Rain Perry

Folksinger Rain Perry earned her first taste of national success with "Yosemite," a twangy tune that took top honors in the folk category of the 2000 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. "Yosemite" went on to be covered by Tom Russell and Nanci Griffith in 2003. Meanwhile, Perry continued releasing her own folk albums, having issued an independent debut, Balance, several years earlier on her homegrown label, Precipitous Records. Her second album, Cinderblock Bookshelves, appeared in 2008 and gradually evolved into a one-woman autobiographical play, which debuted at a theater in her native Ojai, CA. Perry took the play on the road while continuing to write new songs, many of which appeared on her 2010 release, Internal Combustion. That same year, a track from Cinderblock Bookshelves, "Beautiful Tree," became the theme song for the CW Network series Life Unexpected.