Rainy Eyes Reveals Her Milky Way before Closing Jazz Fest 2023

Rainy Eyes, by Greg Miles

The Norwegian singer living in Lafayette shows a pure love of American music in her installment of “The Milky Way.”

Rainy Eyes’ Moon in the Mirror is the kind of pure expression of love for American roots music and its California brands that can only come from someone not from here. Irena Eide—Rainy Eyes—grew up in Norway, where the sense of place evoked by the songs and recordings made almost as much impact as the songs themselves. She doesn’t try to make the music suit her personal needs and interests; she goes to it and tries to do it justice. And succeeds.

Eide lived in San Francisco in 2019 when she released Moon in the Mirror. Now she lives in Lafayette and has a band that includes Chris Stafford on electric guitar, Ian Guidroz on bass and Ethan Brasseaux on drums. That change translates to less California dreaming and fewer acoustic guitars, but her love of American roots music is still clearly on display.

Rainy Eyes will play Jazz Fest on Sunday at 1:25 p.m. in the AARP Rhythmporium and this is her Milky Way—the eight songs that best define her musical world.

“Crying in the Rain” - Everly Brothers

One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting on the kitchen counter every night with my little tape deck and tapes. I would listen to all my tapes over and over. I wore those tapes out, rewinding and forwarding and listening to my favorite songs on repeat. I remember I had a tape with a bunch of Everly Brothers songs and I freaking loved the harmonies on this song. I knew all the Everly Brothers’ hits by heart.

“Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” - The Beatles

What kid doesn’t love The Beatles? I was in a Beatles musical in first grade and had to learn all the songs off Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour. I would sit with my tape deck every night and sing along to every song. There really isn’t anything better for a young budding musician to be listening to. The trippiness and creative freedom in the music and lyrics fired my imagination.

It’s hard to pick one Beatles song, but for some reason this is the one that came to my mind as the quintessential Beatles song. My uncle, who was a huge influence on me musically as a kid, lent me his red and blue double CDs. It was all I listened to for a long time. I loved the early stuff, then when I got to the late ‘60s material where they started doing acid and going to India and getting all experimental, that was the stuff that really spoke to my little child’s mind and it was the beginning of my love for sonic exploration and experimenting.

“Helplessly Hoping” - Crosby Stills and Nash

This song was my first real experience with singing three-part harmonies. I always sang in choir as a kid so I learned to sing harmonies at an early age, but this was my first time learning harmonies on a folk rock song. Me and two girlfriends worked on it really hard, and learned the harmony parts and sang it. It was just the best feeling ever.

I was really into Crosby, Stills and Nash and remember when I was 17 they played at the big concert hall in Bergen, Norway where I grew up. None of my friends wanted to go see them with me, so I went by myself and had the most profound experience. As I’m reflecting on it now, that concert changed my life, and I think got me on the path of wanting to play guitar and write songs and sing in harmony. It was my first encounter with California hippies. I remember they played barefoot on an afghan rug and i just loved it. I already had a guitar but really started working more on my playing and singing and learning fingerpicking.

“Out on the Weekend” - Neil Young

I wasn’t your average high-schooler by any means. At 16 I fell in love with an older musician and started smoking weed and hanging with him and his artist/musician friends. They were all much older and would sneak me into clubs, where we’d play music and jam into the wee hours.

He got me into Neil Young and Johnny Cash, and we’d sing together and listen to music all night long. I was a very independent spirit and moved into my own apartment at 17. I would skip school and stay home smoking cigarettes on my fire escape and listen to records during the day. I didn’t really feel like I fit in with my school mates and would be the one turning on Neil Young at a party and get scolded by everyone. They’d laugh and turn the techno back on.

I could list any of the songs on the Harvest album as the most influential. I was obsessed. “Out on the Weekend” has such a sick beat and draws you in. It’s the first song on the album, and I’m pretty sure first time I heard it I had one of my first out-of-body experiences. I was like, This is it; this is the shit.

The long mellow harmonica lines felt like a soft fuzzy hug and Neil’s voice is just so tender and pure. The first verse speaks to me as I have such a traveling spirit, and I can very much relate to packing my stuff and heading down the road to start a brand new day.

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” - Bob Dylan

Dylan going electric is one of my favorite eras in music. I love the stream of conciousness/beat style poetry vibe and the nasty groove. I love that the record starts off with acoustic guitar, then the whole band comes in. That must’ve imploded some minds back in 1965.

Although there is a story in there, the meaning doesn’t even matter that much. It’s the sounds and rhythm and rhymes and alliterations that stands out and hooks you. I love beat poetry, and this one is like an Allen Ginsberg poem in a song. And, it also like really sounds like hip-hop to me.

Rainy Eyes, by Greg Miles

“Greenville” – Lucinda Williams

When an old friend first introduced me to her music, like, 10 years ago, I fell in love with Lucinda. Her lyrics are so poetic and pure and honest. I love how she blends rock with carefully crafted songwriting. Her voice is so unique and cool and she sings about real shit. She doesn’t sugarcoat. It’s just real and raw.

Her songwriting style is so inspiring. You know she’s been through some hard times and she’s willing to be vulnerable and tell the truth, and that’s what people really want.

I can very much relate to this song having dated and been in relationships where addiction and abuse has been an issue. It’s a common story for women in the music world especially, and I love that Lucinda doesn’t hold back and tells her stories. That takes a lot of courage.

“I Made a Lovers Prayer” - Gillian Welch

When I first discovered Gilian, I was 19, and living in Copenhagen, Denmark. I met and soon married an American jazz musician who made me a mixed tape that included this song. He also loved Americana and bluegrass, and we had our little songwriting bluegrass duo. We started playing, writing and performing and made an album when I was in my mid-twenties with two acoustic guitars and harmonies. We were kind of obsessed and would follow Gillian Welch and Peter Rawlings around Northern California, and go to all their shows. I love how her songs can be so long and slow like I made a lover’s prayer or “Revelator” or the epic, 14-minute long “I Dream a Highway.”

It creates such a sonic landscape and gives so much trust in the listener's attention span. It’s not trying to be catchy, taking you on a long, slow journey.

“I Made a Lovers Prayer” is one of the most heart-wrenching songs and still makes me cry to this day. It’s so tender and vulnerable and beautiful. The ebbing and flowing of the time and dynamics is so mesmerizing. I have yet to hear a musical duo with more connection and palpable vibe in their playing.

“Waiting Around to Die” - Townes Van Zandt

During one of the hardest moments in my life, I was living in a trailer. I had just left behind my entire life, and it was a new beginning but also a time of grieving. I spent hours in the evenings listening to Townes Van Zandt on repeat. Something about when you feel like shit and you hear someone who feels even shittier like you, it kind of helps, LOL.

Townes Van Zandt is maybe the greatest songwriter of all time. His lyrics are so potent, evocative and incredibly poetic. I could probably list 20 more Townes Van Zandt songs but this one gets credit for influencing my songwriting.  This one and songs like “Pancho and Lefty” is what got me wanting to write songs that are like a movie plot in a song. Those two songs very much inspired the single on my upcoming album Lonesome Highway, which was basically my attempt to write a song that plays like a Coen brothers’ movie.

Updated on May 8, 1:40 p.m.

We discovered after publication that we left out some of Rainy Eyes’ songs. We have rectified that situation.