Rachelle Van Zanten

I am currently listening to "If Wishes Were Horses" off of Lucinda Williams' new record. It makes me want to get back to the ranch, saddle up Ruby, and ride off into the sunrise.
It has been and incredible stint out east. After driving through the west's most crazy blizzards I found a little refuge in the east. Our shows were ace and I ended it all with a solo gig out at Hugh's Room, opening and playing with the legendary and talented Kevin Fox. His new album, "Songs For Cello & Voice", is luscious, haunting, romantic, and inspiring. He plays cello like no other and has a great songwriting sensibility that is genuine, honest, and captivating. I was on the edge on my seat the entire concert. I then got to play on "Story" alongside his KILLER rhythm section consisting of Lyle Molzan on drums and Maury Lafoy on bass. These guys play with the best of the best and I definitely felt the groove.
With one hour of sleep we jumped into a cab and headed to the airport. Kevin and road manager were on their way to L.A. to play with Chantal Kreviazak and I was headed to Regina to find the band Suburban. It was then a matter of finding stored gear, gas, oil, and music that would keep me awake for the 8 hour drive to Edmonton. Most of the journey was cruise control, easy breezy. Then at Lloydminster freezing rain hit and black ice was everywhere. I almost crashed twice but luckily the trusty suburban recovered like a good northern vehicle should. My favorite record for that drive was Derek Truck's newest, Already Free. If you LOVE groove, great lyrics, SENSATIONAL SLIDE GUITAR, and a sexy voice, get it! I am soooooo happy the radio DJ, Peter North, passed his on to me. Soooo Happy!
So now I am in Edmonton taking Community Coaching Courses for x-country skiing so that I can coach beautiful and talented and inspiring children when I am not on the road. This weekend I am headed to "Fast and Female" which is a seminar on Female Empowerment Through Sport. Ideal really. Rocker Girl Camp is going to have some extra curricular activity this year!!

Posted by Rachelle at 8:58 AM | Permalink

*ROCKER GIRL CAMP dates have been posted. Get your rocker girl writing and jamming this summer! www.rockergirlcamp.com

*Look for the February Issue of Relix Magazine. Rachelle is the feature artist for "Bands on the Verge"!

*Purchase an early copy of "Where Your Garden Grows" here.

Listen to a track called Showerhead.

*"Back to Francois" was #3 for top albums of 2007 for Swedish newspaper.

*Download Individual Tracks of 'Back to Francois' from ITunes!

*Listen to four TUNES on MYSPACE.

*Rachelle is excited to be working with Crate Amps . She is playing the VFX5212 Model.

*She is also working with Johnson Guitars and playing the Bottle Slide Triolian.

*Check out GUITAR PLAYER MAGAZINE for a full interview with Rachelle!

*Thankyou CKUA Radio! 'Back to Francois' was #35 in the stations top 100 for 2006!

*Subscribe to the RVZ Emailing List!

"Every time I see Rachelle play, I see audiences cheering, I see other musicians looking on in admiration, and I see music industry folks making a note to remember the date and time they first encountered this gifted and charismatic performer." - Chris White, Artistic Director, Ottawa Folk Festival

YEEHAH!

Posted by Rachelle at 11:10 AM | Permalink

Hugh's Room
2261 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON
RvZ opens for the AMAZING Kevin Fox
www.hughsroom.com

Posted by Rachelle at 8:39 AM | Permalink

After a long train journey, I arrived to a new place far from the city and far from the chaos. It is sunny here, the flies are awaking, the birds are singing, and the nights are silent. Coming down from an intense stint where being "on" at all hours of the day and night is a must can be a tough thing to do. It is similar to doing a tough, multi-day race where months of prep and training have gone by, you do the race, and then wonder what is next. Often the wondering time is dark and moody. I on the other hand have found the perfect spot to come down. It is light and bright and acoustic and alive.
Here I shall finish my "Canoe Song" and await my weekend journey back to the city where I will play with Kevin Fox at Hugh's Room. I look forward to this event as Kevin is a musical genius and inspires me to dig in and go to the next level of musicianship. And he has a cute baby:)

Posted by Rachelle at 12:54 PM | Permalink

Hammers, Lyle, and I played two shows last night. I have no skin left on my right hand fingers. I had to get Hamish to squeeze my lemon into my water this morning. It was fun though and the ski training has paid off.

Posted by Rachelle at 6:53 PM | Permalink

The Dakota Tavern
249 Ossington Avenue
Toronto, ON
The RvZ CD Release Show at 10 pm!
www.thedakotatavern.com

Posted by Rachelle at 11:09 PM | Permalink

Canadian Music Week
Silver Dollar
486 Spadina Ave.
Toronto, ON
8:30 pm show

Posted by Rachelle at 1:16 AM | Permalink

The Boathouse
57 Jubilee Drive
Kitchener, ON
www.boathousevictoriapark.com

Posted by Rachelle at 10:27 AM | Permalink

I have just awoke from a brief cat nap. We are currently flying over the Manitoba prairies and Hamish is engrossed in "What Just Happened" with Robert Deniro. We are on a mission, heading somewhere warmer than where we have previously been. It was -35 yesterday and our trusty suburban started to throw heat again about half way to Regina. I had to keep running on the spot in order to get blood flow back in my feet. Luckily the TransCan from Calgary to Regina is straight and for the first time in a week the roads were bare. Thus I put 'er on cruise control and proceeded to wrap my feet in a down jacket. It worked sort of.
Graham emailed from L.A. stating that his papers came through, thus he is now allowed out of the States. They came a week too late for the tour so Edmontonian drummer, Matt Walker, did a bang up job in his place. And he is super sweet to boot. Oh and he has good fashion sense.
Calgary was a trip. I really really love playing the Ironwood Stage in Inglewood. It is intimate, fun, big, yet small. Perfect really. At one point I spoke German and much to the entire band's surprise, every table replied in German. We had a blast and my buffalo meatballs were killer. The night before was Canmore. Hamish and I got emotional in the mountains and were fortunate to play Communitea Cafe which is one of my new favorite Rocky Mountain venues. Instead of smoke and beer you get Roobis tea and Buddha bowls. I was feeling frisky the next morning thus decided to go running in -30 with my coach, Jacqueline. Didn't really go so well due to frozen lungs but we got some good photos. Edmonton was rawk- big P.A. system, the RvZ quartet (Hamish, RvZ, Graham Guest, and Matt), a revolving Jaegermeister spot light, lots of cute people, and an official merch table with light. Thank you Nik and Iain for selling my wears and for taking in my band even though you have five children to shelter, feed, and cloth.
That is my brief recap. We must be over Ontario by now. The next mission is to find a rental car and cheap hotel. Hamish and I plan on hitting the town tonight and checking out some of the live music for Canadian Music Week. We will be playing Kitchener tomorrow and then joining drummer, Lyle Molzan, for 2 shows on saturday. I have wanted to play with him for a long time so this should be fun. One more thank you goes out to the die hard fans who drove all the way from Winnipeg for the last show. THANK YOU ANNA and company:)

Posted by Rachelle at 10:18 AM | Permalink

Mc Nally's Tavern
2226 Dewdney Avenue
Regina, SK
www.mcnallystavern.ca

Posted by Rachelle at 1:51 PM | Permalink

Since last Wednesday I have been hit full on with side driven, frontal blowing, back hailing snow. It has taken its toll on my well being. Do they know who I am? We are late for our time of departure for Regina so I can't write long. Edmonton kicked, Canmore folked, and Calgary wailed. It was fun and we are frozen but happy. Thanks to the 150 peeps who bought the album. You are so going to have good drives from now on but watch for speeding while playing track one. The CDs are now in Megatunes so go get em. Our Shaggin Waggin is frozen thus I need to go now and make it work. I kinda like the idea of Germany in spring.

x

Posted by Rachelle at 9:45 AM | Permalink

The Ironwood Stage and Grill
1429, 9th Ave SE
Calgary, AB
www.ironwoodstage.ca

Posted by Rachelle at 9:23 PM | Permalink

Communitea Cafe
corner of 10th Street & 6th Avenue
Canmore, AB
RvZ and Hamish get emotional in the mountains.
www.thecommunitea.com

Posted by Rachelle at 4:17 PM | Permalink

"Where Your Garden Grows is a charged but controlled set of muscular, progressive, roots-rock pieces that project even more confidence than her impressive solo debut, Back to Francois."

Posted by Rachelle at 10:52 AM | Permalink

The Urban Lounge
10544 82nd (Whyte) Avenue
Edmonton, AB
CD Release Extravaganza at 9pm!
www.urbanlounge.net

Posted by Rachelle at 6:20 PM | Permalink

So the roads should have been closed. I felt as though I were driving in a snowy field that was a previous truck grave yard. Semi trucks littered the ditches every few hundred meters. It was scary. I am on my way to a few gigs that stretch across the prairies and am very greatful that I have managed to get my hands on a good vehicle with four wheel drive. No Big Muff for this tour. She would have perished back in McBride.
Today is press day. I need to go and iron my pants.

Posted by Rachelle at 8:42 AM | Permalink