With her latest release, Dead Flowers, Caitlin Rose is well on her way to success with her mix of dirty, old-fashioned country and innovative blues feel. Only 20 years old, the young Rose spent most of her younger teenage years on the indie-rock music scene, yet she has somehow managed to come back to her country roots.
Sure, she may be the offspring of SESAC’s 2007 Songwriter of the Year Liz Rose, but Caitlin has come into her own with her soulful, powerful vocals that mesh together paradoxical feelings of innocence and seduction.
The overall instrumentation is almost a cosmic sound, taking the listener to the crossroads of blues and country. Rose brings together a pure, dynamic sound throughout the album, piecing together a beautiful vibrant tone with a generous attitude. The album is at times naked and bare, revealing a softer, sensual side to Rose, yet at other times the album is powerful and driving, revealing a sad but true meaning within its content.
This unabashed paradox of often sarcastic tone mixed with smooth, trembling vocals sets the overall atmosphere as the quirky lyrics describe the raw truth of working-class country living. Influences ranging from The Band to Gram Parsons, Rose’s country feel is very charming, yet her vocals create the strongest presence on the album as her vocals sway and escalate, creating such an ethereal, almost untouchable, dimension to her overall sound. Her style seems to be paying tribute to old greats like Loretta Lynn or Patsy Cline, but there is a circle of unfamiliar territory whirling around Rose’s almost eerie, powerful vocals. Rose’s simple but true lyrics reveal an allegorical feel instead of conforming to just the typical rhyme scheme in most country songs.
Her songs cover themes ranging from teenage pregnancy to tales of innocent love. The album has a very live sound almost like it was coming straight out of old 1950s radio, full of tube warmth and hint a reverb.
With the help of Andy Wilkins on pedal steel guitar, Zach Serchfield on guitar, Bob Grant on mandolin, and Travis Collingsworth on bass, Rose has compiled an album that introduces a very honest view of southern living through long hours of observation. Songs such as “Shotgun Wedding” reveal the lighter side of life with sarcastic overtone, but underneath the almost humorous feel, the lyrics reveal the harsh side of the poor, white South. The odd sensibility of “Gorilla Man” almost seems too childish, but it reveals the theme of primal love coupled with violence.
Rose is more than just your typical next door country gal full of folk and blues influence. Her music is full of imagery and emotion and her observations of Southern life remind you of the life you never hoped to lead but always were curious to know.
Catch Caitlyn Rose at Tomato, Tomato with Spiritual Family Reunion April 18.
