Rain Perry: “A White Album” (2022) CD Review

Rain Perry is a singer and songwriter based in California. In 2022, she released A White Album, the title of which is both a play on that great Beatles double album and a reference to ethnicity, which does play a key part in the material on this disc. These songs touch on privilege and inequality. But largely these are not songs that scream their messages; rather, they are personal songs, and so are much more powerful. The album features mostly original material, along with a couple of covers. It was produced by Mark Hallman, who also plays most of the instruments on these tracks. There are also a few guests who join Rain Perry on various tracks.

The album opens with “Melody & Jack,” which begins with waves gently lapping the shore. This song takes us back to 1950s America, when Rain’s mother Melody was young, and it is about an interracial crush. Here is a taste of the lyrics: “Those kids were like Our Gang,” Nana said/Which meant one of them was black/And then her face got strange/As she told me about Jack.” (Our Gang, for those who are not aware, was the original name for The Little Rascals.) This is a rather beautiful song, much of that beauty in the vocal performance. One of the sections that stands out to me is toward the end when she wonders what happened to the boy, Jack, who loved Melody: “Are you still alive, Jack?/Did you move away?/Has life been good to you?/Are you doing okay?/Did you join the service?/Did you go to Vietnam?/Do you have a family?/Do you remember my mom?” That last line is heartbreaking, in part because Rain’s mother is no longer alive. The line also makes me think about how little many of us know about our own parents and their childhoods, and how we may wish to know more. It is like the rest of those questions are really just leading to that one. I find this song more moving each time I listen to it.

A prominent beat is established right at the start of “The Money.” “The best things in life are free,” Rain sings at the beginning of this one, making me think of another song with money in the title, “Money (That’s What I Want).” But very quickly that song leaves my thoughts as this song takes hold. There is a catchy pop flavor to parts of it, and one section is delivered as a rap. This song is about discrimination and inequality, and how it affects succeeding generations, why inequality persists. “We gotta talk about the money,” Rain tells us. André Moran adds some really nice work on clarinet. That’s followed by “Yarddogs/Morning Dew,” which has a gentler, sweeter vibe. In the first verse, two friends are listening to the Bonnie Dobson song “Morning Dew,” which is about the world after nuclear war (the Grateful Dead used to deliver some incredibly moving renditions of that song). And interestingly Rain Perry includes part of that song here, at least its melody and a line, “Walk me out into the morning dew.” As for the two friends of the song, one of them is left behind in town when the other goes off to school. At the end of this track, Rain Perry includes a stanza from “Morning Dew,” taking the line “I thought I heard a young man moan this morning” and changing it to “I thought I heard a young man mourn this morning.” This track features some really nice work on guitar. That’s Andrew Hardin on lead guitar.

Rain Perry covers “None Of Us Are Free,” a song written by Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil and Brenda Russell, and originally recorded by Ray Charles. It was later covered by Solomon Burke. BettySoo (whom you might know from her work with Charlie Faye And The Fayettes) joins Rain Perry on vocals on this one, and the two sound great together. “None of us are free/If one of us is chained/None of us are free.” Another line to keep in mind: “If we don’t say it’s wrong, that says that it’s right.” That can be a tough message, for sometimes people just want to remain uninvolved. This song urges us to make changes. That’s followed by “Indian Hill, Ohio, 1967,” which sets the idyllic scene in the first stanza: “The neighbors are over for a drink/The bourbon flows, the glasses clink/A toast to the good life/Our little piece of heaven/Indian Hill, Ohio, 1967.” But you can feel the tension building underneath, and it erupts for the second stanza: “The city burned a dozen miles down the road.” It was a long time ago, as the song acknowledges, but the question that is hinted at is whether people are once again kidding themselves by believing that things are okay now, as the second stanza ends the same way the first one did. What is next?

“What’s Wrong With You?” has more of a rock energy, which works for its subject. This is one that comes from news stories that we’ve been reading in recent years, in which white people call the police on black people who are doing ordinary things in a park or wherever. We do want to shout at those people, “What’s wrong with you?” Certainly something is wrong with them. What happened? When did things go wrong for these people? The thing is, if you do ask them, they likely won’t have an answer. Very few people are up for introspection these days, and no one seems willing to admit to being wrong anymore. This track features some good work on guitar. That’s followed by a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Visions,” a song from his 1973 album Innervisions. Akina Adderly joins Rain Perry on vocals on this track. Mark Hallman plays upright bass, Mikael Jorgenson is on electric piano, and Martin Young is on electric guitar. “The law was never passed/But somehow all men feel they’re truly free at last/Have we really gone this far through space and time/Or is this a vision in my mind?”

“Lady Of The Harbor” is a beautiful and moving song about Lady Liberty, with Pihcintu Multicultural Chorus joining Rain on vocals. “They can have their conquerors, they can keep their kings/The lady of the harbor beckons me/My hope, my heart, my hustle are the gifts I bring/The lady of the harbor beckons me/When I’m tired, when I’m poor/As I dream of something more.” This is a song about the dream of making a better life in the country. Remember when we were taught about that when we were in school? What happened? Did people forget about the dream of this place? This is one of the album’s best tracks. It features some excellent work on strings, the string arrangement by Jimmy Calire. Virginia Kron plays cello, and Kerenza Peacock is on violin. Taylor Hallman plays piano on this one. The album then concludes with “This Is Water.” This song was written by Rain Perry, and inspired by David Foster Wallace’s essay of the same name. Ben Lee joins Rain Perry on vocals on this one. “I’ve got to see/The things I take for granted/The sense of ease I’m handed/All the circumstances/I move through easily/And I’m not gonna lie/I’m afraid I won’t get it right.” The album ends as it began, with the sounds of waves at the shore.

CD Track List

1. Melody & Jack
2. The Money
3. Yarddogs/Morning Dew
4. None Of Us Are Free
5. Indian Hill, Ohio, 1967
6. What’s Wrong With You?
7. Visions
8. Lady Of The Harbor
9. This Is Water

A White Album was released on April 15, 2022 on Precipitous Records.