Interview with Raquel Cole

RAQUEL COLE is a seasoned singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has written with some of the finest songwriters in the world, has been featured on Sirius XM’s The Highway and has opened up for Country star Josh Turner and Grammy award-winning legendary group Diamond Rio. Raquel has been perfecting her sound for more than half her young life. These days she splits her time between Nashville and British Columbia. She was born and raised in the Okanagan Valley located in the beautiful province of B.C. Growing up, Raquel was attracted to wide-raging influences that included John Mayer’s bluesy sounds, Bryan Adam’s genius lyrics, and Shania Twain’s pop-country tunes. “At a really young age my dad introduced me to The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, The Guess Who and Randy Bachman. He’s a drummer and he wanted someone to play music with him. When I was nine he bought me my first guitar and it grew from there.” This led Raquel to her love of songs and songwriting. An accomplished guitar player, she added the mandolin to her arsenal as well. Raquel released her first single “It’s For Real This Time” which earned her a spot on Sirius XM’s The Highway. "Writing songs has always been an outlet for me. This is a very vulnerable song,” she admits. “It’s what was going on in my love life at the time and thankfully writing songs is way cheaper than therapy." In September 2015, she won the CCMA (Country Music Association of Canada) Discovery Award.