Jackie Rainey

Jackie Rainey
Biography

Jackie Rainey originates from a small village called Ballygally on the foothills of the glens of Antrim. She spent some of her early years working and training on the land in the scenic hills behind her picturesque home village. Jackie started playing the guitar at six years old in primary school where she had asked to be taught the guitar before the normal starting age for instruments in the class, this signalled the start of a lifelong love affair with music that continues to this day.

Throughout her three college years Jackie sang and played with various cover bands working all over Northern Ireland. After “cutting her teeth” on the road Jackie began to express herself creatively through songwriting and so began to draw on all the myriad musical influences that she had been immersed in from an early age.

Jackie recorded a three track EP of self-penned original material at Homestead studios in February 2001. Soon after she began to attract attention from local radio and the local entertainment industry leading to her engagement of music manager Jim Heaney www.realmusic.org. At this time Jackie had moved to Belfast and she was working for a UK national music store chain as a speciality music buyer thereby giving her extra-ordinary insight into relevant contemporary music and facilitating her immersion in, and understanding of, the music industry. More recently Jackie has been presenting a local radio show on Moyle and Antrim Hospital radio, this has proved a great experience for both Jackie and her loyal listeners.

In October of 2001 Jackie made her first trip to Nashville, Tennessee where she made her first contacts with the Nashville Songwriter Association International (NSAI) and the American Society of Composers and Publishers (ASCAP), positive contacts were created with various publishers who remain interested and contributing partners to this day

In September / October 2002 Jackie spent a further 6 weeks in Nashville during which she was engaged in performance, the study of the songwriters' craft at the NSAI and maintaining links and recording with publishers. She attended the prestigious NSAI Song camp, a 3-day intensive retreat which takes the form of an straight-talking, critique-heavy camp featuring large-group lectures, small-group sessions (including co-writing exercises) and personal song critiques (including one-on-one time with pro writers), the course was delivered by 6 professional writers from the Nashville Association.

From February to September 2003 Jackie was involved in the BBC production “Country Cool” a search for the next country star. There were 500 contestants from across the globe, battling through 4 rounds of auditions to reach the televised stage. Jackie was successful in being selected among the final 24 performers and was featured and performed on the show which was broadcast in mid-September 2003. Jackie performed brilliantly, receiving excellent reviews from the panel and great public support in the form of telephone voting, however she was unsuccessful in making it through to the final 7 contestants.

In August 2003 Jackie attended Irish Music Rights Organization (IMRO) Collaboration workshop in Dublin where she had the opportunity to study with several of Ireland's best respected writers and the opportunity to collaborate with other like-minded motivated artists, those collaborations produced a number of new pieces for Jackie's repertoire. Jackie will be returning to the IMRO collaboration workshop this year on November 21st – 24th.

During March/ April 2004 Jackie once again headed to Nashville and attended the world famous “Tin Pan South” a celebration of songwriters and the NSAI spring symposium where she received personal critique and tuition from some of Nashville’s finest songwriters. Jackie also completed training to become the NSAI co-ordinator for Ireland.

In November 2002 Jackie supported Paul Brady for 2 nights running in the Waterfront Hall Belfast and has worked with and alongside acts such as

Mary Gauthier www.marygauthier.com
Gail Davies, www.gaildavies.com
Kevin Montgomery, www.kevinmountgomery.com
Oh Susanna, www.ohsusannamusic.com
Stacey Earle, www.staceyearle.com
Eliza Gilkyson www.elisagilkyson.com
Greg Trooper, www.gregtrooper.com
Tommy Emanuel, www.tommyemmanuel.com
Toni Catlin, www.tonicatlin.com
Paul Brady www.paulbrady.com
Gretchen Peters www.gretchenpeters.com
Blue Rodeo, www.bluerodeo.com
Troy Young Campbell, www.troycampbell.com
Don Baker, www.donbaker.ie
Kelly Joe Phelps, www.kellyjoephelps.com
Chuck Brodsky, www.chuckbrodsky.com
Bill Mallonee, www.billmallonee.net
Chris Smither, www.smither.com
Willard Grant Conspiracy, http://wgc.hinah.com
Peter Mulvey, www.petermulvey.com
Kenny McDowell & Ronnie Greer,
Eric Andersen

Jackie has played venues such as
Real Music Club, www.realmusicclub.com
Main auditorium, Waterfront Hall Belfast, www.wate