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.
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.
With an interest in grammar and linguistics, she headed to the University of North Alabama (UNA), majored in English, and helped pay for her tuition by competing in pageants, even earning a spot on the Miss Alabama stage after being crowned Miss UNA in 2015.
But it was her time at UNA that really grew her faith and her musical gifts. “I came to know God in a real way in the middle of college,” Purcell shares. College was also where she began to seriously hone her craft — writing and performing her original music around town.
