the rainjunkies

"Just when The Rainjunkies reel you in with their refreshingly sparse arrangements, you're treated to a diverse batch of layered string work, including mandolin hooks and delightfully gritty guitar solos. Think Julie Miller or Rickie Lee Jones- meets- Neil Young during those golden Crazy Horse years." Anne Deck, Producer/Host, "Girls' Night Out" WUKY-FM, 91.3 Lexington, KY

"From the first listening, the songwriting appears refined and full of literary references, but above all, it is rich in images well-married with the music. The first track, Architecture of Your Face, shows us immediately how the band from Kentucky has clear ideas about the melody. Reach for the Water reveals a band of the highest potential to move in the spaces from folk to rock and into pop music." Salvatore Esposito, JAM Magazine, Italy

“Reach for the Water” is the debut full-length CD from Lexington, Kentucky-based roots rock and Americana band the Rainjunkies.

Recorded over several months by Jerome Gallt at his studio Alien Gnome Sound, the disc features thirteen original songs full of powerful storytelling, literate imagery and diverse instrumentation that ranges from orchestral backwoods whispers to full-on rock.

Additional mastering was done by Kevin Johnson at Beacon Street Studio. Guest musicians include Davey Fallis from popular Kentucky-based rock/pop band The Apparitions and Steven Cherry, bassist for the nationally touring funk-reggae-dub outfit Club Dub.

Featured tracks on the album include “A Hundred Miles or So,” a lilting, midtempo Americana tune about resisting temptation out on the ‘lusty, dusty road’ that features Bryan Klausing’s slide guitar playing. “Architecture of Your Face” is a punchy, Triple-A radio ready acoustic-based rock song. “Lost Country” is an intimate, stripped-down Americana/ folk song that has gotten early radio support. “Memphis (Part 3)” is a dynamic acoustic rock song featuring an ethereal dulcimer line and church organ-driven chorus. “Spanish Horses (Always Win)” is a Kentucky favorite, with its driving mandolin and horseracing theme.

The Rainjunkies have opened for world renowned songwriter and actor Paul Williams, Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart and bluegrass legends Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band, among others. They were also selected to play a showcase at the 2004 Midwest Entertainment Industry Conference. Their original songs began receiving airplay locally with the arrival of their first professional demo in early 2002, and their stirring cover of Bob Dylan’s “Let Me Die in My Footsteps” from an independent tribute album was played on a handful of stations in the U.S. and internationally. It was also included on an Italian- released compilation called “May Your Song Always Be Sung” alongside Emmylou Harris, Tim O’Brien, Tom Petty, and others. “Reach for the Water” is now beginning to get airplay as its grassroots radio distribution grows.

The band’s name can be as difficult to explain as the kind of music they play (“We still always have a hard time answering those two questions succinctly,” says Lane. “And they’re always the first two questions.”). It originated with Abby playing with a line of magnetic poetry on the fridge, “I want to sing for rain junkies,” and it just… stuck right from the start, largely because the band itself originated on a rainy night in 1998 when Lane and Klausing first met at a party and had an impromptu front porch jam session, and largely because “it’s great weather for creating.”

Bryan Klausing plays lead guitar as well as mandolin, dobro, and lap steel. He is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, where he got his musical start in a high school grunge rock band called Ordinary People. He has been in charge of booking, artist relations, stage management, and associate production for the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour since 1999, and he’s also been involved with booking live performances for venues and festivals. He says, “Being involved with the show has really helped me develop my playing because of the diversity of artists I see every single week. I’m always trying to figure out how I can incorporate some of my favorite new sounds into my own personal style of playing.”

Abby Lane is the lead singer and primary songwriter of the band, and her predominantly acoustic rhythm guitar is at the center of most of the songs on the album. She also adds harmonica to a few songs, and plays piano and organ on the CD. On the album closer “Memphis (Part 3),” she plays slide and fretted styles on a mountain dulcimer handcrafted by her father in the 1960s as a gift for his mother. Her earliest years were spent in a little cabin built by her parents in the woods of central Kentucky, near the famous Waddy-Peytona exit. She is also an award-winning poet, and has been published in Wind Magazine, Limestone, and other literary journals. A former Kentucky poet laureate has said of her work, “She writes from an old soul,