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Rachael Sage loved her album The Other Side so much, she’s taken another look at it with her forthcoming album Another Side, an all-acoustic re-do of this transformational collection of songs. As Sage discussed with Staci B last summer, The Other Side found Sage coming through a bout with cancer and re-focusing on what matters to her in life. The album is a triumphant chamber pop tour de force that enabled Sage to work with one of her lifelong heroes, Howard Jones. (PS — you can read the full interview with Rachael Sage and Staci B in issue 4 of Rainbow Rodeo!) Here, Sage explains why she chose to re-record the album as a set of acoustic songs, and how she went about it.
What inspired you to give The Other Side another look?
I tour so much, and as I play live, these arrangements shift and change and often listeners will ask if we have any recordings more like what they’ve just seen – more acoustic, more intimate and where the vocals, guitar, piano and strings are front and center. I always love creating strictly acoustic arrangements and it was a wonderful opportunity to re-approach material that I feel very proud of writing-wise with sort of a “before” and “after” concept, energetically; the “before” being when things were still so inhibited and impacted by the restrictions of the pandemic, and the “after” being more reflective of the relief and gratitude of being able to actually perform these songs live and in person again, for audiences both at home and abroad. I love both recordings but in a way these versions feel more organic and honest, because I recorded most of it at home in Upstate New York, and was able to recruit some really lovely guests including Crys Matthews, Amy Speace, Trina Hamlin, Grace Pettis and Annalyse & Ryan.
I remember you were so excited to work with one of your pop heroes on The Other Side: how have you approached the songs differently for acoustic guitars?
Yes – the duet with Howard Jones of “I Made A Case” was such an exciting collaboration and any time I reflect on it again I get a bit emotional because here is a guy who has an endless faucet of his own creativity flowing at all times, busy as can be and yet he generously carved the time to sing on my record – which I know he wouldn’t have done had he not really liked the song but nonetheless it’s a pretty “pinch me” moment since I grew up heavily influenced by his music and my respect for him is off the charts! It only made sense to recruit his wonderful bandmates Robin Boult (guitar) and Nick Beggs (upright bass) to play on the reimagined acoustic recording – and of course it’s a huge honor to have them all involved!
How did you choose your collaborators this time around?
It was very natural really; I play frequently with some of them – Trina Hamlin on harmonica for instance – but others were sort of “wish list” and it’s all about having the confidence to just email or ring someone up and ask if they’d like to participate. Life is short and one of my favorite sayings is “don’t ask, don’t get”. I hadn’t played with either Quinn (percussion) or Conrad Korsch (upright bass) in many years but they were in prior bands with me in my 20’s and 30’s and are absolutely brilliant. They both did a fantastic job – and now we’re all back in touch and that’s a beautiful thing. Annalyse & Ryan are an amazing Americana duo from The Hudson Valley in NY and we did some touring last year so it was exciting to recruit them for mandolin and vocals. All the other female guest vocalists – Amy Speace, Grace Pettis, Crys Matthews – are in my folk community and longtime friends, but also tour constantly so we worked remotely. Katie Marie is a new friend I met about a year ago from Austin who played a bunch of the percussion remotely as well, and I’m so happy she could be involved! We recently played together in person down at SXSW for the first time and I can tell we’re going to have a lot of fun doing more projects together in the future.
What are you hoping listeners get from the album with this new approach?
I hope they get a more intimate and sort of comfier feeling with these particular arrangements, like we’re playing in your living room with a fire going and they’re being serenaded from their velvet couch with a big fluffy blanket over them! As a title, I love the wordplay that encompasses the idea of there being diverse viewpoints, as well as of course the flip side of the more densely produced versions that appeared on “The Other Side”.
I hope this companion acoustic album is as much of a source of warmth and uplift as it was for me to create – and it seems like we can all use a bit of unifying creative perspective, about now.
Another Side by Rachael Sage will be out on May 17.
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