BIO
Meet Riah Butler…
Riah grew up in county Galway on the west coast of Ireland. She was influenced early on by her parents collection of country music. The first concert she ever attended was Garth Brooks at Croke Park when she was seven years old and she was hooked from then on. She considers The Chicks, Randy Travis, Garth and eventually Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves as huge influences in her musical journey.
When she was eleven years old she made her first television appearance on the children’s talent show “Star Stream” doing her rendition of ‘Colors of the Wind’ from Pocahontas. Riah ultimately won the overall competition beating off thousands of children from all over Ireland. Her love for the stage and performing was obvious and she was cast in countless musicals and concerts throughout the years.
Riah considered attending theatre school in London but found that her love singing and country music was pulling her in a different direction. She was a contestant on the Voice of Ireland in 2014 where she was selected by mentor Dolores O’Riordan to move forward and represent her team. A frontrunner throughout the competition Riah delivered stunning performances impressing all the judges with her talent. She eventually bowed out in the semi final stages of the show. This is when she booked a plane ticket to Nashville and decided to take the next step in furthering her career.
Riah boldly left for Nashville on her own in September 2014. She found herself singing on Broadway in Music City and suddenly never felt more at home. She won a competition called American Country Star and was awarded a six song EP recorded and produced by some of Nashville’s heavyweights. It was released the following year with superb reviews and sat atop the iTunes country music chart back home in Ireland.
Riah dove right in to the Nashville music community and began writing her own songs and performing all over town. She has become so well connected she is now hosting her own artist writers nights in Nashville and she is about to begin the recording process of her next two singles in 2022.
Riah’s vocal talents give her the ability to bring any song to life and with lyrics that range from sassy to heartwarming and heartbreaking it’s not hard to relate to her songs in some way or another. She can’t wait to share her new music later this year and hopefully see you at a show real soon.