Bio

Rachel Stacy wraps her smoky vocals around every single lyric she belts out. This songwriter and multi-instrumental artist can share stories about the road she’s traveled to get where she is today that would scare an outlaw straight or the stars right out of the eyes of the most optimistic young dreamer even contemplating a life in music. But believe her when she says that’s not her M-O. This small-town girl may have been through hell and back, but she created a music path for herself and cleaned up from a life of abuse & addiction to share her music & inspire others.

“My platform is not sobriety,” insists the hard-working, touring artist & songwriter, who — just for the record — is in fact, now 13 years proudly sober. But at this exciting point in her life and career, she’s far more interested in looking to the future — and using her music and voice as a beacon of hope rather than dwelling on the past. The proof of her hard work is in her lyrics & her music and the many influential names in music she has been honored to be on tour with, written with, been produced by, and performed with over the years. From Willie Nelson to ZZ Top, Kentucky Headhunters to Tanya Tucker, Maren Morris to name a few, plus many more.

“I was given a second chance at life to change and evolve as an artist. I believe my songs AND my story will help inspire other people — especially women — to continue in their endeavors in music and art. My mission is all about wanting to be a good example: not just for younger artists just starting, but for any age artist – where society might be telling them or they tell themselves , ‘You’re too old for this, you need to quit.’ NO, you don’t.”

Stacy herself is living proof of following the path of “never quitting or giving up.” My inability to cope with childhood trauma was going to kill me, so I needed to make a change and focus on my art. I needed to create something good to give back to the world.”

For Stacy, the seeds of that love were planted at age 7, when she picked up the violin for the first time — and took to it almost immediately. Her mother, a multi-instrumentalist herself who played piano, guitar, upright bass and sang and toured as well , encouraged her to play just as much as her teachers did well into her teens. Rachel didn’t like to be home, so she excelled in her musical studies landing her titles like, “Best Violinist”, or “Top Vocalist” plus many more accolades. Rachel’s aunts heard her sing at a very young age and would encourage her to sing in front of the family then was put into lessons and would go on to earn both vocal and music scholarships by the time she made it to college. While the abuse lurked at home, Rachel stayed determined.

But it was through her writing that Stacy always expressed herself best — even before she ever thought to put her words to music. At 8 years old, she started writing poetry as “a form of healing” to cope with the trauma of her physically abusive step father. “I had this crazy folder of poetry that had everybody pretty worried,” she recalls with a laugh, “because the stuff I was writing was really dark. But it was really good…”

By her early 20s, Stacy was living and playing all over the United States. She was both a side player and the front woman of her own bands but coloring way outside the classical lines of her youth to explore blues, rock, and country — often as not all at once. “I started studying other forms of violin, and even took lessons from one of Gram Parsons’ old fiddle players,” she says. “And out of all that I created my own style — The catch-all “Americana” is as good a name as any for it, albeit decidedly not in the stripped- down, front-porch pickin’ party sense of the term.

Back in her beginning days of filling clubs as the leader of Tishara (her middle name) & the Earthtones, Stacy’s full-throttle stage persona was unabashed southern, rock ’n’ roll & a little country, and she continued to cultivate that vibe even after leaning way more country on her second album, 2008’s Rachel Stacy. She lived on the edge, too, both onstage and off, which helps account for how she became such a thunderous crowd favorite in many highly sought after venues in parts of the country and across seas.

“In my early days — I wrote more angry & rebellious and focused more on the “Love me or leave me ‘ kind of vibes. As I have progressed as a songwriter, my songs have evolved. I believe improving as an overall artist and also working with the best will enhance every aspect of an art driven life. The more tools I gain, the more tools I can hand to another artist. I have become a lot more clear about what I am writing and more intentional with my stories.”

You could hear that evolution coming into focus on her 2017 album Full Circle, but it’s in her latest songs — like “Not Into Writing Love Songs”, “Three Words” and her newest song from her project being produced by Robby Turner coming in 2025 – “I Don’t See What You See I See Beautiful” — that Stacy really owns it. Songs of world peace, loving yourself, falling in love, slowing down etc. Get to know Rachel and her music….

“I want to continue to inspire many. If I am able to touch just one person, then I have done my job as a storyteller: which is my first love, the music seals the deal.”