The Rebel Eves—singer/songwriters Katie Pederson, Grace Theisen, and Jilian Linklater—emerged in 2022, after countless Zoom sessions, and one fateful lakeside songwriting retreat, determined to build something more than just a band.
A fearless, sister-powered musical movement, grounded in honest storytelling, three-part harmonies, and shared struggles as women in the male-dominated music industry, the trio calls their music “Empowered Americana.”
All established solo artists on their own, working out of three different cities across the country—in Seattle, Nashville, and Kalamazoo—The Rebel Eves each have Michigan roots, with Pederson growing up in Saline near Ann Arbor, Theisen in Kalamazoo, and Linklater having recently moved back to her hometown of Lake Orion.
Individually, the three all have over a decade of recording, touring, and performing experience. But they found something special by joining together shortly after the pandemic that helped them come back even stronger as something of a super-group.
“Had it not happened, I’m not sure I would have met Katie because our first co-write was actually during the pandemic,” Theisen said. “So people were very excited to be out, and to see shows by the time we were on the road for the first time. And I think that just made it feel even more special, and gave us a little bit more of a boost, especially starting in Michigan where we’re all from originally, so we have a pretty solid fan base up here.”
The Rebel Eves have performed with fellow Michigan artists The War & Treaty and The Accidentals, as well as touring acts like The Wood Brothers, in addition to playing festivals all across the Midwest. Here in West Michigan, they made their debut at Frederik Meijer Gardens Tuesday Evening Music Club in July, and took the stage at Kalamazoo Pride in June.
Both Theisen and Linklater have come out as queer in recent years, and with Pederson as a strong ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, the group wants their shows to serve as safe spaces, both as a way to reflect the closeness of their collaboration with their audience, and as a place of support for those whose rights are under attack.
“It started with us,” Pederson said. “We were creating a space between the three of us that we felt comfortable, and we felt safe, and we felt OK to ask questions, and to disagree, and to experiment, and try different things. You know, try and fail and try and succeed. We just wanted that at the core of it. We really were, just the three of us as friends, like, ‘Let’s do this for each other.’ And then at the end of the day, we still have to always come back to that, because if we’re not doing it for ourselves, it’s not really like transmitting out, I don’t think, at our shows, or through our music or in the communities we’re in. We embodied it, and we started doing it, and then it kind of started transferring outward. We want any Rebel Eve to come in and be a part of that with us. And that safety just continues to grow outward.”
This month, The Rebel Eves will perform at Wheatland Music Festival in Remus, Michigan, on Sept. 5, when they will also release their debut EP, “Shake The Ground.”
The band started the recording process for the record about a year ago, with most of the songs going back as far as two years.
“We have been working with Amber Buist, who’s the manager of The Accidentals,” Pederson said. And after she heard the song ‘Shake the Ground,’ she was like, ‘We need you in the studio. Like yesterday. We gotta get in there now.’ So she really helped us get the ball rolling for recording music because it’s really expensive.”
The band launched a successful crowdfunding campaign, and plans to release all their music on vinyl hopefully in time for their show at The Ark in Ann Arbor on Nov. 6.
“It’s hard to get the scheduling together,” Pederson said about recording a band based in three different cities. “There’s so much coordination and people involved. And Amber was, no pun intended, instrumental in getting everything together and organized.”
The EP will include six songs, including two versions of the title track, “Shake The Ground,” one rock, and one acoustic. The recording also features the work of Rebel Eve live collaborator and Kalamazoo-based world percussionist Carolyn Koebel.
“Then we have five more that we’re working on that will turn into an LP that we’re hoping to release in the spring,” Pederson said. “So it’s been a long process. We wanted to make sure that it’s exactly right, and that the songs have the justice that we feel like they deserve. And I think that we’ve accomplished that.”
The Rebel Eves’ have something of a motto for themselves and their music: connection over perfection, and it’s become something that has bonded them together as a band, and brought them closer to their fans.
“We’re all pretty hard on ourselves,” Linklater said. “We’re our harshest critics at times. When we step out on stage, there’s things that we like to say to ourselves, and remind ourselves and kind of hype ourselves up. And I think it came out of one of those times where it was like, ‘You know what? I might not play this solo perfectly, or I might mess up this note or whatever, but really at the end of the day, the goal is not to play a perfect show. It’s to connect with the audience. So we started saying it that way, and it started taking on different meanings, and can really apply in a lot of different areas.
“But I think for me, that’s something I try to remind myself before every show. The goal is to connect. The goal is not to play the perfect show and to do it seamlessly. Of course, it’s awesome when both happen at the same time; that feels really good. But, I do think too, that connection can come from our imperfections. I feel like sometimes in shows when you mess up, there’s an opportunity for the audience to connect to you in a more human way, and then that can even be your pathway to connection, is those imperfections.”
Look for the “Shake The Ground” EP available Sept. 5. For more on The Rebel Eves, visit therebeleves.com.
