Rachael Yamagata tickets

Rachael Yamagata Concert Schedule

Rachael Yamagata will be touring at some of the most classic venues across the United States. If you can't make it out to one of Yamagata's performances, however, have no fear. She will doubtless be scheduling new dates in the near future and, when she does, StubHub will have all of the most up-to-date concert ticket information that you require.

About Rachael Yamagata

Singer-songwriter Rachael Yamagata would grow up listening to James Taylor, Roberta Flack, Carole King, and suchlike, as music was the one thing in her life that remained consistent. When she was two, her parents divorced, forcing her to balance her life between the Washington, D.C. home of her father and her mother's New York City apartment. Her frequent travels prepared Yamagata for a lifestyle that would eventually lead to a career in professional songwriting. By the time she enrolled in Northwestern University in the '90s, she had had a year of piano lessons and filled a spiral-bound notebook with songs. After studying French for a year, she moved to New York City to pursue a major in Italian theater at Vassar. Frequent changes were still in store, however. When her Vassar acting coach relocated to Barnard College, Yamagata considered moving there as well. Eventually, she decided to go back to Northwestern, where she took up a theater major and made friends with Bumpus, a funk band, in her junior year.

Bumpus was a staple of Chicago's club circuit, and soon Yamagata would begin singing with the group. She would spend six years as a member, touring the country and recording three albums along the way. However, Yamagata felt her time with the band had run its course by 2001. She had grown a solid repertoire of compositions that did not fit with Bumpus' funky formula, and she soon embarked on a solo career.

In September of 2002, Yamagata was signed to Arista's Private Music division, and her eponymous EP was released the following month. Her first full-length album debut, Happenstance, would follow in June of 2004. Produced by John Alagía, who had earlier led such albums as Busted Stuff by Dave Matthews Band and Room for Squares by John Mayer, the record's pop-tinged style found its way into a number of teen-oriented TV shows, such as Alias and The O.C. Happenstance also won Yamagata fans among artists like Rhett Miller, Conor Oberst, Ryan Adams, Jason Mraz, and Ray LaMontagne, all of whom would invite her to sing on their recordings. Meanwhile, Yamagata prepared her sophomore album. Encouraged by the support of her fellow musicians and friends, she released Elephants…Teeth Sinking into Heart in 2008, a catholic effort that included both PJ Harvey-style rock and more intimate material.

Previous Hits

2004's Happenstance is Yamagata's first long-player; it is a logical and delightful follow-up to her celebrated, eponymous EP. It includes 13 cuts that are either Yamagata originals or co-written with guitarist/mentor Kevin Salem and producer John Alagía (Josh Kelly, John Mayer). The tracks Reason Why and Worn Me Down carry over, though they have been recorded anew. It is an unashamedly lush, heavily textured pop release that refuses to apologize for its adornments or radio-friendliness. The elegance of the record reveals soaring ambition in terms of both production and emotion. Yamagata's vocals are rife with elliptical slurs and slides; it whispers, rasps, croons, and swoops, looking for cracks in the lyrics to show off its impressive depth. The listener will find the same quality in singers such as Jeff Buckley, Maggie Bell, Dinah Washington, the young Rod Stewart, Billie Holiday, and John Martyn. This context encapsulates a certain method of approach which combines grit with grace and pathos with passion, but also the controlled, erotic burn of restraint and patience. Here, heartache is the river that carries everything.

Released on the Warner Bros. label in 2008, Elephants…Teeth Sinking into Heart crisply divides Yamagata's musical character into two discs. The first, Elephants, contains textured and lush ballads that align themselves with the Happenstance sound. Teeth Sinking into Heart shows off the artist's debt to rock musicians like PJ Harvey. The latter disc is the release's biggest surprise, displaying a confident swagger that was not as obvious in Yamagata's previous efforts. She raises her voice in pitch and volume, affecting a restrained snarl on songs like Faster and Sidedish Friend. The powerful set concludes with Don't, a weary-sounding ballad that brandishes an expletive-filled chorus and recalls Fox Confessor Brings the Flood by Neko Case. While the track's lyrics align with the majority of Teeth Sinking into Heart, its sound clearly underlines Yamagata's mastery of wounded, slow-moving love songs.

Chesapeake (2011), Yamagata's first studio release since the devastating, gorgeous Elephants…Teeth Sinking into Heart in 2007, was supported by a fan-funded campaign on PledgeMusic, the munificence of which helped to generate another first-rate set of poignant, emotive pop tunes that see the ex-Bumpus vocalist in a most positive state of mind. Recorded with a small army of skilled pals in Maryland, Chesapeake is, without question, Yamagata's most relaxed effort so far. It offers ten songs that run the gamut from spooky and sultry (Starlight) to languid and lush (Even if I Don't, Saturday Morning) and back again with the assured panache of a musician on her home turf.

Trivia

Rachael Yamagata's half-brother is a director and actor for CollegeHumor.

The Rachael Yamagata Concert Experience

Full of sensitive, sad, and poignant pop and rock elements, ranging from PJ Harvey-inspired vocals to intensely intimate lyrics, the music of Rachael Yamagata is unabashedly radio-friendly while remaining true to her artistic vision. Considered to be one of the best adult contemporary acts of our time, Rachael Yamagata has developed a concert experience that will have you buzzing for days afterwards. Don't miss out on your chance to hear one of America's premier singer-songwriters live and in the flesh – start planning your Rachael Yamagata concert experience today!