Naomi Raine

A celebrated soloist for CCM/gospel collective Maverick City Music, Naomi Raine is a singer, songwriter, and worship leader known for her powerful voice and inspirational lyrics. She released her first album, Heart Songs, Vol. 1: My Heart, in 2015, following it with Vol. 2 before joining Maverick City Music in 2019. While continuing to release solo material, she appeared on the group’s chart-topping, Grammy-winning collaboration with Elevation Worship, 2021′s Old Church Basement. Maverick City won no less than four Grammys in 2023, including three stemming from their collaborative effort with Kirk Franklin, Kingdom: Book One (2022), along with one for their own EP, Breathe (2022). In 2023, Raine also toured as a soloist and released the concert album Cover the Earth (Live in New York). Born in New York City, Naomi Raine sang in her first concert as a toddler and wrote her first song at the age of seven. She eventually learned to play the guitar, and she made her solo full-length debut with the self-released Heart Songs, Vol. 1: My Heart in 2015. Heart Songs, Vol. 2: Adoration followed in 2017, and she released the live album Back to Eden, Pt. 1 in mid-2019. Around that time, she joined Atlanta, Georgia’s Maverick City Music in time to contribute to their Dove Award-nominated debut album, 2020′s Maverick City, Vol. 3, and its companion release, Maverick City, Vol. 3 Pt. 2. Both LPs landed in the Billboard Top Christian Albums Top Ten and peaked at number two on the equivalent gospel chart. Raine’s own Back to Eden, Pt. 2 also saw release that year. The collective had a bigger hit with 2021′s Old Church Basement, a collaboration with North Carolina-based Elevation Worship. That album cracked the Top 30 of the Billboard 200 while topping the Christian and gospel charts and charting abroad in places like Canada, Australia, and Switzerland. Old Church Basement also took home the Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. By the end of 2021, Maverick City Music had released two more live albums, Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition and Tribl I (the latter with worship group Tribl), as well as the Spanish-language Venga Tu Reino and the group’s first holiday-themed record, A Very Maverick Christmas. All of them but the Spanish LP reached the Top Ten of the Top Christian Albums chart. The year 2022 brought the release of the Raine solo album Journey, which she produced alongside G. Morris Coleman. Meanwhile, Maverick City delivered the February EP Breathe, teamed up again with Tribl for that April’s Tribl Nights Anthologies, released another Spanish album (June’s Simple Adoración), and partnered with gospel superstar Kirk Franklin on the collaborative live effort Kingdom: Book One, recorded on their hit tour. Kingdom: Book One became their second album to reach the Billboard 200 (peaking at 151), and it went to number two on both the gospel and Christian charts. It later collected a total of three Grammy Awards in the categories of Best Gospel Album, Best Gospel Performance/Song for “Kingdom” (featuring Raine and Chandler Moore), and Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song for “Fear Is Not My Future.” The Breathe EP won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. In the first half of 2023, Raine launched a tour with Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Natalie Grant, and Taya before delivering the album Cover the Earth (Live in New York) that June. It featured appearances by Grant, Todd Dulaney, and Lizzie Morgan. Three months later, Maverick City Music issued the Maverick Way EP, which later blossomed into The Maverick Way Complete. The nearly three-hour set featured more of their familiar brand of uplifting, joyous worship anthems heavily featuring Raine and Moore. ~ Marcy Donelson & James Christopher Monger