NASHVILLE Tennessee- An artist I have been wanting to interview for years is RaeLynn. Born Racheal Lynn Woodward, the artist has a singular spunk and sass that is a huge asset in the sea of female country singers/songwriters. But her gift for storytelling through her honest lyrics endears her so fiercely to her fans.
RaeLynn grew up in a musical family and began singing in church at a young age.
“Music was almost like talking and I have had a love for country music since I was a little girl,” she said.
The singer/songwriter was raised in Texas, where her dad used to take her to the Houston Livestock and Rodeo every year. While the rodeo was a lot of fun, it was the musical entertainment that caught RaeLynn’s attention.
She stated, “This is what I want to do. I never really had a plan B. I can’t explain the magic of how I got here. I guess God really wanted this to happen.”
At age 17, RaeLynn was on Blake Shelton’s team on season 2 of NBC’s The Voice and came third place. That fortuitous event led to her first record deal and playing some of country music’s most iconic stages like the Ryman and the Opry. She also traveled overseas to play for our troops.
She teamed up with songwriters like Nicolle Galyon to write hit songs like “Boyfriend,” “God Made Girls,” and the autobiographical “Love Triangle.”
But in the past 12 years, she has dreamed of more than just being a successful singer/songwriter. She wants to be a mom and have a family.
She met her now-husband, Josh Davis, in church in 2012, and they reconnected a few years later at a mutual friend’s wedding.
RaeLynn got married when she was 21. She told People Magazine, “I’m so thankful that God gave me my person really at a young age, I needed a solid person in my life — and he’s easy on the eyes.”
She then released her smash hits, “Lonely Call” and “Queen’s Don’t” which proved she was still at the top of her game.
In 2020, she put out my favorite RaeLynn song (so far), the sassy, “Keep Up.”
She said, “You know, there was a season in country music when it was all about guys having fun and just partying and I am like, ‘Listen, I don’t know if you have been on Broadway during the week, or even a Thursday, Friday, Saturday night. All these girls are five sheets to the wind by 10 p.m. partying their butts off. Let me show you how Country Girls get it done.’ That is where I got the idea for this song.”
But it was in 2021 that RaeLynn felt the most accomplished. It was the year that her daughter, Daisy Rae, was born. Her impending birth inspired the song “Raisin’ Me a Country Girl.”
She said, “In my last writing session before I was about to go on maternity leave and I was like, ‘What’s the last song I want to write before I have this child?’ And you know my hope for Daisy is that she’s a sweet, tough, Jesus-loving, full of grit, full of grace country girl. And I want her to have those values instilled in her because you know those values have changed my life.”
She realized shortly thereafter that having those core values was so important that it would make an excellent children’s book as well. You can order her children’s picture book, titled “Raisin’ Me A Country Girl,” on her website.
Last year, she released the song “Broken One,” which is a follow-up to her original song, “Love Triangle.”
She said of the single, “The idea behind this song stemmed from thinking about life after being raised in a divorced home. What happens after the ‘Love Triangle’? That’s ‘Broken One’– finding a love that can break a cycle. I truly believe that God can fix, heal, and restore. I have so many friends who grew up like me and found everlasting love. I love the realness of this song. I teased it in December ’22 and fans shared it over and over– I knew we had something special.”
Another important project that RaeLynn worked on in 2023 was singing the title track on the documentary “It’s Happening Right Here” a movie that exposes the human trafficking problem that we have in America.
She stated, “I mean, and the number of kids that go missing, it’s absolutely wild. And some people are victims who don’t even know that they are victims. So just getting the word out is super important. And I’ve always been a firm believer in you know God gives you a platform for a reason and to use it. And this is one of the things that I will always speak about.”
After years of riding the roller coaster of music labels, RayLynn is now an independent artist working on her first independent album, Funny Girl. On March 15th, she released the title track “Funny Girl” which is a soul-stirring anthem of self-discovery and empowerment.
With the words Riding shotgun seat to the homecoming queen/ with a label on your back/ Well you’re sweeter, Hell, your tougher/ Take it from me, you’ll be a good mother/ And you’ll find a man and man, you’ll rock his world/ Life ain’t mean, It’s just funny, girl, the song is a letter to her younger self.
RaeLynn explained, “I’m really excited about what this song’s going to do. I don’t write for where something is on a chart or whatever. I write for my fans and pray that a song can find a home and a heart and heal.”
Besides opening on several of Kane Brown’s stadium tour dates, Raelynn is excited to take her Funny Girl Tour across the America this year.
She exclaimed, “I am so excited to release ‘Funny Girl’ and be out on the road again. This song is a love letter to my younger self and a reminder to listeners that you can be so much more than the performative ‘funny girl.’”
One of the finest songwriters I have come across, Raelynn also shares values similar to mine.
She said, “I’m very grateful for every single opportunity that the Lord’s given me. And I’m grateful for a platform to speak about the issues that truly matter to me. And I’m always going to be unapologetically pro-life. I’m always going to be a proud patriot. I’m always going to love this country and stand on the values that it has because you know America is still the greatest country. And I think it’s important to celebrate that.”
Be on the lookout for a full album coming later this year. But in the meantime, be sure to stream/download her newest single, “Funny Girl,” a song that hits home like so many of her previous hits. And if you get the chance to see Raelynn on the road, Go! It’s an experience you won’t soon forget.
Be sure to follow Raelynn on her website, Instagram, Facebook, X(Twitter), TikTok, YouTube, and all music streaming platforms.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and X(Twitter).
Photo “RaeLynn” by Acacia Evans.
