In a world where I’m constantly busy and stressed out (especially during Fringe season), I’ve found a perfect form of relaxing meditation in the music of Rainee Blake. Some people may know her as one of the stars of TV’s Nashville, while others may have seen her in the new movie I Am D.B. Cooper, but seedoeatreview knows her from a fun interview I conducted with an ‘Aussie singer living in America’ last year who just so happened to blow me away with her stripped back musical stylings at last year’s Fringe. Honest, raw and emotional, and with a slight country twang, Rainee doesn’t need a live band or computer-generated music to assist her. Just a couple of guitars and a lovely singing voice is all she needs to bring on stage.

And so, it was at Gluttony on a Saturday evening that I had the pleasure of listening to Rainee again. It was the seventh show I was reviewing on a busy Fringe weekend and, once again, it provided just the tonic to quiet my mind, forget about the outside world and just listen to some beautiful music for sixty minutes or so. Walking onto the stage in ruby red shoes, Rainee looked like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. But, unlike Dorothy, it was we in the audience who were transported to another world, as we arrived in the land of Rainee. Playing musical hits from Nashville, some of her early music, as well as new music from the D.B. Cooper movie, the intimate setting of the Lark tent really made it feel like this was a unique concert. Happy to chat with her audience, Rainee hasn’t lost her Aussie accent and charmed us all with stories about the songs she’s written, her travels around the world, and the people in her life. It’s a great experience, to hear the songs you love, live and in person. And Rainee showed that sometimes you all need to put on a five-star performance is a beautiful voice, wonderful music, and an acoustic guitar.

FIVE STARS *****