WATCH: Rachel Sumner, “Head East” (Traveling Light Sessions)



Artist: Rachel Sumner & Traveling Light
Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts
Song: “Head East” (Traveling Light Sessions)
Album: Heartless things
Release date: November 7, 2024 (video); May 10, 2024 (Album)

(Editor’s note: BGS is pleased to present a new series of live performance videos from singer-songwriter and bandleader Rachel Sumner. Over the next four weeks, BGS readers will enjoy four live song performances of tracks from Sumner’s latest album. Heartless thingsand performed by her touring trio Traveling Light. More information will follow next week.)

In her words: “’Head East’ is our next release from Heartless Things (Traveling Light Sessions). It has a very special place in my heart because it was the first song I ever wrote. Thirteen years ago, I moved to Boston from the Mojave Desert in California (where I grew up) and felt a great connection to the city and a sense of possibility of having arrived there – a feeling I didn’t have in my hometown. This song was a plea to my younger brother to go out and find happiness elsewhere, like I had.

“For this song, Kat Wallace swaps her violin for tenor guitar, and Mike Siegel adds a sublime harmony in the third section that gives the chorus a heavenly feel. “Head East” has had many versions and arrangements, but this one is probably my favorite.” – Rachel Sumner

Track credits:
Rachel Sumner – banjo, lead vocals
Kat Wallace – tenor guitar, harmonies
Mike Siegel – bass, harmonies

Video credit: Developed by Zachariah Hickman.
Filmed by Lindsay Straw.
Mixed by Rachel Sumner.
Mastered by Dan Cardinal.
Video edited by Rachel Sumner.

Photo credit: Bri Gately