Rett Madison - One More for Jackie (2024) [Hi-Res]

Rett Madison’s new album, One for Jackie, is a tribute to her mom, who passed by suicide in 2019, leaving her only child with an unbearable sense of responsibility to understand her mother better as she mourned her. Through writing this album, Rett was moving through grief; it was part of her healing process. On One for Jackie, Madison distills the weeks and months following her mother’s death, drawing inspiration from the storytelling she admires in Appalachian folks traditions, the ‘70s output of Bob Dylan and Dusty Springfield, as well as the music her mother raised her on. Madison’s objective with this album was to emulate the music she loved, with the goal of this album being something she’d love to listen to.

Recorded in Tornillo, Texas at the storied Sonic Ranch and produced by the Grammy Award-winning Tyler Chester (Madison Cunningham, Sara Bareilles, Watkins Family Hour) and featuring a collaboration with Iron & Wine, One for Jackie simultaneously borrows from legendary storytellers of the past like Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen while cementing itself as an American classic for fans of Phoebe Bridgers, Angel Olsen and Brandi Carlile. Between Madison’s gutting lyrics, her singular voice and her exacting creative vision, One for Jackie immerses the listener in Madison’s grief, relying on memory and raw emotion to paint a lasting picture of Jackie. Rather than flattening and sanctifying her mother in the wake of her death, Madison portrays Jackie in all her glory and complexity. The result is an album that brings Jackie to life.

Originally from West Virginia, Rett Madison is a queer singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. She has been featured in publications such as Billboard, American Songwriter and Rolling Stone, where her music was described as “simultaneously brazen and vulnerable,” giving her a place “in the new school of acclaim-worthy troubadours.” She has sung backing vocals for artists such as Lorde and Kate Nash and opened for artists including Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, Elle King and more. Having independently released a handful of singles ahead of her 2021 debut album, Pin-Up Daddy, she’s worked with some of the most talented players today, including Theo Katzman, Brian Jones, Lee Pardini and Joe Dart.

"This isn’t an album with a full-circle moment: questions are still unanswered as Madison struggles to formulate her grief in a single thought. But maybe that’s the point: the mourning process evolves and changes over time, but when you lose your parent, do you ever stop missing them? Do you miss them more in the future, as you come to see that they will never see their grandchild take their first steps? Above all, this is an album full of raw emotional complexities. It allows room for growth throughout grief, serving as a reminder to the listener that death affects our lives in ways we never consider until we’re face-to-face with the loss of someone we never thought would die." (Asha Swann, rainbowrodeomag.com)