*Confidential Country Soul* Nashville frontwoman/singer/songwriter Renée Wahl has a secret — countless secrets, actually. In addition to her bandmates, known collectively as The Sworn Secrets, she's accumulated a career full of others as a captain in the U.S. Air Force with top-secret clearance when assigned to the National Security Agency.
Perhaps her duties in the world of covert operations helped her hone her authenticity as a songwriter and as a performer. So does playing the very stages in East Nashville that are the epicenter of the burgeoning singer/songwriter-centric scene that’s being described as Nashville’s New Outlaw movement. And now, the Pennsylvania native is carving out her own space at the recently rediscovered intersection where authentic Nashville songwriting meets Music Row.
Inspired by groundbreaking artists including Neko Case, Buddy and Julie Miller, Linda Ronstadt, X and the Ramones, Wahl deftly crafts accessible songs that explore the human experience. From escaping emotional torment to finding a short-term solution to a temporary loneliness problem, few topics are off limits when it comes to Wahl’s powerful and personal approach to songwriting. “Songwriting can be very person, and in some ways, it can be secretive,” Wahl says. “When writing, I dig deep, and that sometimes brings up subjects that I might not normally talk about in an open environment.”