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Song premiere: Rachel Ries' 'Mercy'

Whitney Matheson
USA TODAY
Singer/songwriter Rachel Ries.

Rachel Ries' background is so interesting it sounds like she had no choice but to become an artist.

Ries, the daughter of Mennonite missionaries, grew up in "South Dakota by way of Zaire." The songs she heard as a kid — everything from Mennonite hymns to The Carpenters — have a presence in her music, which is folksy, upbeat and recalls another era.

Ries' third full-length album, Ghost of a Gardener, arrives in February. Today I'm happy to premiere the single Mercy, which I enjoy the more I hear it.

"I think of Mercy as a drinking song — despite its promise to never drink again!" Rachel tells me. "I wrote it for a particularly ill-fated love with a particularly ill-fated boy from the wrong side of the prairie tracks."

Intrigued? Press play:

Produced by Ries and David Vandervelde, Ghost of a Gardener incorporates everything from woodwinds and glockenspiel to electric guitar and synthesizers. It goes on sale Feb. 18, and you can learn more at rachelries.com.

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