Folk musician comes home to kick off new tour at Treehouse Cafe

Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 14, 2025

Rae Isla, a folk singer/songwriter from Bainbridge Island, is set to perform at Treehouse Cafe in Lynwood Center Aug. 15 to kick off the start of a new tour.

“It’s all going to be happening on the same street I learned to ride a bike,” Isla said about coming home to perform.

Isla will play shows into early September, including stops in Seattle, Olympia and Vashon Island as well as some venues in Oregon, including Portland, Bend and Eugene.

Prior to her music career, Isla went to Ordway Elementary and graduated from Bainbridge High School in 2011, before later graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2014.

“I went off to college and moved to the East Coast, and year by year, I realized how special…Bainbridge is, and how I wanted to figure out how I could make it a part of my adult life, too. And I think music is the perfect way to do that,” she said.

What started as an interest in the arts quickly turned into a passion and career goal. Isla estimated she performed in 16 productions between Bainbridge Performing Arts and high school theater.

“I was just very obsessed with music and performing, and Bainbridge is one of the best places in the world to support kids who are in the arts,” she said.

Isla said she wanted to learn everything she could about a career in music.

“So I moved to Boston, and I went to school, and after school, I thought I was going to move home to the Pacific Northwest, and then, honestly…on a whim, I woke up one morning and realized that wasn’t the right thing for my life, and I moved to New York instead, and started my career in New York City,” she said.

Isla lived in New York for five years before moving to Mexico City for two years. “It’s like returning to a place that I’ve been before. I’m very inspired by the feeling of displacement and arriving somewhere and needing to figure out who my people are.”

Isla describes herself as a traveling bard, a singer/songwriter storyteller who documents human stories and shares them as she travels. She likes the simplicity of being supported by local people and venues.

Despite now living in Los Angeles, Isla said she looks back on her time on Bainbridge fondly.

“I’ve met a lot of people out on the road who are maybe not happy with where they came from, or feel like they can never go back to where they came from for whatever reason. And I don’t feel that way despite traveling so much. It kind of sets the standard for what I need out of a place in terms of people and culture and nature.”

During the height of the COVID pandemic, Isla got the idea of sending postcards to others as a way of staying connected. In 2024, Isla thought it would be a fun way of getting the word out about her upcoming album, she said. “I was just kind of trying to think of new ways to communicate with people and let them know.”

As of Aug. 4, Isla has heard from 723 people requesting postcards. “I’ll grow it as long as people are interested in it. And if it gets to a thousand then I might have to recruit a couple friends to help with the next run,” she said. “I’m starting to understand that the people who really want to support and engage with my music are also the people whose values align with my own. And that’s what this postcard club is really teaching me.”

Isla described her writing process as fluid, fragmented and often chaotic before she refines it down. One way she refines her work is by allowing time for improvisation.

“I know that you can’t just wait around for inspiration to strike. So I really try to do some kind of writing or improvising every day, like even if it’s just fifteen minutes,” she said. “Writing down some lyrics or sitting at the piano or grabbing a guitar or whatever’s near me.”

Isla said she likes only being a two-hour plane ride away from Bainbridge. In the future, she would like to meet musicians and bring them to BI to show them the heavily influenced art culture here. “I hope everybody comes out to the first show so we can sort of test the waters and start a tradition,” she said.

For details, visit her Instagram @raeisla or visit her website at raeisla.com. For tickets visit www.bandsintown.com/e/106866780?affil_code=js_raeisla.com&app_id=js_raeisla.com&came_from=700&utm_campaign=event&utm_medium=web&utm_source=widget