Caitlin Rose

[erik]

To use a Mafia term, Caitlin Rose is in the family business. Her father Johnny Rose is a veteran session and A&R guy in Nashville, and her mom Liz is a dual-Grammy winner for having written "You Belong With Me" for and with (YIPE!) Taylor Swift. And Caitlin is only 24. Ordinarily, one would assume that Caitlin would want to go for that same young country music crowd that Swift, and Carrie Underwood, both have. But, as Strother Martin says in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, "this ain't ordinarily."



This is because Caitlin's 2010 release Own Side Now shows her carving a path for herself that is distinctly different from a lot of other female artists. The album shows a tremendous range of eclecticism: 50s-style pop ("For The Rabbits"); straight country ("Learning To Ride"; "Shanghai Cigarettes"); rockabilly ("New York"; "Coming Up"; "Spare Me"); and even a Fleetwood Mac cover ("That's Alright", written by Stevie Nicks for the Mac's 1982 album Mirage). And on songs like the title track and "Sinful Wishing Well", Caitlin clearly shows the influence that Linda has had on her, in the introspective and acoustic folk-influenced country-rock that Linda helped cultivate in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She is also, however, very comfortable in her own skin, having also learned a mantra that Linda once expressed: "You don't have to be original, just authentic." A recent special edition of the album features an additional original of hers, "T Shirt", plus covers of Randy Newman's "Marie", and a tremulous rendition of the J.D. Souther song that Linda did for Heart Like A Wheel, "Faithless Love."

On the subject of Linda, this is what Caitlin said in an interview done for the magazine Nashville Scene in August 2009:

"To be a singer is a really important thing. Take Linda Ronstadt. The thing about her is that she was a phenomenal singer from the beginning. She was untrained and she didn't really know how to take care of her voice, but the thing she did as a singer was develop an entire artistry around it. She chose songs. She made J.D. Souther famous. She made a lot of people famous by having a sensibility of what songs were good. She had a feeling for these songs. I read her interviews all the time, and she has more music knowledge in her head than any VH1 special ever. There's something to be said for someone who takes singing as a craft."

Caitlin's voice is young and developing, but her songwriting is totally her own and very mature. Perhaps not since Tift Merritt have I come across a female singer of this era who really comes close to the caliber of Linda, which is why this "young'un" is somebody well worth watching for as the years go on.

[philly]

Caitlin Rose's Songwriting Blooms on Own Side Now
Her Mother Is Taylor Swift's Famed Co-Writer, Liz Rose
November 29, 2011; Written by Chris Parton

When singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose was a teenager living in Franklin, Tenn., there was only one place she wanted to be -- Nashville's dingy hard rock club, the Muse.

The daughter of two music industry veterans -- her mother is songwriter Liz Rose and her father, Johnny Rose, has an extensive resume as a record label executive -- Caitlin was raised around country music. Yet like many teens, she also loved high-energy rock shows, and those two influences still shape her songwriting today.

"It's strange for me because I grew up in a very music business home," she explains. "I got two very polar opposite ends of the spectrum guiding what I do. I was just a kid who wanted to play punk shows, and my parents did this for a living. It's a very conflicting set of influences."

The 24-year-old now uses that conflict to make country music with a gritty/pretty combination reminiscent of Linda Ronstadt (in her early career) or Miranda Lambert. It's raw and unapologetic but still feminine. With a sweet and vulnerable voice, she sometimes sounds too innocent for her lyrics since they regularly capture the rougher parts of growing up.

On her debut album, Own Side Now, those lyrics show a writer whose adult life is just beginning to flower. In "New York City," she fends off advances from men offering to let a coin flip decide their fate. And on the title track, she takes charge of a breakup and heads out to find relief in the arms of someone new.

Citing Ronstadt as her inspiration, Rose says it's important that she speak from experience but not let her own bias interfere.

"Trying to edge out your own personality sometimes to make room for the song to grow is one of the most important things I learned," she says.

Her own mother helped her with that lesson because a big part of her job is getting other songwriters to let go of their hang-ups.

"I never understood how she got into songwriting because she doesn't really talk about her personal life very much," Rose says. "I think that's why she's so good at it. You kind of remove yourself from the song just to make it better."

That's true in the title track, which she describes as very personal but "kind of cheesy."

It's about a girl who gets tired of waiting on her man and needs relief from her loneliness, even if it's just for one night. With a plodding tempo and a soft guitar behind her, it's easy to imagine Rose sitting on the corner of a bed or staring into a mirror as she asks, "Who's gonna want me when I'm just somewhere you've been?"

"I really hope some girl in the crowd isn't using it as an excuse to go sleep around with people," she says with a chuckle.

Meanwhile, "Shanghai Cigarettes" is a quick-moving tune where she cuts ties by smoking the last-remaining symbol of a fling.

"It was this gold cigarette pack, and I loved it," she remembers. "The first pack I got was actually on a first date -- with he-who-shall-not-be-named -- at this Japanese restaurant."

Rose found international success last year in the U.K. with stripped-down club performances, spurring fans to grab her first EP, Dead Flowers, as well as Own Side Now. Those records are now available for the first time in the U.S.

By writing from real life experience but removing some of her own feelings, she says she's found a way to relate to audiences, here and abroad.

The idea is quite similar to that of another young singer-songwriter who learned from Rose's mom: Taylor Swift. Liz Rose is a co-writer on "Teardrops on My Guitar," "Tim McGraw," "White Horse," "You Belong With Me" and many more.

Caitlin Rose and Taylor Swift might seem to be opposites in many respects. While Swift sings of meaningful high school relationships, Rose is burning bridges and not looking back. Where Swift keeps hope alive for a modern day fairy tale, Rose has already been disappointed enough times to give up. However, there's at least one aspect that they do have in common.

Asked who she's talking to in "New York City," with lyrics like "Don't try to claim me as your own/I'm not the girl I used to be," Rose offers a familiar answer.

"It's sort of funny. There's always that ownership issue with artists, and maybe that's what I was trying to express," she says. "But I really couldn't tell you. It was probably just about a boy."

www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1674974/caitlin-roses-songwriting-blooms-on-own-side-now.jhtml

[Dianna]

I like this one

[erik]

Yes, that's one of those songs that Linda, if she ever heard it, would probably take her back to those times when she listened to Hank Williams as a youngster growing up in Arizona. I really think Caitlin is someone she'd be impressed by.

[MokyWI]

on "Sinful Wishing Well" she reminds me of Chelsea Crowell, Rosanne Cash and Rodney Crowell's daughter.

[erik]

You can definitely make a case for her sounding like Chelsea, especially in this kind of acoustic setting. There's a kind of rustic quality to this song that is both traditional and modern at the same time, values that Linda so often espoused in her own music.

[Dianna]

From what I can see, there is a lot of sadness there.. kind of dark and gloomy which a lot of people Caitlins age could relate to.

[erik]

There's also some more upbeat stuff on Own Side Now as well, that is easily relatable (IMHO). Caitlin is really someone who should be around (pardon the Linda reference) for a long, long time.

[MokyWI]

Caitlin Rose is the real deal.

[MokyWI]

...as is Chelsea Crowell.

[erik]

The new song from this young'un--something that Linda herself might have done at the Troubadour or the Palomino back in The Day:

PILEDRIVER WALTZ