Tickets are selling fast for Jordan Rainer’s June 22 performance at the historic McSwain Theatre, 130 W. Main St., Ada, Oklahoma.
The Chickasaw citizen and country artist’s Ada appearance is a part of her “Straight Shot” Tour, which has taken her to performance venues across the country. The tour launched shortly after Rainer’s top nine finish on NBC’s “The Voice.”
“We have been to about nine different states. We’ve done about 40 shows and the ‘Straight Shot’ Tour is, so far, extremely successful,” Rainer said before an April performance.
“I’ve gotten to play in front of crowds, meet new fans and make new fans along the way. We are having a blast.”
The concert at the 104-year-old theater, which is owned and operated by the Chickasaw Nation, marks the artist’s first appearance at the storied McSwain Theatre.
Rainer, a native of Atoka, Oklahoma, said she is looking forward to the show in her home state.
“Anytime that I can play a venue in southeast Oklahoma I’m excited, and of course the McSwain Theatre has country music history already rooted in there, that being where Blake Shelton got his start. The building itself is over 100 years old and it’s just a really cool place.”
McSwain patrons can expect an entertaining show full of new songs and classic country hits.
“I’m going to bring my full band and I think it’s going to be a really special night. I love acoustic shows, getting to just show up and plug in a guitar and entertain and tell stories, but getting to experience my full band is a treat all its own,” Rainer said.
Rainer will be accompanied at the McSwain Theatre by her bandmates, a group who has stuck with her through thick and thin, performing in a vast array of venues.
“These are guys who I met when I was in the trenches, working in the Broadway Nashville honky-tonks, working the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life. Those fellas were on stage with me day after day, working four to six hours a day in the Nashville heat on the rooftop bars, and I brought them with me (on the tour). They’re my kindred friends, my brothers.
“I’ll tell you what, you’re going to be in for a night of music, stories, laughs, maybe even a few tears. “And, of course, a Reba cover or two,” she said, smiling.
Rainer smiled because her connection to Oklahoma native and Country Music Hall of Fame member Reba McEntire runs deep. In addition to hailing from the same corner of the state, when invited to audition for “The Voice,” Rainer selected “Fancy,” McEntire’s iconic 1991 cover, as her blind audition song, unaware the country artist would be a coach on the upcoming season of the show.
During her blind audition, Rainer had the surreal experience of singing the song to McEntire and the panel of coaches. She experienced a rare four-chair turn, meaning each coach wanted her on their team. “I found myself in Los Angeles auditioning in front of the queen of country music herself, and I wound up on the first-ever Team Reba and went all the way to the top nine,” she said in a January interview.
Rainer is honored by the experience and feels the timing was serendipitous.
Since January, she has been touring the country in her black Dodge pickup, Loretta.
A show in Grant, Oklahoma, near her hometown was very special to Rainer.
“We played at Choctaw Casino (in Grant) and we managed to put about 850 people in that room, which was an amazing thing. I got to meet almost everybody that came. To see the home crowd support and to feel that love that only Okies can show each other, it was really special,” she said.
Since her appearance on “The Voice” last fall, she has represented Oklahoma and the Chickasaw Nation on a national stage, something Rainer describes as a blessing.
“It’s been an absolute blessing to get to shine a spotlight not only on my art, but on my heritage as an Oklahoman and as a Chickasaw, the way that I’ve been able to show how resilient and powerful and special our people are. And to also see my tribe and my people embrace me back in such a huge way, it’s been so special.”
The night Rainer was eliminated from “The Voice” was devastating, Rainer said.
“I’d come so far, and that finish line was so close,” she said.
A Chickasaw citizen commented on her Facebook page in Chickasaw, “We are Chickasaw, and we are still here (Chikasha Poyakat ilayya’sha katihma).”
“I broke down crying. That comment meant so much to me that my family put it on a wooden plaque and gave it to me for Christmas. It hangs in my studio now, that support is everything.”
For more information about Rainer’s “Straight Shot” Tour, visit JordanRainerOfficial.com.