Artist: Rachel Sumner
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Strangers Again”
Album: Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light
Release Date: August 5, 2022
In Their Words: “‘Strangers Again’ is one of the lost songs that Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings managed to rescue after a tornado had torn through their studio in 2020. Out of the impressive three-volume collection they released in the storm’s aftermath, it was this particular song’s sweet and longing melody that captured me. I brought it to the band and we began to play it at shows, exploring ways we could make it our own, but we had no plans beyond performing it live. Coincidently, after we had finished recording the bulk of our upcoming album, Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light, I noticed there was a thematic thread throughout the record of people feeling out of place or finding they had transformed into strangers — whether it’s to someone they were once close to, or to themselves — so, ‘Strangers Again’ seemed like it could be a perfect addition. We ended up going back into the studio for one more day of live recording to round out the album with a few more songs, and this was among that final batch.” — Rachel Sumner
Photo Credit: Adam Gurczack
