Chatanooga-based singer/songwriter Teni Rane is releasing her debut album Goldenrod on August 9th, but with her polished folk sound and insightful reflections, she sounds like an artist who has been at it for 30 years. With a tasteful folk sound that blends the cozy jazzy vibes of Natalie Merchant and Cowboy Junkies with that of Waxahatchee’s rustic nuances, there is certainly plenty to latch onto with this blossoming artist.
As with most singer-songwriters, it’s the vocal strength that wins over listeners from the get-go, and Rane’s smooth vibrato certainly is contagious, as one might exclaim, “songbird” with her long pacifying notes. While the road to fame and fortune from such a cerebral sound is often difficult to find, Rane has the tools and artistic blueprint to become an artist’s artist and one with a dedicated fanbase.
The album’s arc takes shape at a time in Rane’s life when everything seemed up for re-negotiation. It focuses on what it means to allow change to influence a life without eradicating the individual. Inspired by the shoulder season “as the summer fades into fall,” each track has a reflective bent that calls attention to the lessons, both cruel and kind, that are learned simply by looking around.
Goldenrod came to life in Bristol, VA at Classic Recording Studio with GRAMMY nominated Mike Stephenson engineering and co-producing alongside Rane. Album credits include GRAMMY nominees Dave Eggar (cello, piano) and Phil Faconti (acoustic, electric, baritone, classical guitars and ukulele), past collaborator Roger Gustafsson (bass, steel guitar), and Rane’s own partner Jonathan Shumaker (bass).
Rane shared with Glide recently a track by track commentary on each of the album’s inspiring 13 tracks.
Goldenrod by Teni Rane
“The in-between moments in the seasons are my favorites. When the blinding heat of summer is fighting, giving way to gusty autumn evenings and bright crisp mornings. As much as I enjoy the tension of those moments in nature, I am less of a fan of that tension in my own life. Change – even chosen, planned for change – is incredibly difficult for me. My fears always seem to center on “what else is going to change in my life if I go through with this? Who and what might I lose?”
Penned at a time when a multitude of changes made life feel like every piece and part of myself was up for re-negotiation, the collection of songs presented in “Goldenrod” follows the trajectory of “two steps forward, one step back.” Holding space for knowing and loving “me” for who I am and where I am, while also leaving room for all the places and versions of “me” that have existed in my life up to now and will exist into the future. With imagery inspired largely by the shoulder season “as the summer fades into fall,” the conversations, stories, and emotions explored on the tracks of “Goldenrod” are relatable: change, loss, fear, identity, loss of identity, strength. Explored through different landscapes and lenses, the tracks all come back to this: what does it mean to allow change to move through life without losing who we are?” – Teni Rane (June 2024)
About the Songs:
01. Firefly
The invitation into the album, “Firefly” captures a longing for a little simplicity in the navigation of all the life things and invites everyone into the arc of an album all about moving through change as the seasons of life keep rolling on. Caught between self-doubt and the fear of being behind, why not stop for a moment and enjoy the fact of the present moment and the sparkle of a summer evening?
02. Goldenrod
There is something reassuring about the waltz of a field of goldenrod in the late summer – the bees and the breeze and the slow mirage of time like heat rising off a curving road winding high into the mountains. A feeling that the moment might be capturable, maintainable, fixed in a golden memory. “Goldenrod” draws on Appalachian imagery and the question: “what does change really change?”
03. Passerine
Imagine a young girl sitting at a large picture window, and watching a small song bird fighting against the strong winds and rain of a late summer storm. Humans crave resolution. Sometimes it comes quickly, but most times we are left in uncertainty for a while. “Passerine” acts as a letter to my younger self – and almost an apology.
04. Here to Stay (Rough)
“Here to Stay” gives room for “both.” Life is always both – hard and soft; light and heavy; simple and complex. The tough face we show to the world is often protecting something that feels fragile and breakable inside.
05. Caramel
Have you ever been entranced by the magnetic magic of a full moon rising in a pale autumn sky? “Caramel” focuses on the interplay between what we know exists and what we are still uncovering. There is light and it illuminates only part of the story – it just barely shows the vibrancy of the colors, barely reveals the very first edge of falling into the mystery of hearts beating and brains whirring.
06. Small Steps
The most “anthemic” of the songs on the album, “Small Steps” weaves the questioning mind together with a commitment to keep moving forward with as much love and joy as is possible. Each day is made up of tiny decisions that move our lives forward towards our goals, dreams, hopes. Oftentimes we discount the energy that it takes to inspire ourselves into action
07. Return to Dust
It can be uncomfortable to bump up against the end game and the truth that we all “Return to Dust.” Sometimes all we have left is to trust that with each season, with each chance we have to experience and grow through a season, we are doing our best. Watering what needs watered, pruning what needs pruned, and leaving everything else alone to grow as it can and will.
08. So Beautiful
It is hard to let go of disappointments and distractions. On the path through life, it is important to learn how to set things down before they get too heavy to carry with us. This is not necessarily easy, but it can be “So Beautiful” to let go and be a gift to ourselves and to those around us.
09. Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a charismatic, familiar, and sometimes surprising spice. This song captures the inevitability of change sliding through the cello swells as the story takes an unexpected turn.
10. Cold Wind (Ghost)
We are all made up of past selves – ghosts that either haunt us or hold our hand as we walk forward into the next set of memories. Some we love and are proud of and some we want to trim out and pretend they aren’t part of our stories. It’s a balancing act that I will be practicing for the rest of my life.
11. Killing the Blues
This song has lived in my life for as long as I can remember. The John Prine version was the first one that I knew. As I was writing for this album and arranging the stories that felt relevant to the arc, “Killing the Blues” kept playing in my head. Of course the opening imagery was on point for the summer/fall landscape “Goldenrod” was living in, but there is also this melancholia of being herded away from familiarity and certain.
Like many songs, this one has its roots in love gone wrong – but loss and lost-love aren’t only in human relationships. Having lost some of ourselves and our identity to something that ended up taking everything and giving very little back is common in many realms of life. Then we are left to pick up and rebuild something of ourselves and our world. All while keeping a good face on it and pretending to have the world by the tail. For me, “Goldenrod” marks a rebuilding and a re-negotiation of what my life is and can be. “Killing the Blues” tells a piece of that story.
12. Don’t Look Down (Head Up in the Clouds)
“Don’t Look Down” strains against the gravitational pull of justifying every move we make towards every truth we feel in our bones about how our best life can look and what we are capable of creating.It’s easy to feel like what we are trying to build or create or be is “too much” for this world to handle.
13. Reprise (Firefly)
In life, we travel through so many moments, scenes, experiences. On the other end of it, yes, we are changed. But we are also essentially who we are. There is an unchanged core, essence, whatever-you-want-to-call-it, that is underneath and apart and separate from all the external shaping that occurs throughout life. Ending as we began.
