Rachel Matkin: Living Beyond Our Dreams

Rachel Matkin hits home with this sizzling ten-song debut, bringing distinctive vocals and a heartfelt country girl feel to the well-written songs. The lead single, "Over You Now", has jumped up the Canadian country radio charts, sprinting the nineteen-year old singer into the forefront of the 'new country' scene. Singing her own brand of country comes natural to Rachel, who has been doing it professionally with The Matkin Family Band since she was thirteen years old. Her father, Dave Matkin, and brothers Seth and Judd, have been appearing with premiere acts like Ian Tyson, Dwight Yoakam, Patricia Conroy, Lisa Brokop, The Moffats and Gary Fjellgaard throughout Alberta and British Columbia. Dave even wrote some of the coolest tunes on this CD. However, when it came to recording, award-winning producer Tony Rudner chose to utilize some of the best session people on the West Coast (Robbie Steininger, Steve Soucy, Daryl Burgess, Jim Dorin, Norm Fischer and Mike Sanyshan). Harmonies from Joani Bye and Gord Maxwell are right on the money! Rachel rises to the occasion, evoking flashes of Tanya Tucker, Mary-Chapin Carpenter and early Highway 101, while forging her own style. For a ballpark description, imagine that Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham had recorded with The Band, or that Rachel Matkin is simply such a distinctive new voice, she sounds like all of the above, without cloning any of those proven commodities. A tasty duet with Bluesman Jim Byrnes on Robbie Robertson's "Evangeline" brings all of these influences together in a spicy cajun blend. This is a refreshing album, one that you'll readily spin more than an explorative first listen. From the rockin' country opener, "Living Beyond Our Dreams", written by Nashville writers Greg Barnhill and Jan Buckingham, to the bluesy closer, Dave Matkin's "Lifeline", this is an album that delivers the goods to your speakers! Plenty of acoustic stuff (mandolin, guitar, banjo, accordion and fiddle) mixed readily with tough electric guitar, pedal steel, honeyed harmonies and flawless rhythm section. Rachel Matkin, brings the Okanagan Valley countryside with her to the studio. Rare new talent indeed!
-- Jim Brown, West Coast Music Review

Tracks

1. Living beyond our dreams
2. She fell in love with a cowboy
3. So, So long
4. Over you now
5. Waiting for you
6. This don't look like love
7. Over the hardest part
8. Horseshoe Turn
9. Evangeline (J.R.Robertson)
10. Lifeline