From humble and heartfelt beginnings, busking on the streets of Glasgow and recording bedroom covers, to playing the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2024, Rianne Downey’s story so far is one of quiet determination and self-belief, producing some of the smartest and most emotive country-tinged pop songs along the way.

In 2021 she signed to Run On Records, making the subsequent move to Liverpool, where she set about putting a band together. Early forays into the studio – first with The Coral’s James Skelly, then Richard Turvey – produced Fuel To The Flame EP then the country stomp of Devil’s Gonna Get You. Soon after, she brought out a series of rapid-fire singles and EPs, beginning with Home (2022), Come What May (2023) Method To My Madness (2023), then Beautiful View (2023), quickly selling out of their physical formats.

Live support slots with the likes of The Coral and Paolo Nutini followed, as well a number of sold-out shows across the UK, selling 1000 tickets in in her hometown, 500 in Manchester and Liverpool, and 2500 in the rest of the UK and Ireland on her solo headline tour. Plaudits from the likes of the NME and The Skinny Mag are not hard to find – ‘a big voice dripping with sincerity’ – ‘Home’ has all the power of Willy Mason’s ‘Oxygen’, while ‘Hard’ is reminiscent of Taylor Swift at her most direct…’

In summer 2023, fate came knocking when Paul Heaton’s (The Housemartins, The Beautiful South) asked Rianne to join his band as co-vocalist. She quickly became a mainstay of Heaton’s band, establishing herself as a fan favourite, headlining and touring across the UK’s festivals and arenas. This year’s performance on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage saw an increase of over 30,000 fans across Rianne’s social media pages in a single week.

The last two months have been spent in America, working on her debut album in Bear Creek Studio in Seattle, with Ryan Hadlock (The Lumineers, Zach Bryan, Vance Joy) on production duties. The next twelve months is set to be her busiest yet, with an album campaign scheduled to begin in November, preceded by a string of festival dates including Carfest and Outwith Festival, plus a Paul Heaton album release and tour in December, taking in arenas such as Glasgow Hydro, Liverpool M&S Bank Arena and two sold-out nights at Eventim Apollo, London. With her star in such ascendency, bet on seeing and hearing a lot more from Rianne Downey in the near future.