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 Annie Raines
was born near Boston, Massachusetts on July 3rd 1969. She took up
harmonica while still in high school, and dropped out of her freshman year
at Antioch to pursue a musical career. Fascinated by the sounds of Muddy
Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson, she
spent countless hours listening to, and absorbing the music of the Chicago
blues masters. She began to play gigs at local Boston clubs, and later
traveled to Chicago where she met and played with Pinetop Perkins, Louis
Meyers, and James Cotton.
While working regularly on the local blues circuit, Annie taught harmonica
and began developing a style of her own within the blues tradition. Fast
becoming one of the most sought-after harmonica players in New England,
she had earned a reputation for playing with energy, soul and taste, but
she was ready to take her musical education to a deeper level. It was at
that time that she began working with country blues master Paul Rishell,
who lent musical support to her harmonica, piano, singing and songwriting
skills. This gave her the perfect opportunity to study Country Blues
innovators such as Noah Lewis and Sonny Terry, and, more recently to take
up the mandolin.
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