New Centricity recording artist Rachel Purcell grew up right down the road from FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Yet, she had no idea she would one day follow in the footsteps of many of the iconic musicians who have recorded there. Regardless, she ended up cultivating a genuine passion for music that evolved into a professional calling. 

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Purcell, who started writing songs as a teen and played in the high school marching band, always loved a good pop melody, but her aspirations were only as big as her church choir. The small-town Alabama native didn’t know to dream beyond Sunday morning solos. So, she relegated music to a hobby — nothing more than something that brought her immense joy in her free time. 

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When she was just 17, an executive from a major record label approached Purcell and expressed interest in her voice as she was performing cover songs by her idols like Carole King, Sara Bareilles and Adele in the corner of a high-end steakhouse in Florence, Alabama. Upon graduation four years later, she got back in touch with the executive, who invited her to Nashville to play for the label’s A&R team. A little over a year after moving to Music City, Purcell inked her first recording contract. 

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The label had fallen in love with Purcell’s big pop-vocal, but signed her to a country deal thanks to her penchant for lyrical storytelling and her bubbly, definitively southern personality. “I feel like country found me,” she explains, adding that she wrestled with guilt over scoring a record deal so quickly, without intentionally chasing it. She was living out the dream so many of her peers had been working toward for more than a decade.

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When Purcell’s time with the major label ended, she was already feeling the pull of an impending new season. As an independent artist, she began writing songs about her faith. “This first song idea about my relationship with God came to my mind, and I wrote it all by myself. It was the first song I’d done 100 percent by myself in years, but it just started flowing. Then, more songs started coming,” recalls Purcell, who’s collaborated with numerous acts ranging from Rascal Flatts to Blessing Offor. “It felt very divine. It was like the songs would finish themselves before I could even get it all out.”

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Purcell knew if she was going to switch gears musically, she needed a strong extended team around her. “I feel like I’m finally learning my value as an artist,” she says, despite having released her country debut in 2018. “And I felt like if I was going to partner with a label again, it had to be the right thing for me. Especially when, creatively, I feel like I’m really writing what I want to write, and I am singing how I want to sing. I’m not holding back the soul at all.”

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Both things are apparent in the new relationship she’s formed with Centricity Music. Her initial Christian demos sparked the label’s interest, and they invited her to attend their coveted independent artist retreat. Shortly thereafter, they offered her a recording contract. Now, Purcell is poised to open her next chapter, fully stepping into Christian music as her most authentic self.

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“I don’t know why God has given me the opportunities He has or the platform He has,” she continues, “but I really want to honor Him and do my best to be faithful to the calling He’s placed on my life in this season to write and record Christian music.”