It was around this time last year that Erin Rae released her deeply personal single Bad Mind which was premiered by the Independent in the UK and NPR in the US. The attention ramped up interest in the Southern indie singer prior to the release of her album in June that year via Single Lock Records. The album offered a genre-fusing mix of indie-rock, psych-rock and folk – recorded in the dead of winter at The Refuge, a former Franciscan monastery, run by singer-songwriters Cory Chisel and Adriel Denae in Appleton, WI.
The belated release of an accompanying video has proven timely as following a US tour with Father John Misty and Dylan LeBlanc she heads to the UK for a tour in November including a show at The Lexington on Monday, November 4th. Bad Mind is also our Song of the Day.
“Bad Mind is about growing up in Tennessee in the 90s and early 2000s, which was a tough time and place for a girl to be learning about her own sexuality. A really significant event in my childhood occurred in 1996, when an Alabama court ruled my aunt to be an “unfit” mother, solely because she was gay. This was a court battle that went on for years, and as a result, my cousin, who was the same age as me and who I was very close with, was only able to see her mom every other weekend, and even then, only if my aunt’s partner left the house before she arrived.”
Rae continues “What grew out of that experience for me was a deep, underlying fear of being gay. I internalized the heartbreak that I saw my aunt and cousin endure, which made things incredibly difficult and confusing as I entered my pre-teen and teenage years, because if you were a girl in the South in 90s, you’re supposed to be getting crushes on boys. And when things didn’t necessarily happen that way for me, I spent my entire middle and high school years trying to get those feelings to go away. And even to this day, there is an anxiety that persists. So ‘Bad Mind’ is really about the need to heal, to peel back the layers and process it all, so that I can allow my true feelings to come to the surface.”
Erin Rae Tour
US:
MAY 3 FRI – Ambrose West, Asheville, NC, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 4 SAT – Motorco Music Hall, Durham, NC, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 5 SUN – Goode Theatre, Norfolk, VA, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 6 MON – The Camel, Richmond, VA, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 8 WED – Union Stage, Washington, DC, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 9 THU – Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis, MD, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 10 FRI – The Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, PA, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 11 SAT – Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 13 MON – Once Ballroom, Somerville, MA, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 15 WED – Thunderbird Café & Music Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 16 THU – Headliners Music Hall, Louisville, KY, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 17 FRI – NC Potato Festival, Elizabeth City, NC, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 18 SAT – Brevard Music Center, Brevard, NC, United States – w/t John Paul White
MAY 25 SAT – Musicians Corner, Nashville, TN, United States
JUN 12 WED – The Earl, Atlanta, GA, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUN 18 TUE – ArtsQuest, Bethlehem, PA, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUN 21 FRI – El Club, Detroit, MI, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUN 23 SUN – Schubas Tavern, Chicago, IL, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUN 26 WED – Turf Club, St Paul, MN, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUN 27 THU – The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, Irving, TX, United States w/t Father John Misty
JUN 28 FRI – White Oak Music Hall, Houston, TX, United States w/t Father John Misty
JUN 29 SAT – BOK Center, Tulsa, OK, United States w/t Father John Misty
JUL 10 WED – One Eyed Jacks, New Orleans, LA, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUL 12 FRI – Stubbs Jr, Austin, TX, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUL 14 SUN – Forecastle Festival, Louisville, KY, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUL 16 TUE – Valley Bar, Phoenix, AZ, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUL 17 WED – The Casbah, San Diego, CA, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUL 18 THU – Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUL 19 FRI – The Catalyst Atrium, Santa Cruz, CA, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUL 20 SAT – The Independent, San Francisco, CA, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
JUL 23 TUE – Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
AUG 16 FRI – Music in the Mill, Hickory, NC, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
SEP 28 SAT – Ohana Music Festival, Dana Point, CA, United States w/t Dylan LeBlanc
EUROPE:
OCT 30 WED – De Rozenknop, Eindhoven, Netherlands
OCT 31 THU – TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht, Netherlands
NOV 2 SAT – Take Root, Groningen, Netherlands
NOV 3 SUN, 30CC/Schouwburg – Leuven, Belgium
NOV 4 MON – The Lexington, London, United Kingdom
NOV 5 TUE – The Railway Inn, Winchester, United Kingdom
NOV 6 WED – The Hug and Pint, Glasgow, United Kingdom
NOV 7 THU – Live Theatre, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
NOV 8 FRI – The RAFA club, St. Davids, United Kingdom
NOV 10 SUN – The Running Horse, Nottingham, United Kingdom
NOV 11 MON- The Prince Albert, Brighton, United Kingdom
NOV 13 WED – Valve Records, Solingen, Germany