Rachel Platten’s Modest Production Packs Arena Wallop

Rachel Platten

with Bess Rogers and Craig Meyers
The National Underground, Nashville, Feb. 25, 2012

If you have already visited The National Underground in Nashville’s downtown Broadway music district, then you know it’s a friendly, but sparse listening room with great burgers and reasonably priced drinks, but short on atmosphere. TNU relies on its performers to provide that missing ambience. From a bar stool perspective, it means you’d be well advised to pick and choose the nights you drop in. Fortunately, in the world of social media you can arrange an online audition at your leisure, so making informed choices is easier than ever.

New York-based Rachel Platten and friends rewarded the small, but wise crowd of decision makers that gathered to hear her pop/piano/beatbox stylings on Feb. 25. Amply supported with Craig Meyers’ punchy percussion and Bess Rogers on background vocals and acoustic guitar, Ms. Platten’s radiance made the modest production feel like a full-blown arena show. Currently on a national club tour, the singer/songwriter has mostly eluded mainstream media, but her work continues to attract widening circles of attention.

Actually this developing artist has already had quite a bit of success. Signed to EMI Music, her song “Work Of Art” was recently chosen as the theme song for new ABC series Jane By Design. Her music has been used for products like Dixie Paper Plates, Downy, Jeep and Barbie commercials. She’s sung the National Anthem at Fenway Park in Boston and Gillette Stadium, and her song “1000 Ships,” in rotation on Hot AC radio, worked its way to Top 20 status.

Platten’s voice, which The Boston Globe described as, “Breathtaking and brilliant” is equally at home reading a folksinger’s phrase with crystalline quality or an R&B crunch that moves her closer to the streets. Her pop songs deal with romance, risk and whimsy, sliding from the philosophical, (“Nothing Ever Happens”) to the seductive (“You Don’t Have To Go”).

Hopefully, Rachel Platten will grace Music City again soon. You might want to sign up on her web site to make sure you don’t miss her when she does.