Raechel Whitchurch writes songs about things that matter. Her childhood spent performing in a travelling family band instilled a connection to rural Australia; it was also how she fell in love with writing songs. Regional life, chasing your dreams, family and finding yourself are themes that shaped her debut album ‘Finally Clear’ (produced by Matt Fell), released in April 2021. It debuted at #1 on ARIA Australian Country Chart, #3 on AIR Independent Albums Chart, #5 on ARIA Country Chart, and received two Golden Guitar nominations (including Best New Talent), landing her a record deal with Compass Bros Records (Universal).
Finally Clear is “full of songs that just feel like someone who understands themselves, but also knows how to write a really catchy song ”(Bernard Zuel). It includes hits ‘You Ain’t One of Us’, ‘I Used To Think I Was An Outlaw’ (feat.Kevin Bennett), and the fan-favourite ‘My Father’, which reached #9 on the National Country radio chart. No small feat for a self-managed, booked and funded artist, on her debut release.
She has performed all over Australia with The Whitlams, Shane Nicholson, Fanny Lumsden, Adam Harvey, Felicity Urquhart & Josh Cunningham, Wendy Matthews, and appeared at iconic country festivals, including the Gympie Muster, Groundwater Country Music Festival, Tamworth Country Music Festival, and Savannah in the Round.
In 2024, she made her international performance debut at ‘Your Roots Are Showing’, Ireland’s biggest folk conference, along with supporting Ian Moss and The Whitlams Black Stump Band on their respective tours. She then had her second international performance, opening up for Fanny Lumsden on her New Zealand leg of the Country Halls Tour.
Her highly anticipated sophomore album, ‘what a time to be alive’ was released in May 2024 and debuted at #1 on the ARIA Australian Country Chart, #4 on the ARIA Australian Chart (All Genres) and #1 on the AIR Independant Label Album Chart. It showcases her raw talent as a songwriter and storyteller, while her live show clearly demonstrates how comfortable she is performing, something that is only acquired from growing up onstage. Whitchurch has already carved out a path for herself in Australian country music as someone who writes about the ordinary–but makes it feel extraordinary-and her new album is more proof that she is here to stay.
“[Whitchurch’s] second album is impossible to listen to without being moved... it features a level of frankness about familial, commercial and practical relationships that might well be bracing for those who recognise themselves in different songs.... Whitchurch has given the country formalists/traditionalists their due without sounding like she’s compromised.”-Bernard Zuel, Music Journalist
“She’s not just a great singer, she’s also a really great songwriter”-Richard Glover, ABC Drive Show
“[Her second album] is very good. It’s mainstream country done the way mainstream country should be done. It feels real, it feels genuine, it’s good stories, it’s funny in parts, and it’s incredibly touching and moving in other parts”-Bernard Zuel, ABC Drive with Richard Glover
“I love the song ‘Where Magnolias Grow’; a lot of other people do as well”-Lisa Millar, ABC TV News Breakfast“
Raechel is a perceptive, thoughtful songwriter who deftly crafts her music to create songs that are personal yet universal–the mark of a true songwriter”–Sue Jarvis, Capital News
“[Whitchurch] has taken care to produce a truly thoughtful, beautifully written and brilliantly executedcollection of songs... the sort of care that comes from an artist who takes her audience seriously”–Sophie Hamley, Sunburnt Country Music
Jump on the website to order or check her music out
