Rachel Loy

Rachel Loy first came on my radar at a Sunday writers in the round two years ago, where she was paired with Austin stalwarts Brian Keane and Wayne Sutton. Loy, a professional musician since age 13, not only held her own, she won the crowd over with her chin-out spunk, great voice and brilliant pop lyrics. She literally grew up on Austin's Sixth Street, first as part of the Loy Sisters, who had a regular Friday-night gig at Babe's on Sixth until Rachel went off to Berklee School of Music to study bass guitar. While at school, Loy's song "The Same Man" landed her a deal with Epic, and she suddenly found herself balancing class work with appearances on The Today Show and CNN. After graduating with honors, Loy returned to Austin and released Love the Mess, which quickly became the No. 1 album of its genre at download.com. A product of the Austin Music Foundation Incubator Program, Loy is currently supporting her second full-length, Tongue and Teeth, which has drawn comparisons to a sassy, savvy Rickie Lee Jones.