If you wanna understand Dani-Rae Clark, you’ll have to meet Loretta first. Loretta is a calm, quizzical, quiet pitbull with a lazy eye and a loving demeanor. She’s named for the classic country queen of upstart women, and you better believe that’s by design. If a dog does indeed mimic its owner, Loretta’s comfort in the widest array of venues, in clubs and theaters and dancehalls and dives, serve as a perfect foil for Dani-Rae, who thrives on any stage for any audience. So poignant are their songs that tales of queer and tragic love could melt even the most hardened heart and open the most narrow mind. Their songs are undeniably universal and inclusively human.
A gut punch, an understanding embrace, a hand through your hair, Dani-Rae’s unmistakable songs unite an ever-unfolding breadth of experiences. Their methodically thrifted vintage blouses and dresses are just as much an homage to 40s and 50s country legends like Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline as they are a sleeve to cry on for a friend—or roll up for a fight. They write with a brutal honesty and devilishly coy poetic flair, delivered in their confident, expressive, and absolutely haunting alto.