Prince Edward Island raised/ Austin Texas based Whitney Rose returned to the Geomatic Attic to sing some outlaw/’70s style country for an intimate audience, Thursday, April 11.
I missed Shaela Miller’s opening set but was just in time for Whitney Rose and her tight band who played an enjoyable set of mid-tempo covers and originals. They began with a pretty version of Don William’s“Tulsa Time,” then drifted into one of her own songs “Arizona,” as she noted she wasn’t in the mood for much talking and just wanted to play music. That was all right by the enthusiastic crowd who cheered every song and most of the precise guitar solos. Her voice reminded me of Margo Price mixed with Lee Ann Womack and LeAnn Rimes.
She noted they had been touring up the West coast and into Lethbridge en route to Calgary, and promised to play some new songs as well as a few older songs.
Some of the original highlights were “I Don’t Want Half, (I Just Want out)” and “You Don’t Scare Me” from her most recent CD Rule 62 which set the theme of the evening as heartbreak was on Rose’s mind, who sang with her eyes shut, occasionally cracking a smile and moving to dance to her lead guitarist Josh Owen’s solos.
“One thing you don’t know about Josh, is that he sings like an angel,” as she stepped back to let him sing Gram Parsons’ “Return of the Grievous Angel.” She harmonized beautifully with him.
A couple of other highlights were the slower “My Boots” from her 2017 CD “South Texas Suite ” and more honky tonk rocking country of “The Devil Borrowed my Boots” from 2015’s “Heartbreaker of the Year.”
They also played some sweet covers of Little Feat’s “Willin’” and an exceptional version of Concrete Blonde’s ’90s hit “Joey,” which they turned into a country song.
She introduced a couple of originals “ You’re Going to Get Lonely,” about “another asshole” and another, more up tempo number in the same vein, both of which drew applause from the audience and caused Rose to crack a smile.
“It’s always difficult to play new songs,” she observed.
