Details of
Hush The Wild Horses
by Rachel Harrington


Producer: Casey Neill
Engineer: John Morgan Askew
Mastered By: Jon Neufeld


About the Album

Raised in the Pentecostal pines of small-town Oregon, Rachel Harrington has been doing things in the wrong order for a long time. She was getting radio play before her first gig, and was opening for Grammy winners before her debut album came out. She’s earned songwriting recognition from contests at Merlefest, Falcon Ridge, Sisters, and others, and has a nice little collection of 4-star reviews on prior records.

In the eight years since Harrington's last solo release (Celilo Falls, 2011), she's been homesteading. Off the road, she got dogs and horses, fell in love, put down the bottle, and picked up the bridle. In January of 2019, Rachel attended a Mary Gauthier songwriting retreat in Nashville. Encouraged by the veteran troubadour to "try write songs that only YOU can write," Harrington spent the next four months engrossed full-time in composing this collection of new songs that is her most personal to date, farmed directly from home.  

The title track is about finding love in the turbulent ride that life can sometimes be. Child of God, inspired by field-holler gospel-blues, revisits a #MeToo moment. The fingerpicking of I Meant To Go To Memphis reviews travels and travails with addiction. The Barn is about Rachel's mother’s high school boyfriend who died while serving his country. Drop Zone’s rockabilly-driven lyrics are taken from Army training cadences Rachel learned from her soldier boyfriend. Mekong Delta is about the suicide death of her uncle after serving in Vietnam. Save Yourself walks a mile in the shoes of Rachel’s homeless brother. And Susanna (a co-write with her son) is Harrington’s tender tribute to her songwriting hero, Guy Clark.

Recorded in Portland Oregon,  Austin, and Nashville, the album is produced by Pdx music veteran Casey Neill, with John Morgan Askew on recording and mixing (Laura Gibson, Richmond Fontaine). Musicians of note include Lloyd Maines (Dixie Chicks, Richard Buckner) on pedal steel and slide,  AMA Instrumentalist of the Year nominee Eamon McLoughlin (Emmylou, R. Crowell) on fiddle, Danny Barnes on banjo, with Laura Veirs and Shelley Short (Neko Case) on harmonies.