Rocky Mountains, CO
Erinn Peet Lukes has an angelic voice that soars over a blanket of acoustic sound. Thunder and Rain’s music lives somewhere in between folk, country, bluegrass, and pop, made cohesive by Peet-Lukes’ “nimble, yet devastating” vocals, heartfelt lyricism and a high level of musicianship from mandolinist Dylan McCarthy, bassist Ian Haegele and Allen Cooke on Dobro.
Peet Lukes didn’t know anything about bluegrass or country when she wrote her first song at thirteen in her hometown of Redondo Beach, California. She pursued her love of performing original songs through major music hubs like Seattle and New York City, until she landed in Golden, CO in 2013. She began to explore bluegrass jams in the Denver area, where she would eventually meet bass player Ian Haegele and her co writer and then band member, RP Oates. Thunder and Rain recorded their first record, Holler Out, in 2014.
Since their first effort, the band has toured across the US, Canada, Ireland and the UK. They were finalists in the Rockygrass Band Competition in 2014 and named #1 Bluegrass band by the Denver Westword in 2016. In 2018, Peet Lukes became a New Folk Finalist at the Kerrville Folk Festival.
Fans love Peet Lukes strong, yet vulnerable way of conveying her songs. She’s been compared to Natalie Maines, Linda Ronstadt, and Alison Krauss. Haegele graduated with a masters in Bass Performance from UNC Greeley, and McCarthy and Cooke have risen to the top of their fields on their respective instruments. Cooke won the Rockygrass Dobro Championship in 2014 and McCarthy won the Rockygrass Mandolin Championship in 2019.
Thunder and Rain released their third album, Passing in the Night, January 2020. The album was written after Peet-Lukes went through a break up within the band.