Rainbow Rider is the third solo album by Mike Harrison, most notable as a principal lead singer for Spooky Tooth.

[2] In addition to being part of Harrison's body of solo work, the album is notable as containing one of the earlier and comparatively rare recordings of the Bob Dylan song, "I'll Keep It With Mine", written in 1964 and recorded by Nico, Fairport Convention and Marianne Faithfull, among others.

[3] The album was recorded in Nashville, subsequent to Harrison's departure from Spooky Tooth, following the release of Witness (1973).

The album features a number of Nashville's best known session musicians of that time, as well as Morgan Fisher, then of Mott the Hoople, and Mick Jones, formerly of Spooky Tooth and later founder of Foreigner.

Still at an early stage of his career, Kimsey had produced Monkey Grip, the first Bill Wyman solo album, released in 1974, one year prior to Rainbow Rider.