Emily Rose & the Rounders vocalist and songwriter Emily Rose is steeped in the time-honored tradition of country crooning. Her narrative adeptness crystallizes stories ranging from romantic turbulence to dreams of Dallas. But there’s been more cities than Dallas on Rose’s mind this summer while backing country enigma Orville Peck. In the midst of a expansive North American tour that commenced in May and has multiple months to go, there’s still a slew of remaining dates including the storied Hollywood Palladium in her home of Los Angeles.
In between tour dates with Peck and working in the studio on her new record, Rose is also slated to perform a stripped down Emily Rose & the Rounders in Los Angeles. The performance will take place at the Mobilize Recovery bus tour launch in tandem with CCAPP and End Overdose on September 20th. Alongside a performance from fellow country artist Noah Thompson and a speech from action star Danny Trejo, it’s an exciting assemblage of artists that’s also free to attend with a simple RSVP here.
In advance of Emily Rose & the Rounders bringing their stripped-down sound to the evening hosted by Mobilize Recovery, CCAPP, and End Overdose, we caught up with Rose about everything from entering the recording studio to an unmistakable country boom that has encompassed popular culture in 2024.
End Overdose: You've been on a winding summer tour with Orville Peck – how's the trek been? And have there been any major highlights?
Emily Rose: This tour has been totally incredible! His fans are so sweet and enthusiastic and the shows have been so fun to play. It's really a dream getting to play in this band with such great people and with a friend and artist I so admire and respect so I'm just having the best time. Biggest highlight for me was getting to hang out with John Waters the other night at Orville's Rodeo. He is just so cool and funny in person and I'm such a huge fan so that was really wild for me.
EO: You also recently entered the studio. What's the creative process been like recording this new material (especially while in the midst of touring)?
ER: Recording with the Rounders moves pretty slowly...we track quickly but getting everyone's schedules sorted to be able to rehearse and do things has been hard lately. When we do get to go into the studio it's really fun, we always record with Mark Rains at Station House and it feels like home. It's been a little challenging to move things forward with the Rounders while I've been touring but everyone's busy with their own lives so I think sometimes it's good to take a break and then come back refreshed. Hopefully we can get this record out soon though! A lot of the songs already feel kind of old to me! I'm kind of always working up new material and I wish we could keep up with that a little more but life happens!
EO: You emphasize the importance of country tradition without retreading into throwback or nostalgia territory. How do you creatively strike that balance?
ER: I don't really think about it too much...I think I naturally just write in a more traditional form. And I try not to revise and think about songs too much...I sort of keep them primitive by just letting them come out as they are and then leaving them alone! All my favorite music is pretty simple, from punk to country, so I try to just stick with the feelings and let things be.
EO: With country now regularly topping the charts, how would you assess what feels like a watershed moment for the genre right now? Do you see any upsides/downsides for it assimilating into pop culture?
ER: I definitely have very mixed feelings about the "country craze"...I think it's always great for people like me who have been playing country music forever to have more eyes on what we're doing, more people interested in what we do and more people discovering this great, emotional, beautiful genre of music but it does feel a little gimmicky right now which is a little frustrating. There's a lot of really cheesy stuff going on and I also wonder who is going to stick around once the "craze" has passed but country kind of always goes in waves since the beginning and those of us who are really serious about it will always be doing what we do no matter what. It's all I want to do, it's what I was born to do, so whether I'm playing in a dive bar to ten people or playing to a stadium full of Orville Peck fans I'm happy to be a part of the country music community no matter what. It really moves me and if more people are being moved too and connecting with country music that's always a good thing.
EO: What inspired you to perform at the Mobilize Recovery launch event? What should fans and attendees expect from a stripped down Emily Rose set?
ER: I just think it's an excellent cause in general so I was thrilled to be a part of it. I've lost a lot of friends in my lifetime to a variety of things, overdoses and substance abuse being a reoccurring theme, so it's something that hits home for me. And I'm always interested in learning new things, how to better help folks in my life that need it, how to administer Narcan or best practices for having kits around and making sure people know how to use them, etc. And I'm a huge Trejo fan so when I heard he was involved I couldn't say no!
I think our set is going to be just me and Vincent Bury who plays guitar in the Rounders...we might have our pedal steel player too, not sure yet. But either way, we'll just be doing some of the classic Rounders tunes and maybe a cover or two!
EO: What're your plans for the rest of 2024 once the Orville Peck tour wraps up?
ER: I'm basically out with Orville until the end of October so most of the rest of the year is dedicated to him! Which is great for me 'cause I love it. I'm doing a bit of collaborating with my friend TJ from Deathchant on some stuff for his solo project which I'm excited about and there are some tracks I did with Steve McBean from Pink Mountaintops that are coming out and hopefully this Rounders record is going to get finished up as well! So there's a lot going on I'd say, lots of good things. We're not going to be playing live much but we do have a show at the end of the year that is a benefit for Tree People so that should be really great!
RSVP to see Emily Rose & the Rounders | Follow Emily Rose & the Rounders on Instagram