Rett Madison

One Liner:  Under-the-radar belter with some excellent, if sometimes very sad, lyrics

Wikipedia Genre:  No Wikipedia - folk, indie rock, indie pop

Home: L.A. (via West Virginia)

Poster Position: 20
Weekend One Only.
Saturday at 5:10.

BMI Stage.

Thoughts:  Reminds me of the singer from Lake Street Dive.  Someone else too, but I can't put my finger on it.  Powerful voice, with music ranging from country to smooth southern soul to rock.  She also sounds like Fiona Apple at times, and Noah Cyrus at others.  But those aren't the other one that is sticking in my mind.  And she can freaking BELT!  I like it.

So, right off the bat in one article I read, they just dive right in that her mom killed herself in 2019.  Awful shit.  So, she used music as a way to unpack that pain and make her second album One for Jackie.  Just prepare yourself, if you dive into that album, for verses like this that will crush your soul and make your eyes well: "Studying a photo of you, grinnin’ at the kitchen table, crowned in jewels and royal blue, bright and young at 22, everybody says I’m just like you, was that one of many days you suffered through? Both know sadness too well, I lost you to its spell, waking up without you is waking up in hell, I’ll never meet you at 48, you won’t cry on my wedding day, you’ll never hear my children say your name. "  Good goddamn.  "Flea Market" will fuck you up too.

Prior to her own debut, she had sung backup for Lorde and others, but she has no Wikipedia or very many articles that I could simply find.  Two albums, 2021's Pin-Up Daddy and 2023's One for Jackie.  None of them really crush the stream count, with the title track from the first album as the top streamer (even over the one featuring Iron and Wine, which is fascinating) with 1.3 million streams.

Live version, but the other YouTube videos were remixes or with another singer.  Get it!  There is a voice mail from her mom on the first album, and it feels deeply sad when you know that she was gone by then.  Fuckin' A.  But the version of that song with Katie Pruitt is good stuff!

The top track from the new album is "Fortune Teller."  145k streams.

Hear that Lake Street Dive flavor?  Silky smooth stuff right there, as she goes through it trying to feel better about her momma.  Great groove - I love that mellow guitar solo in there.  "Skydiving" rips the "When the Levee Breaks" drum line and I dig it.

I think she is phenomenal.  I have no clue whey she is in size 4 font when The Marias are 3x bigger, but so it goes with the world of music.