Laura Rain and the Caesars are coming to Boise on Monday, November 12. They will be playing at the Sapphire Room in the Riverside Hotel, in a show presented by the Boise Blues Society. Laura Rain has been singing soul and R&B as long as she can remember. Laura didn’t only learn how to sing those genres of music—she was trained also as a classical singer, preforming operatic music and other classical pieces. Born and raised in Detroit, she was heavily influenced by the ‘Detroit Sound’ made popular by locals Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. That sound, popularized in its greatest period as the ‘Motown Sound‘, became popular all across the country.Her band, Laura Rain and the Caesars, provides a powerful sound to go with Laura’s dynamic voice.
Laura Rain and the Caesars come to Boise as part of their Walk With Me Tour covering the Midwest, West Coast, Pacific Northwest and Canada. The Walk with Me Tour features her popular single Pleasure Zone. Walk With Me is Laura’s fourth album and shows the range she has, from basic blues and R&B to gospel, soul and straight-ahead funky tunes. Laura spoke to the Boise Beat about her music, her tour and her current band. She feels very strongly about bringing her music to media and shows, not only as a singer but as someone who truly likes to get to know her fans.
Q: Has Detroit rhythm and blues always been in your blood?
A: Well I think that whatever it is that is in me has been in me since I was young; always in my blood. I’ve always been drawn to soul music, gospel music, R&B ever since I can remember. It’s indescribable actually—it is a calling!
Q: You are classically trained as a singer. How does that help you with soul and blues?
A: I think that to have exceptional training is always the way to go, regardless of the genre that you choose; because learning how to control your voice and execute your phrasing and your tone and to project your voice is a skill that you’ll have for the rest of your life. It helps in every aspect of my singing. I continue to learn as a musician and I think that the training I received has helped me immensely.
Q: This is your first time in Boise. Do you like playing places where organizations like the Boise Blues Society take an active role?
A: Oh my gosh, it’s such a relief when we have a group of people that are highly organized.The Boise Blues Society has already been a standout for us on my tour. They immediately contacted us for photos and other things. George and I are diligent in reaching out in every town to press and radio and they are on top of it. There are a few blues societies that are standouts and they are are standout and we haven’t even gotten there yet, so we can’t wait to play for them and we’re really excited. The Sapphire Room is really nice. We tried to acquire that show before we even had the opportunity to play for the Boise Blues Society so we are excited!
Q: Who do you consider your main musical influences?
A: There’s a handful I think. Growing up, I was drawn instinctually to music that had a strong backbeat. It pulled me, like I was being pulled on a rope. I’d say my earliest influences range from Aretha Franklin, Buddy Guy, Al Green, Chaka Khan—there’s a huge mix of influences there, but those are the strongest ones that stick out. We had the pleasure of having Buddy Guy join us onstage twice at his club, so that was like a dream come true to have one of your idols perform with you.
Q: How’s your band mesh with your style?
A: I think now, we have two exceptionally strong young players that come out of the gospel circuit in Detroit; and I think that goes very nicely with the style of music that we do.It’s heavy on the soul, funky blues and R&B. Definitely some of the gospel influence too for sure!I think we have a very nice combination of players right now.
We’ve got Jonathan Staten on the drums and Jeff Powe on bass. We’ve got George Friend who is on guitar—he co-writes the songs with me, he arranges for the recordings and engineers the music, drives the van, he does everything!
We’re out on tour for five weeks for our fourth album. We’ve had a little late start with our baby so we’re finishing up our tour here with our fourth album and we’re already busting out some new tunes that we’ll feature on our next release. We’re excited that this is a great tour, so we’re super excited to see all our friends and meet new people. This is great!
Q: You’re electrifying on stage. Do you think live shows are the best way to go?
A: I think now, with everybody watching YouTube and streaming music for free, I think the way to gain fans is through the live shows. Because you’re so inundated with artists, it’s like you have to sit through so much stuff on the internet that you can’t clearly decide. The artist may not just come forward—you may have a barrage of advertising stuff, so definitely the live show is the way to clinch the fans. It’s nice to treat the patrons to a live show. We try to engage every single person, go up to everyone and thank them for coming to the live show because it is so important that we’re on an ‘underground train’ here because live music and indie artists are such a small facet of the music business that every single person you come across is so important, so it really is the only way. I don’t sell my merchandise online, I don’t do any of that because I want people to come to the shows. If they want a CD, if they want a T-shirt, they have to come to the show and meet me in person!
Q: Thanks Laura, we’re looking forward to seeing Laura Rain and the Caesars at the Sapphire Room in Boise!
Laura Rain and the Caesars will be appearing at the Sapphire Room in Boise’s Riverside Hotel on Monday, November 12. The show, presented as one of the Boise Blues Society’s excellent series of notable performers, will start at 7:30pm. Tickets for the Walk With Me Tour show are available through the Sapphire Room website. The Sapphire Room is certainly a great place to see music, hosting not only local acts but national and international artists too such as John Németh. This is a great chance to see Laura Rain and the Caesars, who are certainly one of the best live acts around today. Come and enjoy the show!
Laura Rain and the Caesars
Sapphire Room
Monday, November 12, 2018
7:30pm (doors open at 6:30pm)
The Riverside Hotel
2900 W. Chinden Blvd.
Garden City, ID 83714
Tickets and info at Eventbrite
Sapphire Room music calendar website
Sapphire Room phone: (208) 331-4930
Laura Rain website
Boise Blues Society website
Photos courtesy of Laura Rain and LRC Entertainment. All photos by Ingo Rautenberg
