Rachael & Vilray, featuring Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive, comes to VPAC Feb. 2

The Vail Valley Foundation recently issued the following press release on Rachael & Vilray playing the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek on Friday, Feb. 2:

Friends and collaborators Rachael Price, vocalist and founding member of the soul-inspired rock band Lake Street Dive, and Vilray Blair Bolles, a New York-based singer-songwriter-guitar player, have been performing together to accolades and encores for the past seven years. The duo’s songs draw on standards from the ‘30s and ‘40s, incorporating jazz and swing into new music composed by Vilray, who calls Rachael’s voice “the most rewarding instrument to write for.” 

Rachael & Vilray’s live performances are both cozy and sophisticated, making them perfectly suited to the Vilar Performing Arts Center’s (VPAC) intimate setting. Don’t miss Rachael & Vilray on the VPAC stage Friday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. 

Rachael and Vilray met over two decades ago as students at the New England Conservatory of Music. The duo began performing together in 2015 after Rachael approached Vilray following a short set of covers he played. They released their self-titled debut album in 2020, garnering a dedicated following.

“Rachael & Vilray channel the intimate humor and melodic warmth of classic jazz,” said VPAC Artistic Director Owen Hutchinson. “Their vintage sound, which channels the witty songsmiths of Tin Pan Alley, swings along with vocal acrobatics and lush harmonies.”

The two draw their sound – or accent – from legends like Johnny Mercer, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee. While they’ve settled into their own distinctive voices, their harmonies recall the style of a bygone era of jazz marked by – as Vilray notes – “stories told by characters.” He loves the “clever use of slant rhymes and dense consonant combinations to propel the rhythm of music by three-in-one singer-lyricist-composers, like Johnny Mercer or Peggy Lee.”

On stage, no matter the set-up, Rachael and Vilray share an old 1930s-era RCA ribbon microphone, singing to each other, telling stories about how their original songs transpired, and relating their new music to the many old love songs “they love to love.”

“As the lead singer of the folk-soul band Lake Street Dive, Rachael’s voice is now iconic, recognized as one of the great vocalists of our time,” Hutchinson added. “Vilray’s jazz guitar chops are understated, and entirely profound. There is so much to appreciate about this important duo.”

Rachael & Vilray will perform select songs from their second album “I Love A Love Song!,” 11 of which were written by Vilray and feature dynamic vocals. Don’t miss this extraordinary duo at VPAC on Feb. 2.

For more information about VPAC’s schedule and to purchase tickets, visit vilarpac.org or call 970-845-8497.