Rachel's Bio

Rachel's Bio

“I’m alright by me!”  This heartfelt line from one of Rachel Goetz Deering’s humorous songs captures the essence of her quirky and earnest approach to life. Country Roger Hooper of Buddy Magazine calls the song “…a slice of wry pie.  It says it all from a funky white girl who cares, but not enough to lose her cool if things don’t work out to someone else’s idea of perfection. Right on, Ms. Goetz!” Rachel’s songs about everyday life reveal the poignant perspective of an unconventional girl from Garland, Texas.

Rachel began her lifelong relationship with music in first grade when she began taking piano lessons after school from Sister Elizabeth Anne in the convent behind Good Shepherd Catholic School. She started penning modest poetry not long after and a passion for combining music and words to create art was born.

As a teenager, Rachel added singing to her musical repertoire, becoming a member of the honors choir at North Garland High School, winning the coveted role as Mrs. Dilber in the school musical The Stingiest Man in Town, and topping it off by being crowned Garland Junior Miss of 1980. Rachel went on to make her hometown proud by winning the talent competition in the statewide Texas Junior Miss Pageant.

In college at the University of North Texas, where she majored in Radio, Television and Film, Rachel took up the guitar and began songwriting. During a year of study at the Sorbonne in Paris, she spent her time strumming the guitar on the banks of the Seine, sharing cheap red wine and fresh baguettes with other expatriate students and speaking broken French with a Texan accent.

Rachel continued to pursue a bohemian lifestyle after college, island hopping around the Caribbean. Bikini clad and guitar toting, she eked out a living doing odd jobs on impressive sailboats. She also ate numerous cheeseburgers at Le Select, the burger joint on St. Bart’s that inspired Jimmy Buffet’s famous song, “Cheeseburger in Paradise”.

When the mosquitoes became too oppressive, Rachel headed back to Dallas where she began a career in the film industry working in production. Continuing her musical pursuits after work hours, she made a fortuitous decision to take guitar lessons from Milo Deering, the multi-talented musician who would become her husband and musical collaborator.

Since the early 90s, Rachel has been creating her own place in the Texas music industry.  “Rachel Goetz & Milo Deering”, the eponymous title CD produced with Milo, was released in 1992. Rachel and Milo went on to form the band Ghostown and received the coveted invitation to showcase at the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, TX in 1994 and 1995.  Brent Grulke, director of SXSW called their CD “the best country CD we listened to.” Rachel was also selected in 1994 as a Kerrville New Folk Finalist and performed at the famous festival that year.

Rachel shifted her focus from music to motherhood with the births of her two daughters: Scarlett, born in 1990 and Savannah, born in 1994. They both inherited their parents love for music and are accomplished musicians.  The Deering Family performs at various Christmas events and special occasions throughout the year.

Always cooking up new ideas, Rachel thought it would be fun to have some real “Christmas jam” to go with Milo’s “Christmas Jam” CD for the release party in December 2003.  The cranberry/jalapeno jam was such a hit they decided to put it in a jar and sell it with the Christmas CDs for a novel gift idea and Acoustic Kitchen was born.

Rachel’s come to the conclusion, like many of us do, that life is a voyage with many destinations along the way. She’s made stops at places where she would have liked to linger for a while longer and a few places where she couldn’t high-tail it out of town fast enough – all of which have made her journey so far pretty darn interesting.

Rachel looks forward to new adventures as she keeps traveling down the road of life and hopes to continue sharing, through her music, some of the simple pleasures – and humorous situations - she encounters along the way.