Rachael & Vilray Bring Vintage Songwriting Back to the Lobero Stage

Rachael Price returns to the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara on Friday, November 20, performing with guitarist-songwriter Vilray as the duo Rachael & Vilray. Price, the jazz-informed pop and soul singer of Lake Street Dive, gives vocal finesse to Vilray's witty, unabashedly vintage-sounding original material — what the duo calls "ready-made jazz with a twist or three."

The pair met in 2003 as students at the New England Conservatory of Music. Their side project now spans three albums and ten years, and it counts Stephen Colbert among its fans; he hosted them on his show and even cameoed on one of their albums.

What does the duo actually do differently?

Rather than interpreting existing real-book standards, Rachael & Vilray write new songs in the idiom of the Great American Songbook. Vilray described the conceptual approach in a pre-tour interview: "I think there is a definite appeal to using a familiar musical language — suffused in so much of our culture still, in movies and on the radio — to express new ideas, and weave new sounds. The listener has the necessary vocabulary to engage the material innately, but we aren't intruding on the often deep-seated relationships they may have with standards and their singers."

Price framed the goal in similar terms. "Jazz is an extremely inspiring and energizing genre of music, but its vitality is somewhat dependent on that feeling like you're hearing something for the first time," she said. "Refreshing and playing the wonderful songs of the American songbook is a worthy and wonderful task. But it's also important to write new songs in this style so the listener can connect to the song without having prior experience with it. We strive to give listeners that experience."

A songwriter with a Cole Porter streak — and a hip-hop list

Vilray's influences run wide. Asked about his prime influences on his writing, he offered a list that is anything but narrow, including:

• Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn
• Frank Loesser, Stephen Sondheim, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin
• The Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Fats Waller, Johnny Mercer, Peggy Lee
• John Prine, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Webb, Lennon/McCartney/Harrison, Bob Dylan
• Nas, Big L, Biggie, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Kurt Cobain
• Molly Drake, Joni Mitchell, Herbie Nichols, Monk, Tom Waits, Kurt Weill

The through-line is a Cole Porter-ish handle on conveying emotion while freely playing with language, applied to songs built on jazz and Tin Pan Alley foundations. Vilray said the pair's bond rests on shared humor and shared taste: "We make each other laugh a lot and always have, that goes a long way to making this feelings-rich music come to fullest life. We also both deeply love both jazz and Tin Pan Alley classics and obscurities."

West of Broadway and the New York ear

The duo's third and latest album, West of Broadway, came out last year with large-ensemble textures. Vilray described its mission: "West of Broadway was an exploration of flavors of N.Y.C. — where I was raised and where we both live now. It was also a more focused exploration of songs written with theatrical characters in mind." He added that the record was "a riff on some sonic techniques originated in the 'cool school' of the West Coast of the '40s and '50s. Hence 'West' of 'Broadway.'"

The slow climb of Lake Street Dive

Price's main band has followed its own long arc. Lake Street Dive formed from connections made at New England Conservatory and rose in the Santa Barbara venue ranks, from the Lobero Theatre — where Price appeared as part of the "Sings Like Hell" series — to the Santa Barbara Bowl last year. "Our success has come slowly, after 12 steady years of touring and making albums — and nine more years before of playing music together," Price said. "So, it hasn't surprised me, but the longevity of our connection and our listeners to our music does truly amaze me. I'm very grateful."

Is Rachael & Vilray a side project that grew wings? Price answered plainly: "This project has most certainly taken on its life of its own — we've been doing it for 10 years and have no plans to stop!"

Event information is available at lobero.org/events/rachael-and-vilray. For the Lobero, the November 20 date marks the return of an artist who has already outgrown the room once — and brought a second, thriving project back with her.