Rain Perry


Rain Perry is an American folk-rock singer/songwriter. Her song "Beautiful Tree" was the theme song for the CW Network series Life Unexpected. "Yosemite," her celebration of the pains of growing up, won the Grand Prize in the 2000 John Lennon Songwriting Contest and has been recorded by Tom Russell and Nanci Griffith. She is the author of autobiographical one-woman, multi-media show Cinderblock Bookshelves and the director of the documentary The Shopkeeper, about the state of the music business as told through the story of Austin music producer Mark Hallman.

Biography

Rain Noel Perry was born in Hollywood, California. She spent her early years in Los Angeles and Redondo Beach as a member of Bethel Tabernacle church. When her young mother died in 1974 Perry was raised by her father, writer/actor John Hazen Perry. They lived variously in Marin County, southwestern Colorado, and Los Angeles, before settling in Ojai, California, where she attended Nordhoff High School, graduating in 1984. She married attorney Bill Slaughter in 1988 and graduated with high honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1995, with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies. She and her husband live in Ojai with their two daughters.
When she was twenty-two, Perry was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, which affects two million Americans, mostly women. She now works as an advocate for people with arthritis. In 2000, she produced "Agility: A Woman’s Music Festival to Benefit the Arthritis Foundation," featuring Julie Christensen, Perla Batalla, Victoria Williams and Sara Hickman.
The play “Cinderblock Bookshelves” evolved from her 2008 album of the same name and is a memoir of her counterculture childhood, an ode to her imperfect, beloved family. The play's subtitle is "A Guide for Children of Fame-Obsessed Bohemian Nomads," and it had its world premiere in 2008 at Theater 150 in Ojai, California, under the direction of Kim Maxwell, with Sasha Heslip producing.
Rain's song "Beautiful Tree," from the album Cinderblock Bookshelves, was chosen as the theme for the CW Network television series Life Unexpected. Rain appeared as herself, alongside Sarah McLachlan and Ben Lee, in a music festival episode, a crossover with the series One Tree Hill.

Music

Rain Perry has released five albums and several singles on her own label, Precipitous Records. She has been a guest performer albums by other musicians. Her last four albums were produced by Mark Hallman at the Congress House in Austin, Texas.

Film

Perry’s first film, a documentary about Mark Hallman of the Congress House studio called The Shopkeeper featuring Ani DiFranco, Eliza Gilkyson, Sara Hickman, Tom Russell, and Mark Andes, was released in 2016.

Awards

▪ 2000 Telluride Troubadour Competition Finalist
▪ 2000 John Lennon Songwriting Contest – Grand Prize
▪ 2005 ROCKRGRL Discoveries Award Grand Prize

Discography