Rainy Eyes
with Big Suitcase
Friday June 6th, 2025 7:30pm | Doors at 6:30pm
21+ without parent or guardian
$10 advance | $15 day of show (plus service charge)
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RAINY EYES
Born out of revelry and resolution in a redwood cabin tucked into the California coast, endowed with a spirit simmering in wanderlust, and ornamented with the rich traditions of the Louisiana bayou, Lonesome Highway marks the resilient return of Irena Eide aka Rainy Eyes. Its eleven songs are punctuated with perseverance and perspective that sober up the soul and send it back stronger onto the blacktop. If Rainy’s 2019 folk- infused debut, Moon in the Mirror, revealed the truth, Lonesome Highway tells of the consequences.
Much of Lonesome Highway was written over a ten year period, as Rainy reflected on the juxtaposition of her circumstances. Basking in the joy of motherhood, she was simultaneously confronting a troubled relationship that had turned toxic. “Songwriting was my therapy. It was basically how I dealt with the pain and the trauma. The music helped me heal,” says Rainy. “This album is about how I had to help myself. To take that pain and use it. For it not to destroy me, but to make me who I am.”
A Norway-native raised mostly by her mother, Rainy grew up dividing time between the urban congestion of Bergen and her maternal family’s sheep farm on the rugged islands of western Norway. She found nature there, in one of the rainiest climates on earth, and relatives eager to shine some light through music; a guitar-playing uncle introduced her to the classics: The Beatles, The Rolling Stones; Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan and more.
Her father, a Serbian musician, was an inspiring, if itinerant presence. A natural performer, she started singing as a young child, and after seeing her dad for the first time in years, she recorded her first demo with him at 12. Having a rough time in her teens witnessing her father’s addiction and abuse, Rainy grew up fast. At 17, she moved into her own apartment and at 18, she left Norway for Denmark. Within a year, she met and fell in love with an American free-jazz saxophonist and eloped to San Francisco. “There’s this part of me ever since I was young that has to keep moving,” she says.
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BIG SUITCASE
Big Suitcase is a music ensemble from Santa Fe, New Mexico. We collaborate with a rotating cast of local musicians who, as part of the “Suitcase”, bring their own feel and groove for each unique performance. Bob Bruen (mandolin) and Brian Fitzgerald (piano) will be joining Big Suitcase for the show this Friday.