Caitlin Rose is best known in and around Nashville where she makes her home, though her first full-length album, Own Side Now -- available in the UK since last August -- is just now available in the US. Belated though it may be in US release, the album marks a coming out for an artist with diverse talents and tastes. She credits a list of artists ranging from Patsy Cline to Leonard Cohen as influences, and she is an avowed Linda Ronstadt fan, which isn't something you can often say of someone still just 23.
Rose was born into country music. Her mother, Liz Rose, is a Grammy-award winning songwriter, and her father is a music industry professional -- and she's clearly been paying attention and knows her precedents well. She does country twang ("Spare Me"), the '50s ("For the Rabbits") and knows how to write a great hook ("Shanghai Cigarettes"). Through it all, though, Caitlin Rose manages to sound refreshingly like, well, Caitlin Rose. Hers is a voice that has the potential to stretch the boundary of the country genre rather than just moving into it.
All photos by Kelsey McClure. See more at her Flickr stream.
