A UF student will take the stage before an American Idol winner tonight.
Rachel Pearlstein will open for Kris Allen at High Dive at 8 p.m. A set by Jillette Johnson will follow before the season-eight star plays. Tickets are $14 at the door.
Tonight will be the second time Pearlstein, who goes by Rachel Rose on stage, performs in Gainesville at a paid gig. The 20-year-old sociology junior played at the Swamp Restaurant in Fall.
Her Swamp debut was impromptu. While 32-year-old singer Jamie Davis took a break during his set one night, Pearlstein asked Davis if she could fill in, saying, “I promise I don’t suck.”
Davis let her play, and he later referred her to a Glory Days Presents promoter, Pat Lavery, when he started looking for an acoustic opener. Lavery took the suggestion and contacted Pearlstein.
Pearlstein said she never watched “American Idol,” but she knew who Allen was when she received the news that she would open for him.
Pearlstein was so excited that she had to pull over while driving so she wouldn’t crash, said Jordan Weber, a 19-year-old psychology freshman.
“It’s exciting to think that people like my music and really enjoy my voice,” Pearlstein said. “It’s great singing into a microphone or hearing the sound of my guitar amplified.”
Pearlstein will perform with her guitar, which she started playing at 13.
“I always loved how the guitar sounded in songs,” she said, “and I wanted to be able to do it with my singing.”
She said she started playing Taylor Swift songs, but her style evolved during the past year. Her favorite covers to play are Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” and Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car.”
“I usually don’t play my originals for people,” she said. “I usually play a lot of covers because I like kind of making a new version out of a well-known song.”
The singer/songwriter transferred to UF after attending Yeshiva University in New York.
Pearlstein said she wanted to be in a warmer state, which helps inspire the nature-centered songs she likes to write outside.
“Most of my songs aren’t about guys or heartbreak,” she said, “especially my older songs.”
Sarah Levin, a 19-year-old UF animal science freshman, said Pearlstein sings “to be peaceful.”
“It gets her out of the daily problems,” Levin said. “I feel like that is what a lot of singers strive for — to get out of their head — and she already has that.”
