Raining Jane

It’s Raining Jane …

Nope, not a slip of the key.

Raining. Jane.

Call it serendipity.

There I was, surfing the Web in search of one of my old Raising Jane posts,

and Google introduced me to a group of four musically gifted mavens who call themselves

Raining Jane.

Of course, I forgot the task at hand and wandered off—ears first—to find out more.

These California songstresses, who describe their genre as “lady rock for owners of cats,” have a talent for singing from the heart in a way that dresses up ordinary details and somehow makes you want to celebrate being a woman. Or, maybe it’s just that they’re so darned good at wielding their array of instruments (guitars, cello, cajon, sitar, bass, and heavenly voices). Just beautiful.

“In an era of overnight sensations that fizzle as quickly as they spark, and a time when music seems often overshadowed by a side show of special effects, it’s a relief to know that there are still bands out there that are the real thing: bands who play their own instruments, write their own songs, and have the musical chemistry that can only come from playing and touring together for over a decade,” the band writes on their website. “This is Raining Jane.”

The women of the band (Mai Bloomfield, Becky Gebhardt, Chaska Potter, and Mona Tavakoli) launched their musical career with a UCLA concert in 1999, and although they have received notoriety for collaborating with popular singer-songwriter Jason Mraz since 2007, they hold their own with the soulful solidarity of sisterhood and have four independent albums under their belts.

Here’s one of their older tunes …

In addition to their musical work as a band, the Raining Jane ladies are passionate about community outreach. In 2010, they started Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles, a non-profit dedicated to empowering girls through music education.

On their Facebook page, they say, “Every morning in the Raining Jane van, we raise our teacups to toast, ‘Welcome to your life.’ We aim to make tasty lemonade out of whatever it is we can find out there in the world … We are interested in good people who like to do good things. Those things include (but are not limited to): creating, music, having fun, helping others, dancing, eating delicious food, expressing gratitude, skipping, whistling, etc.”

Get further acquainted with Raining Jane at Rainingjane.com/home.rj.