Guitar-slinging, rockabilly singer Rosie
Flores has been making music since she was a child, recording her
first song at the age of 7.
A Texas native, Rosie is heading back to her
home state next week for a show with Katy Moffatt at Austin’s
world-famous South by Southwest music conference. She’s been
on the road for most of 2004, supporting her latest release, Single Rose, a solo
acoustic recording culled from live shows that features a few
special guests, new songs, and old favorites.
We talk by cell phone as Rosie shops for
groceries. “These lights are killing me,” she says.
“I got to get out of this store. Can I call you later after I
get home and fix dinner?” What’s that? The life of a
rock & roll star can be so, well, regular
sometimes.
A Nashville resident for the last several
years, Rosie spent her early adult years in Southern
California, where she forged fast friendships with fellow musicians
who had migrated to the California scene. Lucinda Williams, the
Alvin Brothers, Dwight Yoakam, Chris Gaffney, Jim Lauderdale, and
others were among the gang hanging out in LA in the mid- to
late-’80s, waiting to make the leap onto the big stage. Over
the next several years, Rosie worked with the some of the best and brightest in
the business, including Pete Anderson, Dusty Wakeman, Dave Alvin, Wanda
Jackson, and Asleep at the Wheel. She played all over the United States
and made several tours of Europe. Heading into her third decade in the
business, she seems busier than ever: Her most recent project, a Wendy
Waldman-produced album with singer/songwriter Moffatt, is scheduled to
hit stores later this year. Hightone Records is planning to release a
retrospective CD of Rosie’s years on the famed Americana label
this March. And she is working on an album of Christmas tunes slated
for release this year.
Alongside the music-business excitement lies
the personal and real stuff. “Right now I’m renting a
room at a friend’s house, saving up money to buy a
home,” she says as she leaves the grocery store and those
nasty lights. “I’d sure like to have my own place
someday.”
Rosie Flores plays all by her lonesome at the
Underground City Tavern (700 E. Adams St., 217-789-1530) on Friday,
March 11. Tom Irwin opens the show at 9 p.m., and the Moonlight
Rhythm Rangers start their set sometime around midnight. Tickets,
which cost $7, are available at Recycled Records (625 E. Adams St.,
217-522-5122) or at the door.
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2005.
