While music is becoming a “do-it-yourself” business, making a CD without the backing of a recording label can be an expensive proposition.

Which is why Bainbridge Island alt-country singer Rachel Harrington is holding a CD fund-raising concert Feb. 18 on the island.

Harrington, 35, is kick-starting her career after putting it on hold to raise a son and earn a master’s degree.

A life-changing loss in 2001 caused her to take a year off from everything, except running and playing her guitar.

“I got into a routine where playing the guitar was an integral part of the day,” she said. “Six months later, I was playing things I never dreamed I’d play.”

She also started writing songs again, and from that healing period came “Halloween Leaves.”

“It’s a lot about hope and faith, getting through that ‘winter time’ and knowing there’s a spring on the other side,” she said of the song.

That ‘spring’ included a flowering of Harrington’s musical career, with a self-recorded four song EP entitled “Halloween Leaves,” featuring the title track and three covers; a spot on the Northwest Folklife stage and a tour of Germany and England.

Her songs fit the “Americana” label, but she’s found her best audiences in Europe.

“The market for Americana music is so much better over there,” she said.

Musicians are also better supported by the government and the venues in Europe. Every gig on the two-country tour paid well and provided room and board, she said.

Back in the states, Harrington played more than 80 shows in 2005, opening for an impressive slate of national acts and performing at festivals across the country. In May she is set to open for Guy Clark at the Triple Door in Seattle.

Her songwriting skills were recognized last year at the Gig Harbor Folk Festival, where she took second prize for her song, “Blow,” about Northwest train robber Bill Minor.

Harrington has been working for the last several months with Grammy-winning engineer/producer Garey Shelton to record a full-length CD.

Harrington said the tentative name of the recording is “The Bootlegger’s Daughter,” after a song on the album. It also includes 11 of Harrington’s original songs, and two or three songs by contributors.

Harrington said all the tracks are laid down, but she still needs to come up with the funding for the work of editing, mixing, mastering, duplicating and marketing the album. No government funds on this side of the pond.

That’s where a concert Feb. 18 on Bainbridge Island comes in.

Harrington lives on Bainbridge, and said the community is very supportive of artists, with one person standing out in particular.

“I think the island is lucky to have a guy like Norm Johnson who is giving so much of his time and energy to developing the musical life on the island,” she said.

Johnson is the former president of the Island Music Guild, and now directs the fledgling non-profit Community Music Resources, which books performers at the Pegasus Coffee House and other island venues. The group is presenting Harrington’s upcoming concert.

Harrington recently played at Island Center Hall, where her soulful singing and driving guitar were met with hearty approval, and her rendition of Bobbi Gentry’s 1967 hit, “Ode to Billy Joe,” sent a collective shiver down the spine.

She said everyone seems to compare her style to Emmy Lou Harris, “but I don’t see it,” she said. She prefers a comparision to singer/songwriter Gillian Welch.

Harrington usually plays with a “bluegrass style” band that includes guitar, stand up bass, mandolin, fiddle and “a little bit of banjo.”

While she is jokingly referred to as the “soon-to-be No Depression cover girl,” she said the Poulsbo-based national alt-country music magazine has not approached her for an interview, let alone the cover slot. But she wouldn’t turn down the equivalent of being on the cover of the Rolling Stone.

“I’d buy 20 copies for sure,” she laughed. “It would make my day.” Peter Blackstock, the ball’s in your court.

Rachel Harrington and Friends play a CD benefit concert 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Barn at Hazel Creek Farm, 8903 Koura Rd., Bainbridge Island. Matt Price and Nancy Dillon open the show.

Tickets are $10 general, $5 students, available at (206) 842-5485.

To hear Harrington’s music visit www.rachelharrington.com.