Rachel Harrington sings old time country with a soulful heart and a touch of bluegrass. Describing herself as a "late bloomer", the Seattle singer-songwriter started taking her music seriously at the relatively late age of 30, at a watershed time in her life.

She'd been in bands as a teenager and listened to soul and country music growing up in Oregon and Texas, before life intervened, with marriage and a family and a sensible day job as a teacher. It was the birth of a stillborn child, though, that brought her up short.

"It kind of makes you look at yourself in the mirror and say 'why am I on this planet?' I was standing there, having this conversation with myself, saying 'I'm not really doing what I want'."

What she wanted was to pursue music. So she picked up her acoustic guitar and started writing songs, performing open mics and gaining experience. Doubts remained, though.

"I was quite a late bloomer," she says. "I wanted to know whether this was a ridiculous pipe dream, whether I really had any talent. I started to look around for a female singer songwriter who was married and had a family like I did, to see if there was a place for us in the world, frankly."

She wrote to one Lori McKenna – singer-songwriter and married mother of five living outside Boston. Since then, Lori has hit the big time in the folk world.

"She was sweet and she listened to my stuff, and wrote back and was very supportive and encouraging," says Rachel. "She gave me one very useful piece of advice, which was that people want to hear about your personal experiences, so even if it is scary if you can risk that and write songs about your personal life you can really touch your audience."

This is advice she has taken on board with her upcoming third album, Celilo Falls