With my sudden vest to post on here once again, I thought I would share an appreciation of a fine singer-songwriter that I fell in love with about in late 2010.
I’m not a regular BBC 6 Music listener. I should probably listen to it a lot more than I do. On occasion I will listen to Marc Riley during weekday nights and on a rare occasion will listen to Craig Charles’ excellent Funk and Soul show on Saturday nights. It was whilst listening to the man formerly known as ‘The Boy Lard’ that I heard Nashville based Caitlin Rose for the first time. The song was ‘For the Rabbits’. It may have been this session version here, depending when this was recorded. and her voice stirred me enough to make note of her name and investigate further.
Can’t recall precisely what I did after hearing her for the first time. I don’t remember looking on the web for performances or other songs so much. The first time I saw here live was at XOYO in Shoreditch with support by The Felice Brothers I believe. By this time, I think I had bought her debut album from Rough Trade, but I wasn’t aware that she had recorded a mini album prior to that (Dead Flowers), an album that featured covers of the Stones and Patsy Cline as well as a few originals. I think XOYO was her second London appearance after playing the Windmill in Brixton. Anyway, since then I think i’ve seen her at every London date, including an early and late performance on the same night at the Windmill prior to my 30th birthday. As an aside, I was quite drunk. I took my camera as I do for many gigs, but I thought i’d record a video and maybe post it on youtube. However, when I replayed the video to myself I could hear this annoying voice singing over the top of the footage, before realising to my horror that it was my own voice.
Her album, Own Side Now was released in the UK in 2010 and she did an awful lot of touring in Europe to promote it. It was only released in the US I think in Spring last year, and was named in the Top Ten albums of the Year by Time Magazine which ain’t too shabby. Own Side Now is an incredibly mature sounding record, particularly after listening to Dead Flowers. Caitlin’s voice has grown stronger (listen to ‘Sinful Wishing Well in particular), the songs are moody and generally better written, largely on the subject of heartbreak and loss. Despite the often sombre themes, she knows how to belt out a real country stomper in ‘Shanghai Cigarettes’.
The album was without question my favourite of 2010, and i’ve since purchased it on vinyl when that was made available. It is live however, that Caitlin Rose really excels. Backed with a band that features Jeremy Fetzer on strat and Spencer Callum Jr (from Basildon I believe, penchant for excellent shirts) on pedal steel, they’re a tight unit. On stage, she appears terribly shy at times, as if waiting for acceptance by the audience. I saw her at the Borderline on a Monday night and you could sense that the crowd wasn’t really responding, or ‘up for it’ and she knew this. Maybe us Brits are just a bit stiff, and loosen up at the week goes on. Certainly by Friday of the same week, when she played those 2 shows at the Windmill, the crowd were in good spirits (some, more than others, hic). She appears charming and funny on stage and comes across as someone you’d like to go out and have a beer with.
Another great aspect of her live shows are the covers that she often performs. When I saw her at XOYO, she sang ‘Faithless Love‘ by J.D Souther, which almost brought me to tears. I’m terrible at remembering who else she has covered live. Randy Newman certainly I seem to recall…hmm, i’m at a loss now. Anyway, a further plus is that due to listening to Caitlin Rose, I started listening to a lot of fantastic artists like Linda Ronstadt for example. I ‘m not entirely sure when Caitlin Rose will be back on these shores, I may have to wait until next year, but I hope that new material is forthcoming at least, and i’ll be down at the front at the next London date. Thank you Caitlin.
Anyone on twitter can follow Caitlin here https://twitter.com/#!/thecaitlinrose
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/caitlinrosesongs
