Whitney Rose: We Still Go To Rodeos
If you’re thinking of putting Whitney Rose and her new album, We Still Go To Rodeos, into a specific genre--don’t. It’s a little bit country, a little bit rock n’ roll, and the twelve tracks that make up We Still Go to Rodeos, have made for a stellar fifth studio album. Whitney has a knack for writing songs that sound sweet, but her lyrics pack a punch. If you’re not familiar with Whitney Rose, you might mistake her as being a native Texan, with her smooth sound and retro country croon. However, you’d be wrong. Rose was born and raised in Canada and then made the move to Texas, where she has successfully made a career in the music business. Her first album, Whitney Rose, was released in 2012. In happier times, before the world found themselves in the midst of a pandemic, you could find Rose doing a weekly, Tuesday night show at the Continental Club in Austin, one of the oldest live music venues in the city, that started out as a supper club.
Having listened to Rose and her music in the past, this album has a different sound than some of her previous work, but that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s far from it. I expect artists to evolve and grow, and in turn, I expect different sounds to the albums they release at different points of their career. Whitney’s last album, Rule 62, which came out in 2017 and was produced by Raul Malo of The Mavericks, featured popular Nashville studio musicians like Chris Scruggs and Kenny Vaughn, who also happen to make up two thirds of Marty Stuart’s band, The Fabulous Superlatives. In contrast, We Still Go To Rodeos was produced by Paul Kolderie, who has worked with rock bands like Radiohead and Hole in the past, and was recorded in Austin at Estuary Studios. It features a host of talented musicians, including Lisa Pankratz on drums, Matt Hubbard on keyboard, Brad Fordham on bass guitar, Rich Brotherton on acoustic guitar and Dave Leroy Biller and Gurf Morlix on electric guitar, all musicians that you can find working with household names like Billy Joe Shaver, Ray Wylie Hubbard and Lucinda Williams.
We Still Go To Rodeos has a more mature, adult feel to it, and explores different aspects of love within its twelve tracks (all written by Rose). Whether that’s loving the little things about someone until you can hardly wait to get them home, realizing that you’d rather be alone than lonely in the relationship you’re in, or wanting someone to prove themselves to you and others, because you’re tired of waiting and wishing for them to change. These themes and subjects within the songs are something familiar to most of us. We’ve all been there, we’ve all experienced something referenced within the lyrics, even if that’s a situation or a person we’d like to forget.
The album starts off strong with the song, “Just Circumstance,” a song that paints the sad reality of a young woman, pregnant, about to go to jail and alone. Never been able to catch a break, her life has been no pomp, just circumstance. Following “Just Circumstance” is “Home With You,” a decidedly more upbeat and playful tune that feels like 60s pop meets country, but without the saccharine lyrics. There’s no innuendo in this song, as Rose describes exactly how she wants the night to go.
“I wanna go home with you
Be alone with you
Maybe sit out in the yard and get stoned with you
I wanna make you laugh
Make you a nightcap or two
I wanna go home with you
Clock strikes midnight
I see you get another glass of wine
Don’t drink too much
‘Cause later on I’ll wanna make love
You’ve been my man for so long
It blows my mind how much you still turn me on”
One of my favorite songs on the album is the last song, which also just happens to be the title-track. Featuring a ukulele and a harmonica, the intro has a delightfully whimsical feel, but the lyrics are what really send it for me. Describing a life with her lover, listing what they have and have not experienced in their relationship, but knowing at the heart of it, they have each other--and that’s more important than fancy things, diamond rings, or the “lots of things, we ain’t got”--feels like the ending you need at the close of this album that describes the ebb and flow of love and relationships.
In a year of great album releases, this one should be towards the top for any fan of country or Americana. If you’ve listened to Whitney Rose in the past, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised how this album feels different, but still has all the best elements of her previous records: the distinctive voice, a retro feel and her solid songwriting. If you haven’t purchased We Still Go to Rodeos yet, find it here: whitneyrosemusic.com
