May 26, 2014 By Dave Zuchowski, For The Greene County Messenger 5 min read

WAYNESBURG – Rachel Eisenstat was only five when she attended her first GNP concert at Waynesburg University. Now in its 44th year, the annual musical event that draws musicians from all over the country caught Eisenstat’s interest from the very get-go, and she’s been an ardent fan ever since.

Born in Dunkirk, New York, Eisenstat and her family moved to Waynesburg, when her mother, Donna, took a teaching position at Waynesburg University where she taught English. Her father, Mike, a farmer, is known to many Greene County residents through the Waynesburg Farmers Market, where he sold produce grown on his farm.

While Eisenstat attended her first GNP concert at age five, her real GNP story began when she turned ten.

“I pestered the other musicians in GNP to let me sing with them until they finally agreed,” she said of how she first got her foot in the door.

Since then, Eisenstat, now 30, has never missed performing in a single GNP get-together.

“My favorite thing about the concerts is how unique they really are,” she said. “It takes me a long time to explain to people just what GNP is. It’s not just a concert, it’s not a festival, but a group of professional and amateur musicians who get together from all over the country to jam together once a year.”

At the age of 10, Eisenstat’s mother taught her how to play guitar, and she used the instrument to get exposure playing and singing at coffee shops in Waynesburg and Morgantown as well as at functions at Waynesburg Central High School, from which she graduated.

After high school, she enrolled in Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, where she trained in classical voice. Following graduation, she and her brother, Daniel, moved independently of one anther two or three weeks apart to Denver in 2007. Both were drawn by the town’s sunshine, mountains and “incredibly vital music scene.”

Daniel plays an array of instruments including drums, bass (he studied under jazz legend, Tony Janflone) and classical guitar. In Denver, Eisenstat formed a band known as Iron City and a few years ago cut her first CD, also titled “Iron City” in reference to her Southwestern Pennsylvania roots.

After spending five years in the Mile High City, she moved to Fort Collins, an hour’s drive away. Now with two years of living in Fort Collins to be with her partner, who’s attended college, she’s planning to move back to Denver at the beginning of June.

For the past seven years in Colorado, she’s supported herself largely by playing music. But for two or three of those years, she’s supplemented her income by teaching voice at the Loveland Academy of Music and by working for an entertainment agency that books bands for weddings, anniversaries and other special events.

While performing in Colorado, she developed a musical style she refers to as somewhat dark and mysterious. Her website www.ravenjane.com describes her band’s music as an “inquiry into the dark, earthy corners of sensuality and pain, seduction and longing, shyness and exuberance.”

To go along with her new sound, she decided that a name change might be in order for the band, which included herself, her brother Dan, Joe Grobelny and “a rotating cast of characters in the Denver area.” After much thought, the band changed its name to Raven Jane, which connoted its dark, enigmatic aura.

Recently, Eisenstat decided to cut a new CD and launched an online crowd funding project on RocketHub. Titled “Queen City Magnetic,” the CD was released on April 3 and features eight songs written by Eisenstat or in conjunction with her brother, Dan.

“The album reflects my experiences living in Denver, often called the Queen City,” she said. “Two of the songs, however, are specific to Greene County. One titled ‘Pennsylvania’ is about my personal reflections of growing up in Greene County. And ‘Leah’s Song’ is about a friend I knew as a youngster, who was a real advocate for the beauty of the county, and how I envision her spirit.”

The CD was recorded at Mighty Fine Productions, a studio in Denver, and may be accessed online at ravenjane.bandcamp.com. One of the songs, “The Hunted,” can be listened to and seen on a music video featured on her website, ravenjane.com.

Eisenstat got hard copies of the CDs two days before leaving for the GNP concert. Before she left for Pennsylvania, she phoned Jim and Linda Winegar at the Artbeat Gallery, 52 E. High Street in Waynesburg, to see if they would add her CD to their inventory.

“We first saw Rachel at a GNP concert when she was around 15 and were impressed by her vocal strength,” Jim Winegar said. “She was there again this year and sang lead in several numbers but also contributed back up and harmony to the full ensemble. We already stock her CD ‘Iron City’ at Artbeat and decided to add ‘Queen City Magnetic’ to the inventory as well.”

At Artbeat, “Queen City Magnetic” sells for $10 and “Iron City” sells for $5.

Rachel said that, because of the financial support she got through RocketHub, much of which came from donors in southwestern Pennsylvania, she was able to record a quality CD. To promote her new album, she’s already started to submit the recording to radio shows and music festivals. She’s also planned two smaller tours this year – one through the Midwest and another through Texas, New Mexico and Colorado.

“It’s all so new at this point, so who knows what might happen down the road,” she said.