Many of the artists I now feature came upon my radar because of a singing competition show. You may remember Rainer as the “girl in the sunglasses” from Team Reba on NBC’s The Voice. America fell in love with her instantly as the quick-witted, shoot-from-the-hip contestant who left producers sweating and never knowing what she would say on live TV. Now, three years later, this gritty, tele-slinging, fire-spitting outlaw country artist returns with her most fearless and defining work to date – an unapologetic record that pushes boundaries both sonically and culturally.
As always, I want to know how the artist got their start. She told me, “From the time I could toddle, my family had a family piano in the living room. I couldn't even make eye contact with it, but I could reach above my head and play the keys, and I would just pink on it. I've been drawn to instruments my whole life. From the time I was a kid, if there was a guitar in the corner somewhere, if there was a drumstick, I was hitting something. I just couldn’t not make music.”
Rainer was an introverted kid, and her family moved around a lot, so music became her friend. “I didn’t get to connect with people, so music was my way of expressing myself. It's continued to build and be my number one partner in life,” she shared.
And while Rainer has been performing for much of her life, she was a preacher’s kid raised in a fundamentalist household. She was expected to get married and have kids. She was told what to believe and what should be important in her life. At 22, she got married, and seven years into it, she was dying emotionally.
She stated, “I was dying inside because I was not being my authentic self. I was not thriving. I had rock-bottom self-esteem. I had no self-worth. I had no personal identity outside the Bible, outside of the beliefs I was handed. I was following a script, and that script was suffocating me.”
Eventually, the Oklahoma native packed her bags, moved to Nashville, and was a regular in Broadway’s honkytonks.
Rainer ended up divorcing her husband (whom she called a decent man) because she wanted autonomy. “I wanted complete say over my destiny. I wanted a complete say over my body, over my life, over my career, over whether I was going to have kids. As a woman, I deserved to have complete control of my destiny,” she advised.
This experience led Ranier to embrace herself and the kind of music she chose to make. The outlaw, southern rock, don’t care what others think, music is normally associated with country music’s bad boys.
Rainer explained, “My music, I think, reflects that rebellion against being told to be small, being told to shrink yourself, being told that you must fit in a box. And my music doesn't fit in a box. It's grittier than your average girl. It's guitar forward. It's not soft. It's not cute.”
In 2020, Rainer released the captivating murder ballad, “Crossfire,” which so far has been her most popular single to date. Then, in 2021, “Black Water Rise” came out, a tribute to the woman she became. But it is her autobiographical anthem, “Straight Shot,” that is badassery at its finest.
Though she had a strong core group of followers, Rainer’s trajectory changed in 2023. The woman in black boldly sang “Fancy” in the blind auditions on NBC’s The Voice with a four-chair turn around. When the singer/songwriter chose to be on Reba’s (her fellow Okie) team, her life changed completely.
She shared, “Before The Voice, I had about 4,000 followers on Facebook and about 900 followers on Instagram. After the show, because I was in the top six, I had not only exposure, but longevity of exposure. It was repeated exposure. My Facebook just crossed 202,000 followers. My Instagram has almost 50,000 followers. I've gained an audience.”
But Rainer’s biggest takeaway from her experience on The Voice was being mentored by Reba. She explained, “Getting to work with her on the show was so enlightening for me as a woman, as an artist, and to get to understand a small fragment of how her mind works as a businesswoman, as an industry woman, and a musician. But then, getting to maintain a friendship with her after the show and to be continually supported, cheered on, and mentored by her. It's been a gift.”
Most recently, Rainer released her debut album, The Outlaw Revival, which blends outlaw-country grit with sharp storytelling and electrifying musicianship. But what makes this album even more unique is that it is a fully fan-funded, independently released album available only on her website — ensuring the money goes directly to the writers, producers, and musicians who made it, not streaming platform execs. We want to feed the music, not the machine. Jordan wants her fans as stakeholders, not just streaming numbers.
The album explores the complexities of modern womanhood through a deeply personal lens. Across its 10 tracks, Jordan tackles the themes of identity, resilience, and self-discovery—addressing topics such as divorce, faith deconstruction, standing up for domestic violence survivors, not fitting the mold, and being your authentic self.
Ranier teamed up with songwriting heavy hitters, which included two of her besties, Autumn McEntire and Liz Hengber. She even got some help from Reba with her song, “Walmart’s Hiring.” While she was chatting with Reba, she told her, “I used to work at Walmart, and I'd rather go back to working at Walmart than ever depend on a man to survive.” Reba replied, “There’s a song in that.”
“The Night I Drank With Tanya” is based on Liz Hengber’s real-life experience of meeting with Tanya Tucker in a bar on Broadway. Rainer even recorded an outside cut that Hengber and McEntire wrote with Ashley McByrde called “Days of Thunder.” The anthem is s hat tip to legendary figures and song lyrics from the past.
One of the few songs that Rainer released to streaming is “Where The Cowboys Are.” This banger is my favorite off the album. Produced by magnificent Ilya Toshinsky, the clever lyrics paint a clear picture of what real cowboys are. I feel it when she sings, I need me a man/ Where a truck ain't a toy, to overcompensate/ For the tough that they say that they are but they ain't/ I'll go to Texas or Santa Fe/ To trade the rodeo clowns for the real damn thing.
Ranier is currently on her Outlaw Rebellion Tour across the country, with new dates and shows being added as momentum builds. Show dates can be found at: jordanrainerofficial.com/live.
You'll have to trust me when I say The Outlaw Revival is a record you will want in your collection. You’ll just need to go to Jordan Rainer’s website to get it.
You can follow Jordan Rainer on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and all streaming platforms.
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Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and TikTok.
The Outlaw Revival Track Listing:
1. Where The Cowboys Are (Liz Hengber, Autumn McEntire, Jordan Rainer)
2. Love Like That (Kevin Brandt, Joel Shoemacke, Jordan Rainer)
3. The Girl You Left (Janelle Arthur, Jordan Rainer)
4. The Axe (Janelle Arthur, Jordan Rainer)
5. The Night I Drank With Tanya (Liz Hengber, Autumn McEntire, Jordan Rainer)
6. Tumbleweed (Kevin Brandt, Brett Boyett, Jordan Rainer)
7. Days Of Thunder (Ashley McBryde, Liz Hengber, Autumn McEntire)
8. Heartbreak Town (Liz Hengber, Autumn McEntire, Jordan Rainer)
9. Walmart's Hiring (Reba McEntire, Kevin Brandt, Jordan Rainer)
10. Long Time Comin' (Will Nance, Jordan Rainer)