Lana and Kevin’s original songs quietly honor the simple beauty of early American folk, blues, and country. Guitars, sweet harmonies, and the occasional harmonica, fiddle, or singing saw blend together to result in a perfect tranquil soundtrack for a long road trip, or a late- night porch gathering on a quiet summer night.
Before the two teamed up as a duo, Lana had toured extensively with a few different backing bands, and released three albums. Her recordings have enjoyed acclaim from top Country and Americana radio programs around the globe. She has recorded a live session for BBC Radio One in London, was featured on All Songs Considered for NPR, and has been chosen as Best Northwest Country Artist at KBCS in Seattle. Her songs have reached top ten charts on college stations, and have been used on soundtracks for several independent films.
Kevin has a background in media arts with professional experience in film scoring, and music and film editing. Independently, he has contributed to several studio albums, including Kill Rock Stars artist Ryland Bouchard’s solo release, “Seeds”. He originally joined up with Lana to play the Wurlitzer piano in her Broken Promises band in Portland, Oregon.
Since joining up, the two have put out one self-released album. They have recently recorded for Chicago’s FPE Records, and are to release a new album this fall. They currently reside in Tucson, Arizona, where they enjoy a weekly residency in the lovely courtyard of La Cocina Restaurant and Cantina.
REVIEWS
“With a timeless croon that recalls Dolly Parton and June Carter Cash at their most gloriously downtrodden and angelic, Portland country siren Lana Rebel is a wonder to behold. The tiny singer-guitarist belts out stripped-down country that defines the genre in its most pristine and classic form, with ambling songs of drinking, love lost and found, highways, sadness and glory. Rebel’s the real deal: a passionate singer whose earnest songwriting and haunting voice seem transplanted from a bygone era yet ring true in the present.”
- AP KRYZA Willamette Week, July 2010
“Lana Rebel is the badass matriarch of local dust bowl country. Sounding like the coal miner's daughter trapped in a collapsed mine, the music of Rebel is gorgeous and morose, a sad waltz of cowgirl balladry that can't be cured by even the most generous whiskey pour.”
-EAC Portland Mercury
Miss Lana Rebel
All I Need
By Chris La Tray-missoula Independant
Country music was not always about glitz, glamour and praising the red, white and blue. In its earliest inception, it was a means for communities and families to get together, quaff whiskey from jugs and mason jars, and share stories about the hardships of life. While most mainstream country artists like to ally themselves with “real” country, few of them come within a good squirt of tobacco juice of it.
Leave it to Portland, Ore.’s Lana Rebel to hit the mark. Dusty roadhouses and the front seats of beat-up Chevys are the landscapes for her broken hearted tales, delivered in a sweet alto with just enough instrumentation to keep it interesting. Don’t expect boot-kicking barnstormers here, or sassy odes to “redneck woman” power; these are love songs, and Lana knows that that is one four-letter word that often rides with hurt.
Lana avoids many of the clichés of country music, like annoying vocal inflections and clever turns of phrases that are just too predictable. Her music falls somewhere between The Virginian-era Neko Case and Mary Gauthier records. If sad songs don’t drive you to drinkin’, and if tales of woe don’t bring you down, this record will be your friend.
Miss Lana Rebel
BY BOB DORAN NORTH COAST JOURNAL
Portland-based guitarist/songwriter Miss Lana Rebel is bucking the trend: She's leaving PDX, heading for warmer climes, the Southwest, where she's from. The former bassist for the hard-rocking Last of the Juanitas got into country music with Juanita Family and Friends. When that band disbanded she stuck in the country-tonk vein playing in The Love Lasers and also recorded an album, Mistakes We Can Live With, with her slightly less raucous band, The Broken Promises.
"The Broken Promises is more my originals, more dreamy and quiet, sleepier," she said, calling from Portland just before leaving town. "I love country music, been a fan of Willie Nelson since I was five. I didn't grow up on a farm or anything; I grew up in Tucson leading a pretty normal life. I got into country later in life with some friends. We liked sitting around after hours singing together and learning old Johnny Cash songs, learning to harmonize, just having fun. After a while I figured I could write my own songs. I found that fulfilling so I kept on with it."
She's not exactly traditional, but sticks to the classic country themes. "They're pretty consistent, you know -- heartbreak, drinking, partying, being poor, mostly heartbreak -- things that come up in life that are confusing. You try to get through your trials and tribulations thoughtfully and you sing about it. In that sense it's traditional, but I'm not trying to steal from old country songs, I try to make it personal."