Get Rett-y: Los Angeles-based vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rett Madison released her second album, One for Jackie, in October and she will be celebrating with a show at the Echo on Jan. 26. What is likely to be a triumphant hometown show is just the latest chapter in a career that remains on an upward trajectory.

Madison started singing when she was very young and when her mom heard her, the artist’s path was set.

“She was so supportive and really encouraged me, and her and my dad were able to put me in some voice lessons when I was like four or five,” Madison says. “It wasn’t until I was maybe 16 years old that I had more of a feeling that I really wanted to pursue music professionally. But I was very lucky that I got to study music throughout my childhood and enjoy it as an outlet through all those years before I knew I wanted to do it as a career.”

While her sound evolved between her two albums, Madison says that the storytelling is the throughline.

“On One for Jackie, I leaned into referencing more artists, arrangement-wise, that my mom would have really liked,” she says. “We referenced Bruce Springsteen for a song. My mom was a big fan of Fleetwood Mac. And so I feel like we lean into some of those elements for One for Jackie more than maybe for (the debut) Pin-Up Daddy. But I would say the storytelling aspect, how I lean into that, hasn’t really changed between the first record and second record.”

One for Jackie was recorded with Madison’s producer, Tyler Chester, at Sonic Ranch Studios, about half an hour outside of El Paso, Texas.

“We all stayed on site,” she says. “And it also happens to be a pecan farm. So it was really peaceful to walk, you know, between the pecan trees, between recording certain songs and doing certain takes.”

While she learned a lot from the experience of recording her debut album, Madison is still early in her career and she said the experience this time was still pretty daunting.

“Especially with this new record, I feel like it’s in its own league, its own category, because the content of the album is so personal to me,” she says. “So much about losing my mom, almost five years ago. I felt like I was pretty candid and honest about so many things even on Pin-Up Daddy, but One for Jackie is a whole other level of vulnerability that I hadn’t really gone into in my previous writing. So I think for that, because of that, I would say this is almost maybe more intense of an album cycle for me just given the content and the nature of the songs.”

Her mom suffered with depression, PTSD and alcoholism for Madison’s whole life, before suicide took her in 2019. Naturally, this is an album that tackles some very difficult subjects.

“It’s very, very much about my journey, after losing my mother in 2019,” she says. “I talk very candidly about suicide on the record. Obviously, grief and loss. I talk very openly about my mom being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. It’s a very heavy record, I would say. But I wrote it and I recorded it and put it into the world in hopes that it would help anyone else that’s gone through those kinds of challenges and that kind of pain in their life, to feel less alone.”

That’s clearly invaluable and important work. And not only for the listener — Madison says that this was a very therapeutic experience.

“It was very much a cathartic and a healing process for me,” she says. “Ever since I was 12, when I first started writing, it’s always been very therapeutic for me. Kind of like just writing into a diary, except I would write songs. So yeah, the One for Jackie record was a huge, monumental part of my healing process. And moving through grief with my mom.”

The album is fulfilling its purpose and connecting with people, according to Madison.

“The most rewarding and fulfilling feedback that I’ve gotten is, whenever I play some of these songs live, if I meet folks afterwards, they connect to the song specifically, because they’ve lost somebody close to them,” she says. “They feel some type of catharsis at the show or feel moved or seen in some way. That’s the only thing I care about for the most part – am I going to reach people that I really need to?”

Madison is signed to Warner Music, and she’s refreshingly positive about life on a major label in these DIY days.

“I feel very comfortable there,” she says. “I feel very supported by all the folks at Warner. I was approaching music from a DIY perspective over the years. At this point in my career, I’m really grateful to have some more infrastructure and to honestly, just transparently, have more financial support for the record. I’m grateful to work with the team there. They are so passionate and care so much, and yeah, I feel really lucky.”

With all of that in mind, the show at the Echo promises to be a stellar night.

“I’ll have my four piece band, and two string players with me,” Madison says. “And we’ll play pretty much the entirety of One for Jackie. Maybe I’ll play something I haven’t released yet. But yeah, it’ll be kind of a presentation of the album. It’s an album release show. So I’m really excited about it.”

When that show is done and the album released, Madison has big plans for the rest of 2024.

“After the Echo show, I’m really excited to make my Carnegie Hall debut in New York City,” she says. “I’ve really always wanted to do that. And I’m lucky that I can do that for the first time. I’ll be a part of a show called The Piano Recital, where a lot of songwriters come to Carnegie Hall and play a few of their songs. I think Mandy Moore is on the bill, Margo Price, and some other wonderful names. So that’s what I’m really excited about. That’ll be Feb. 23.”

Get Rett-y: Rett Madison plays the release show for the One for Jackie album at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26, at the Echo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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