Rosie Flores
Rosie Flores June 14, 2003 Hidden Valley Music Theatre Carmel
Valley CA
Born in San Antonio, TX and raised in Southern California, Rosie Flores's music blends
the best of rock, country and blues with the traditional sounds of her Mexican-American
heritage. Since the late 70s, Rosie has been an important figure in the Los Angeles,
Austin, and Nashville music scenes.
Rosie's reputation as a high-octane jump and rockabilly star is well established. Critical
raves from prestigious publications such as the Los Angeles Times and
Guitar Player Magazine leave no doubt about her talent for filling dance floors and
lighting up rooms. Rosie's solos recordings have found homes on both the Billboard
and Gavin charts and are also featured in seven motion pictures. Her reved-up performances
in honky-tonks from Boston to Bakersfield have won legions of fans and earned appearances
on such nationally broadcast television programs as Austin City Limits and Late Night with
Conan 0 'Brian. That said. Single Rose, Rosie Flores's latest record, shows a different side
of this gifted, engaging guitarist and singer-songwriter.
Recorded live within the intimate confines of Nashville, TN's well-worn Douglas Corner
nightclub, Single Rose features Rosie solo—accompanied only by her guitar, a couple of
special guests and a smart collection of mostly original songs. In this stripped-down setting,
Rosie still shows herself to be a world-class guitarist and entertainer, but the focus is shifted
to her poignant, well-crafted songs.
A line from the ballad "Momin' Light' sets the tone for Single Rose: "Got nothing but this old
guitar and a sad and lonesome song/ About a heartache that'll never go away." Rosie makes
the statement in a vulnerable, wavering voice that's markedly different from the "Rockabilly Filly"
rave-ups that her fans are most familiar with. The record's title track, a 6/8 stroll, is also a song
of love and loss sung with heartfelt straightforwardness, its yearning bridge driven home by a
riveting Rosie guitar solo that's as much delta blues as it is hillbilly rock.
Background singer and fiddler extraordinaire Tammy Rogers joins Rosie on "It's Over,"
an old-time lovers lament, and "Daddy's Lullaby," an elegy dedicated to two people very
close to Rosie who have recently passed on: her father, Oscar Bores, and Donald Lindley,
her former drummer. "West Texas Plains," co-written with Asleep at the Wheel guitarist/
percussionist Leroy Preston, conjures up the stark imagery of Rosie's home state, as do
the childhood memories of' “Bandera Highway" and "Boxcars," which was written by fellow
Texan, Flatlander Butch Hancock. Longtime associate James Intveld-a fellow veteran of the
LA roots music scene who co-wrote Rosie's 1986 hit "Cryin' Over You"--joins her for their
song "Midnight to Moonlight," which examines the long-term effects of a short-term love.
Single Rose may show Rosie's sensitive side, but it still swings—how could anyone
familiar with her career think it wouldn't? "Palomino Days," the record's opener, is a
jumping, nostalgic look at Rosie's LA period and the famous North Hollywood nightspot
that served as her second home. "With the cowboy boots 'a kicken’ back in 1987 That
Palomino nightclub done shot me through the gate," she sings, and goes on to cite fellow
Palomino regulars Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Buddy & Julie Miller.
The heroine of "Aromatherapy Cowgirl," another up-tempo swing tune, "shuffles her feet
across the desert sand/ With a Carlos Castaneda novel in her hand." With "Heartbreak
Train" and "'59 Tweedle Dee," Rosie's on the move again. The former is a train song about
getting away from the old love; the latter is a car song about getting away with the new one.
"Little Bit More" is a light-hearted look at "having it all and still wanting more." At the
mid-point, Rosie's mesmerizing guitar solo elicits spontaneous applause from her audience.
Country Boy (Girl) is Single Rose's knockout punch; the Ricky Skaggs hit gets the full Rosie
treatment, complete with a brief lapse into the Cramps' Tex-Mex pop hit "Tequila."
In the end, Single Rose leaves the listener with a more complete picture of Rosie Flores,
without her band and trademark baby-blue Epiphone electric guitar, Rosie still proves herself
to be an outstanding rockabilly, blues, country and folk musician. The record's intimate, live
setting also demonstrates her well-known ability to engage an audience. Most importantly,
though, Single Rose confirms Rosie's status as an exceptional songwriter, unafraid to share
her experience with the intricacies of love, the loneliness of the road and pleasures of
Honky Tonk life.
photo M. Lynam
contact:
mainemench@aol.com
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