Rachel Reinert of Gloriana Talks Country Music and 'The Bachelorette'

Wonderwall, Friday, July 13, 2012, 2:21pm (PDT)

By Molly McGonigle

• It's been a whirlwind for the country band Gloriana, composed of brothers Tom and Mike Gossin and Rachel Reinert, since skyrocketing to fame in 2010. As they gear up for the release of their sophomore album, Gloriana is poised to have all eyes on them. Wonderwall recently caught up with Reinert who talked about how the band formed via social media, who she's been most starstruck by and who she hopes might win "The Bachelorette."

  Wonderwall: How have things changed for you since the success of your debut album?

  Rachel Reinert: Pretty much everything has totally changed for us. We were very green when we started this whole thing, to be out on the road. And not to mention the fact that basically our first big tour was right out the gate with Taylor Swift. I think, basically, that kind of really skewed our whole idea of what road life is like, because we got so spoiled getting to play in front of sold-out crowds every single day. [We went] from that to really having to pay our dues, as far as playing some harder shows and having to figure out how to win a crowd over, but then also sprinkling in getting to play with a ton of other artists and see how they do things and get really inspired by that.

  BING: Watch videos of Gloriana

  WW: How will your upcoming album, "A Thousand Miles Left Behind," be different from the last album?

  RR: [We've] changed a lot musically. We really wanted to get out and make much more organic-sounding records and to really be able to tell our stories. It's personal to us and we're very proud of it. This record just really displays a lot of that growth from over the last few years.

  WW: Gloriana was formed in a pretty modern way, with the brothers finding you on Myspace. How did y'all meet and know that this trio would work well together?

  RR: We had some mutual friends who pointed Tom and Mike in my direction when they first moved to Nashville. I'd been in Nashville doing my singing/songwriting thing, actually trying to get a solo deal, and it just wasn't happening. The guys reached out to me over Myspace, and I had some mutual friends who told me that they were really talented musicians. I was a little bit reluctant at first to respond and get together with them, because I had never even thought about being in a band prior to that. I knew things just weren't going anywhere for me, so I decided to take a chance, and it ended up being great. Fortunately, [we] just meshed. We really chalk it up to fate.

• WW: How was it performing your hit single "(Kissed You) Good Night" on "The Bachelorette"?

  RR: It was really cool, because I am actually a huge fan of the show. I have been watching it for the past few years, so when we found out that Emily was the bachelorette we were excited. Then all of a sudden [they call us], wanting us to perform on "The Bachelorette." As we are flying into Charlotte, I had picked up a magazine from the airport and I'm reading through it, and I see this article about Emily's first date, and then it turns out we are one of her favorite bands! It was really cool to get to be a part of it.

  WW: Who do you think Emily is going to pick at the end?

  RR: I've been reading some of the spoiler alerts online but I think it's still a little too early to tell. I like Ari a lot but I don't think she's gonna pick him.

  WW: If you could pick any musician to collaborate with, across any genre, who would you choose?

  RR: Definitely Sheryl Crow. She's someone that I've grown up admiring and even hearing her story -- that she is from the same small town that my mom is from and her grandfather was a doctor. And he actually delivered my mother and all of her sisters. We got to perform with her at the White House event that we did last February and it was such a cool experience. She performed too, so I finally got to tell her my connections to her and it was really, really cool. But I adore her and love everything that she does. She's just a tremendous artist.

  WW: You've been all over the country and met lots of famous people, but who have you been the most excited to see?

  RR: There's just been so many people in the last couple of years, but I don't usually get very starstruck. But [I'm] definitely like, "Oh my gosh, that's so and so." But I think the most recent experience that we had was probably when we were at the airport and we were walking and all of a sudden [I was like], "Oh my gosh, it's Fabio."