We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rachel Rogers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’ve always been a student of music. One of my first memories was being three or four and singing along to Stevie Ray Vaughan in the backseat of my dad’s car. Not long after that he gave me my first Beatles album to listen to in my very own Discman.

When I was six years-old, I became so taken with the Will & Grace theme song that I begged my parents for piano lessons. They found a piano teacher for me and I began studying classical piano, or whatever songs six year-olds play.

My mom was forced to take music lessons growing up and hated it. She worried I would resent taking piano lessons and asked me about once a year if I wanted to quit. But I loved piano. In third grade, my dad helped me record my first piano album. We recorded my favorite songs that I was playing in my piano lessons and I insisted on including my older brother, who was learning saxophone. My dad suggested I write a saxophone part, so I did. I couldn’t believe making music was that easy.

I continued studying classical piano through college. Along the way I accompanied the school orchestras, played in church bands, and learned rudimentary guitar and violin. While I was studying classical music, at home my older siblings were introducing me to their favorite rock, indie, hip-hop, pop, and rap albums. So when teen-sensation singer-songwriter Taylor Swift hit the scene, that was the last piece of inspiration I needed to push me into song-writing.

I started writing my own music when I turned 15–but only ever in secret. When no one was home, I would sit at my piano or grab my guitar and put all my teen angst into 3-minute pop songs. I wrote dance, pop, country, and folk songs. Songwriting was my place to express my deepest emotions and experiment with sounds. The thought of actually sharing any of my music mortified me which led me to continue writing privately for 10 years.

I worked on my songwriting for a decade before I ever performed my music publicly. My move to Los Angeles at the end of 2022 was the impetus for me to share my writing, a skill I’d spent a decade learning and honing. Performing my music in Los Angeles has been life-changing. I’ve gotten connected with so many incredible artists in the scene and I’ve jumped leaps and bounds in my own craft by listening to how my peers are creating art. I was so thankful that I gave myself years to create for myself, just being around other songwriters has pushed me more in this last year than any other year in my life. I feel so blessed to have the opportunities to finally share the music I spent so much time crafting over the years.

Rachel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

– How I got into my industry/craft

I am really fortunate to have made a community for myself in the music scene here in Los Angeles. Venturing out for the first time as a solo artist and in a new city was intimidating, but I realized I had nothing to lose. I started by regularly going to open mics in different parts of town. Slowly but surely, I got to know a lot of great artists in the area. The musicians at the open mics here in LA have been nothing but kind and encouraging. Through the connections I made at open mics, I got my first show bookings and I started my first band. I still feel new to the music scene in LA, but regularly going out and putting in the effort has paid off in the community I’ve gained.

– What sets me apart from others

I follow my own instincts! I have a terrible habit of aiming to please people in my relationships and at work, but in music I feel free to create just for myself, which I think gives my music a specific and unique Rachel-sound.

All of my favorite artists have a unique sound. I’ve been influenced by artists like Taylor Swift, Joanna Newsom, Caroline Rose, Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple, and Josh Garrels. What makes each of these artists unique is their ear for music. They have personal preferences, influences, and instincts that are distinct to them. While I think there is value in learning how to write in a variety of styles, you shouldn’t be writing to impress anyone else but yourself. If you start writing just for others or just to sound like another artist, you lose what makes you unique. It’s important to know how to listen to, to trust, and to advocate for yourself, which I think applies to art as well as business and personal relationships.

– What I am most proud of

Part of finding that sound was finding out what I didn’t sound like. I partnered with a couple of producers that had a different style than my own. When we worked on recording my songs, it felt like I was looking at a painting with the wrong colors and in the wrong frame. My song was in there, but it was dressed wrong.

Because of that experience, I began my own project of recording an EP during 2020. I didn’t have recording software other than the Garageband app on my phone (horrifying, I know), but I wanted to use the tools and instruments I had to create this EP at least as a set of demos that were sonic-sketches of my vision for my songs. Even with the software and the studio limitations (my bedroom), I created the most special set of recordings I’ve ever made. They feel raw, authentic, emotional, and true to this set of pandemic-folk songs.

– What I want fans to know about me and my work:

As an artist, I feel like I am more than just a song-writer. Songs are just one way to express myself and I feel fortunate enough to have had the skills and time to invest in other ventures outside of music. I will always write music but I think some of my best ideas are best expressed through books, comedy, podcasting, or drawing. I think I am at my best as a songwriter when I am expressing myself in each direction, especially since my songs tend to be more serious and emotional. I am an improviser, an author, and at times a visual artist. I think being creative in a variety of ways keeps songwriting fresh and continues to generate new ideas and perspectives in my work.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

When you see someone performing, you think, “They must love being the center of attention.” To me, performing was about attention. I knew there had to be more to performing than attention, but why else would anyone voluntarily put themself under a spotlight in front of hundreds of people?

I am not a particularly shy person, but when I am the center-of-attention, I shut down. My stage fright is paralyzing.

When I got to college, I was forced to deconstruct this idea of performing by my choir director. I hadn’t been in choir before college and was surprised that anyone wanted to come to our choir concerts. I didn’t like inviting people because I felt like it was saying “come look at me!” And that’s not something I normally asked people to do.

But I learned from our choir director that performance is not about the performer but the connection between the performer and the audience. The gift of art is sharing it with the audience. Art has the ability to create a space to express emotions, to rest, and to have a communal experience.

As I performed more, I became more aware of how precious and unique each performance was. With my choir, we were creating a sacred space for art to transform both us the performers and the audience.

Years later I am still working through this as a solo artist. Taking the stage by myself can feel like a “look at me!” moment, so I’ve had to continue teaching myself what it means to share art and what a gift and privilege it is that I am someone who gets to do this.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

For a while, there was nothing in particular driving my songwriting other than that it was a safe place for me to express myself. Now that I’ve been performing, I realize there is some weight that comes from sharing art. Why am I doing it? Why should people listen to what I’ve created?

Like many people, I am someone who finds solace listening to music. Sometimes I need to dance and sometimes I need to cry and the best music can make you feel and do those things. So what am I trying to accomplish for people who listen to my music now that I am sharing it? I’m hoping they don’t feel so alone. I want people to relate to these human experiences I’ve had and put words to a difficult feeling.

Now that I’ve begun performing my music, I realized I had the opportunity to lift up the people who are listening. This past year I was thrilled to write a couple of songs that speak directly to the audience without sounding too cheesy. As a songwriter, if I have the ability to get people listening or singing a song that makes them feel known, loved, and appreciated, why wouldn’t I?
It seems like the most important thing I could do with my skill and time.

Contact Info:

• Website: itsrachelrogers.com
• Instagram: @its_rachelrogers
• Twitter: @its__Rachel
• Youtube: @itsrachelrogers
• Other: Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/rachelrogers-1