Rosanne Raneri is a luminous, unforgettable, award-winning singer-songwriter who hypnotizes audiences and inspires reviewers to call her breathtaking, exciting, the best in New York's Capital Region, a star-in-waiting.

Rosanne is occasionally the focused researcher wandering the maze of archives, but is usually the dreamer lingering at the next table, right next to you, observing over and over again how we are different and the same, taking nothing for granted, watching how we write and re-write our own histories. Her joy and energy in performances is electric, immediate and contagious.

Her Sound

Romantic, classic, erotic is how one fellow singer-songwriter describes Rosanne Raneri's unique and arresting sound.

Erotic because of her riveting vocal talent; her voice is gutsy and sensitive, penetrating, fluid and precise, husky and revealing. Erotic also because her songs seem to not only express an urgency, something at stake, but also layers of subtle meanings that more slowly involve and arouse the listener as they take in the poignant imagery. Erotic because the music isn't just written from the heart or the head, but also the libido; the lyrics express a certain intimacy and desire, almost, at times, in a confessional way.

Romantic because of her poetic and literary sensibility; her lyrics have a distinct edge that respects the fragile and raw spectrum of emotion and experience while testing their boundaries. One gets the feeling that she wants to wear her heart on her sleeve while partially disguising it with a beautiful, curious rendering of a heart. Rosanne distills the literal as well as symbolic elements of experience to create compelling landscapes, with strokes applied as tenderly, passionately and masterfully as an Impressionist painter.

Classic because of the way her songs embody her integrity and authenticity. One may sense a deep root extending from the melodies and arrangements though they have been created in and influenced by the present. Classic because of the sophistication in her choices despite trends, and because, like great composers, she hopes to set the possibility of discovery and revelation in motion.

Her Accomplishments

Rosanne is featured in the book SOLO: Women Singer-Songwriters In Their Own Words (Dell Publishing), a collection of interviews and photos of twenty of today's premier women singer-songwriters, along with Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Joan Osborne, Sheryl Crow, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ani DiFranco, Cassandra Wilson, Jonatha Brooke, and Lucinda Williams.

Rosanne has opened for Rickie Lee Jones, Rosanne Cash, June Tabor, Ani DiFranco, Cheryl Wheeler, Maria Muldaur, Jonathan Edwards, Maura O`Connell and The Neilds, been co-billed with Garnet Rogers, Tom Paxton, Jonatha Brooke, Lucy Kaplansky and The Burns Sisters, and has performed at Caffé Lena, The Bitter End, Club Passim, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, The Eighth Step, The Turning Point, Fast Folk Café, The Village Underground, Capital Repertory Theatre, The Egg, The Turtle Hill Folk Festival, and Saratoga Music Hall. Friends have compared her to Joni Mitchell, Joan Armatrading, Annie Lennox, Sara McLachlan, Shawn Colvin, Patty Larkin, Ani DiFranco, Patty Griffin, Maura O'Connell and Leonard Cohen.

The Past

Rosanne was voted Best Acoustic Performer, Female Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic Performer, Solo Artist and Folk Performer consecutively from 1996 through 2001 by Metroland Magazine, and Best Female Singer-Songwriter in 1999 and 2001 by The Times Union (Capital Region, NY), before leaving the area for two years to pursue music and a burgeoning career in illustrating in Boston, MA. Her performances have consistently been recognized among the years' best. Rosanne was chosen to perform the premier of the award-winning cable television series "Sounding Board", produced by Time Warner Cable (1999).

Rosanne marked her recording debut with A Little Nip, the powerful and highly acclaimed compilation of women artists from the Hudson Valley Region released by Grrr Records in 1994. Her first full-length recording, Frantic and Weightless, released in 1996, was named by several area music reviewers as one of the top five local and national releases for 1996. Parhelion, Rosanne's sophomore effort was named Best Local Release in 2000 by Metroland Magazine and was Greg Hayme's of The Times Union's second most listened to national record release of the year.

"Parhelion is one of the finest albums ever recorded in this area"
~ Metroland Magazine

"Raneri serves up the complete package: stunning songs, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous voice and an almost palpable charisma; (the songs on Parhelion are) folk-pop gems that sparkle like the sun on fresh winter snow"
~ Times Union

The Future

Shift, Rosanne's latest release, is the astonishing outcome of her collaboration with award-winning singer-songwriter-producer Robby Baier. A departure from her earlier folk-pop style, this recording features intricately layered harmonies, sensual and atmospheric textures, an electronic edge and irresistible grooves. Shift was voted best local album of 2004 by The Times Union's Greg Haymes.

Solo or with her band The Wild Graces, she can be seen out on the Capital Region's stages and at venues throughout the Northeast in 2006.