From Music to Meaning: How Rene Russell’s Journey as a Musician-Turned-Philosopher is Making Waves for the Ocean
Waynesville, NC, United States
Release Date: 2024-04-19
Check out Stand for the Ocean here: Stand for the Ocean Single Link
It’s many years of history for Rene Russell with the 12-string guitarist performing a blend of Americana with powerful influences from folk and rock all the way from Waynesville, North Carolina. Her percussive, bass-thumping, claw-hammer finger-picking technique wowed crowds from Nashville to San Diego and from Atlanta to Austin, and all points in between.
But this summer of 2022, Rene has decided to pull the trigger and leave her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, to embark westward toward those picturesque mountains of Western North Carolina. It was also a move in the right direction for Rene as, through this, he was able to meet two other equally talented soloists: Bridget Gossett and Heidi Holton. The trio clicked together in a shared love for music and started to work together on tracks, and eventually gave birth to the HiHearts.
HiHearts—Rene, Bridget, and Heidi—teamed up with seasoned producer Michael Hynes at Nomatic Studio, and tracked at Purple Ridge Recording Studio in Canton, North Carolina. As of January 2024, the band recorded two singles: “Swim,” which is to be released on the 19th of April 2024, and “Hocus Focus,” which goes out for this summer. Each of the members has a separate solo career.
But Rene is not one to be left behind, as she has two singles of her own set to release this year. “The Key” dropped on March 23, 2024. It was later produced on April 19, 2024. Then came an album a few months later in the fall of 2024 called “Stand for the Ocean.
It was in 2017 that Rene’s musical journey soared high. She contacted music producer Chris Blackwell and put a band together named Rene Russell & the Bottom End. Within a week of the release of their first single “I Wonder, Do You?” from their album, people were already talking about the deep lyrics and the spellbinding shots.
In the quarantine period of COVID-19, Rene went up to the mountains of Western North Carolina to write “Dream The World Anew”. The band went on to record for the rest of the year, and in May 2021, the band dropped the album.
But Rene’s music genius was not only in her compositions. She was requested to write a song for Homelesstohopefund.org in Charleston, SC in 2019. This culminated with “What Kind,” released in the same year together with “Doodlebug. The band also had the pleasure to perform “What Kind” at the annual gala/fundraiser at the Galliard Auditorium for Homelesstohopefund.org.
Rene’s music has literally been growing and developing in every single track. Her fresh single for the ocean, “Stand,” literally proves how much Rene loves acting as an advocate for important things using her music as a tool. The song is a gentle reminder to care for our oceans and planet—a message that rings truer today.
Rene’s music has been compared to Ani DiFranco, Joni Mitchell, and Tracy Chapman, but she quite literally has a sound all her own. With a powerful and emotive vocal, guitar stylings that are deft and intricate, and lyrics that cut to the very core of human experience, Rene Russell is not to be trifled with.
Rene Russell is a 12-string guitarist, with an Americana-Folk-Rock percussive groove. Crafted a percussive, bass-thumping claw-hammer finger-picking technique since she picked up the 12-string in 1972. Born in South Carolina, Rene had a chance to stagger audiences with her brand of percussive Americana/Rock from Nashville to San Diego, from Atlanta to Austin, Texas, for over 30 years. She is not the material developer but even more—the very performer of it, being realized with such precision and adoration that only a true master can offer.
Besides the solo work, Rene has also served in the band The HiHearts, based along with Bridget Gossett and Heidi Holton. Mostly, they bloom out with hints of ’70s rock influences and bold performances—critics say, “not to be missed.
Without a doubt, Rene Russell is a philosopher with fiercely cerebral lyrics and vocal delivery. Watch for “Stand” for the Ocean coming in 2024, to be her latest single released on April 19th.
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