Acoustic-based duo Raveis Kole combine the talents of multi-instrumentalists Laurie Raveis ("ray-viss") and Dennis Kole. Their meld of alternative folk, country, rock, and the '70s singer/songwriter tradition made its recording debut on the Electric Blue Dandelion LP in 2016. After 2020's 3D Immersive album, the duo stripped things back for 2023's In the Moment, which kept things lively in defiance of its pandemic inspirations.

Raveis and Kole first met at the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival in Bigfork, Montana in 2013, but didn't begin collaborating until they ran into each other again in a blues and rock jam class. They would improvise together after class, switching up instruments. Later, with Raveis based in Boston, Massachusetts and Kole in Bellingham, Washington, they continued to exchange ideas long-distance, eventually recording an album, August 2016's Electric Blue Dandelion, with producer Matt Smith (bass, lap steel), David Webb (piano, organ), Kris Wade (bass, keyboard), and James Gwyn (drums). A live version of the album with a slightly modified track list, Electric Blue Dandelion: Nashville Sessions, reached number 11 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and the Top 50 of independent albums. It was produced by Jeff Silverman (the Allman Brothers Band, Rick Springfield). By that time, Raveis and Kole were married and based in Bellingham.

The project returned to the studio, this time with Jeff Silverman co-producing, for October 2020's 3D Immersive, which welcomed over a dozen guest musicians, including Matt Smith. It incorporated covers of John Prine and the Oscar-winning duet "Shallow," made famous by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. An original seasonal song, "Ho Ho Home Holidays," followed that December. The duo handled the performances of around a dozen instruments by themselves for their next album, 2023's stripped-down, pandemic-inspired In the Moment. Working again with Smith, they carried out a plan to rely on acoustic guitars instead of a traditional rhythm section for its pulse. ~ Marcy Donelson