,” where she addressed internalized homophobia and the complexities of personal evolution. The record earned critical acclaim from NPR, Rolling Stone, and Paste, and expanded her audience across the U.S. and Europe.

Erin’s 2022 album Lighten Up, produced by Jonathan Wilson (Father John Misty, Angel Olsen, Dawes), marked a stylistic turn for the evolving songwriter. Drawing on 1970s psych-folk and Laurel Canyon pop, the album softened the edges of her earlier work without sacrificing its emotional clarity. Themes of grief, femininity, and letting go ran through the songs, while collaborators like Kevin Morby and Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) added subtle, dreamlike textures. Critics praised it as her most expansive and confident work to date, and Rae soon found herself playing major festivals like Newport Folk and Pickathon.

Throughout her career, Rae has also become a beloved harmony vocalist and collaborator, contributing to records by Tyler Childers, Courtney Marie Andrews, Brent Cobb, and Gregory Alan Isakov. Her distinctive vocal presence—warm and understated—has made her a quiet fixture of the Americana and indie-folk world.

It’s a lot of limelight for such a sensitive person. She’s open about her struggles with anxiety and perfectionism (we spent a lot of talking discussing both of these things in our conversation), often using her platform to advocate for mental health and self-compassion. Her Instagram reads more like a personal journal than a promotional tool: full of candid reflections on the creative process.

I’ve been a fan for more than ten years. I remember hearing Erin sing for the first time at my buddy’s house over on Pennock Street in East Nashville’s Cleveland Park neighborhood. It was one of those pass-the-guitar around nights, and when it was Erin’s turn I was struck down and slapped in that way that only happens once in a while in a town where talent’s as common as water in the tap. A flowing voice, hers, not trying too hard, exactly the right amount of pressure coming through. Also, she could play guitar really well for how good the songs were.

I spent the next ten years doing my own version of the folk music fantasy — mine was driving around the country in a series of under-performing cars — so it was from a distance I watched Erin’s rise through the hallowed ranks of popular folkdom.

But she’s famously kind, and open, and, in addition