Rainbow Girls are a three-piece singing group made up of Erin Chapin, Caitlin Gowdey, and Vanessa Wilbourn from the North Bay area of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

History

Rainbow Girls formed in the fall of 2010, when they began performing together at an underground

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on ...

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

’s neighboring college town,

Isla Vista Isla Vista ( ; , "Island View") is an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County, California, in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has ...

. Original members consisted of Erin Chapin, Caitlin Gowdey, Vanessa Wilbourn, and Cheyenne Methmann. The band spent the Summer of 2011

busking Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuity, gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performa ...

and couch-surfing in Europe, and releasing self-recorded demos. When they returned to California in the Fall, they began playing with drummer Savannah Hughes. The band performed at farmers markets in the Santa Barbara area, playing venues like SoHo and

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and performing at local festivals like

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and

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. In April 2013, the band left Santa Barbara and moved to the countryside north of San Francisco’s Bay Area. That same year, Rainbow Girls released their

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debut album, ''The Sound of Light''. Rainbow Girls continued to tour the West Coast regularly, as well as Europe and the UK every summer. After the departure of Methmann in 2014, the remaining four members recorded their sophomore album, ''Perceptronium'', and released it in June 2015. In the spring of 2016, Hughes announced she could no longer tour with the band full-time, so the remaining three members of the band – Chapin, Gowdey, and Wilbourn – began performing as a trio. In this period they opened for John Craigie and The Brothers Comatose. On November 8, 2017, Rainbow Girls released their third album, ''American Dream'', with a shift to a more acoustic folk sound. In the fall of 2018, the band received wide exposure when their video of

Alvin Robinson Alvin Leavon Robinson (born July 16, 1982) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently fighting as a lightweight for the Bellator Fighting Championships. He is a former Ring of Fire lightweight champion. He holds a professional re ...

's "Down Home Girl" received several million views on Facebook. They soon went into the studio to record a cover album, ''Give the People What They Want'', which was released on February 22, 2019. Their video for “Down Home Girl” (originally performed by Robinson and popularized by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

The Coasters The Coasters are an American rhythm and blues/rock and roll vocal group who had a string of hits in the late 1950s. With hits including "Searchin'", "Young Blood (The Coasters song), Young Blood", "Charlie Brown (The Coasters song), Charlie Bro ...

, and

Old Crow Medicine Show Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana (music), Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, ''Remedy (Old Crow Med ...

) led them to be picked up by Madison House booking agency, as well as by manager, Hannah Spero.

Discography

Albums

References

{{Authority Control Musical groups from the San Francisco Bay Area Musical groups established in 2010 2010 establishments in California