New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Today, the Nashville-based, UK-born duo Ida Mae have released their new EP Raining For You via Thirty Tigers. The follow-up to their 2019 debut album Chasing lights, Raining for You is the sound of a group brimming with creative energy, on the cusp of breaking wide. "The EP is just a small taste of what's to come," writes Ida Mae. "We hope it provides some escapism for people, wherever they find themselves in this difficult time."
Their recent single "Deep River," which features Marcus King, was recently covered in Rolling Stone who calls it "an acoustic blues-rock number that wouldn't sound out of place on
Led Zeppelin III." Guitar World writes, "With an absolutely smoking solo from one of the world's best blues guitarists, Marcus King, as the cherry on top, 'Deep River' shows exactly how to take old musical ingredients and make something fresh, natural and exciting out of it."
The title track "Raining For You" was described by Wide Open Country as "yet another well-crafted country-blues cut, driven by married couple Chris Turpin and
Stephanie Jean's tight, wistful harmonies."
Describing the story behind the Raining For You EP Ida Mae writes, "Our last show was in San Antonio
Texas when we were flown home from our tour schedule and into quarantine. The years before had been the biggest adventures of our lives, two Brits on our own travelling and playing nonstop shows across the length and breadth of the USA and Europe. We played a rollercoaster of shows from Entertainment Centre's in Wisconsin to Stadiums in New York. In all that time we'd been collecting scraps of conversation, words and sounds from our experiences on the road. We'd been piecing together the bones of our next album in hotel rooms and the backs of taxis every spare moment we had. Collecting fragments of what felt like a strange, ragged, dream-state journey. All the plans we'd made for recording the next album had gone out the window, so we wired the house into our lockdown studio and began to self produce"
There's a genuine 'Bonnie & Clyde' perspective to Ida Mae's songwriting, reflecting the wild expanse of
America as viewed through the eyes of two restless lovers. The husband-and-wife duo have toured roughly 120,000 miles of the USA and Canada to date, earning rave reviews and performing at festivals like Bonnaroo and Philly Folk Festival, and alongside artists like Willie Nelson, Greta Van Fleet,
Allison Krauss and Marcus King. All the while Ida Mae was at work writing new material inspired by their experiences on the road as well as their favorite American authors (Kerouac,
James Baldwin, Ferlinghetti, Raymond Carver).
In recent years Ida Mae have worked with some of the most renowned producers including T-Bone Burnett (Robert Plant &
Allison Krauss), Ethan Johns, Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran / Shania Twain), Mike Crossey (The 1975 / The Arctic Monkeys), Cam Blackwood (George Ezra / Florence & The Machine), Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno / Imogen Heap) and Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers). The results of their continual immersion in the production process are audible throughout Raining For You, as they pursue a more expansive and ambitious sound.
Ida Mae's 2019 debut album Chasing
Lights reached #10 on Billboard's "Heatseekers" album chart and was nominated for Americana
Music UK's 'Album of the Year' award. The critically-acclaimed album was embraced by Guitar World, NPR's All Songs Considered, Rolling Stone, and many more.