Raintown to star in Nashville showcase

SCOTTISH duo Raintown continue to impress the international movers and shakers in the world of country music.

Last year, Raintown - Kilsyth’s Paul Bain and his partner Claire McArthur - were the first ever Scots booked to appear in global events showcases during CMA Music Festival week in Nashville, Tennesse. And this year they’re doing it for a second time - something which they didn’t expect as they’d been told none of the 2011 lineup would be invited back for this year’s show.

“It was a huge surprise and we can’t wait to do it again,” said Paul. Raintown are the only Scots in a lineup drawn from Ireland, Canada and Australia who will make the “pilgrimage” to the home of country music, strengthening their bonds with American fans and influential industry figures.

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Claire added: “It’s quite daunting to know you’re about to go on stage when a big star like Keith Urban has been on just before you!”

The concert, on June 5, will be streamed live on various websites including cmaworld.com, starting 6.30pm UK time.

Internet-based distribution platforms are helping country music escape its “by Americans, for Americans,” image and Raintown are part of the vanguard of this international scene. They have worked hard and made sacrifices to pursue their dream.

But today, their talent and sheer hard graft has seen them develop a loyal, international fanbase around the English-speaking world.

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“It’s amazing to see fans who come to events like this to see Raintown. We have fans in Australia, Canada, and the States,” said Paul. “This is something that has built up through the power of social networking. Someone hears one of our tracks, likes it and posts a link saying ‘listen to this!’. Their friends then listen to it and it all snowballs from there.”

To continue this trend, Raintown have released their latest single, A Picture of Us, completely free for a limited period. This is available from www.pictureofus.com, where you can also view their video and check out some of the plaudits Paul and Claire have attracted in the music press.

Raintown also recently contributed music for Between Weathers, a forthcoming movie set in Shetland.

“All we had was a very brief description of the scene, then we went off and wrote a song to suit it,” said Claire. “But the way we imagined it as we wrote the song turned out to be an almost perfect match for what people will see on the screen.”

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